If you need to test your Puppet code on different Operating Systems, this might help you in doing it quickly.
It's a Vagrant multi vm setup containing Puppet enabled Vagrant base boxes (retrieved from Internet sources like VagrantBox.es) where you can easily play with Puppet.
The intention is to keep the list of base boxes updated and add new ones for new Operating Systems. 

INSTALLATION

Clone this repo to a work directory of your choice (here puppet-playground):

    git clone https://github.com/example42/puppet-playground.git puppet-playground

This creates a multi vm vagrant environment

    cd puppet-playground
    vagrant status

This is enough to play with Puppet in Masterless mode: default manifest is manifests/init.pp, modules are in modules/.

WORK WITH MODULES

You can add the modules you want in puppet-playground/modules. For this you have various alternatives:

1 - If you want to quick test Puppet resources without using modules just write your Puppet code in manifests/init.pp (see below).

2 - If you want to test modules from the Puppet Forge you can install them with:

    puppet module install <modulename>  --modulepath modules/

So, for example:

    puppet module install puppetlabs-apache  --modulepath modules/

3 - If you want to test the NextGen Example42 modules you have to activate their integration:

    git submodule init
    git submodule update

This initializes the modules dir with the Example42 NextGen modules set, then you have to actually download all the single modules:

    cd modules
    git submodule init
    git submodule update

4 - If you want to test your own modules just place them in the modules dir

5 - If you want to test librarian-puppet toasters use the toast.sh script (more details below)

    gem install librarian-puppet
    ./toast.sh

VAGRANT USAGE

Review, if you want, the Vagrantfile in puppet-playground and show the available OS

    cat Vagrantfile
    vagrant status

Edit and play with the Puppet manifest applied on the boxes

    vi manifests/init.pp

This is your test playground, add resources, use modules, declare classes...

For sample code that uses Example42 modules, look at the other files in manifest/*.pp.

See how your code behaves on the selected test box:

    vagrant up Test_Centos6_64

This may take a while, the first time, to download the box.

Once created the VM connect to it with:

    vagrant ssh Test_Centos6_64

To exit form the shell on the VM

    vm# exit

To restart your VM:

    vagrant reload Test_Centos6_64

To destroy and rebuild from scratch

    vagrant destroy Test_Centos6_64
    vagrant up Test_Centos6_64

PLAY WITH PUPPET

You can test and apply code directly from the VM:

    vagrant ssh Test_Centos6_64

From a shell on the VM get the superpowers and move to vagrant configs:

    vm# sudo -s
    vm# cd /tmp/vagrant-puppet/

To try some Puppet code edit the manifest file:

    vm# vi manifests/init.pp

You can work on it both from your system and the VM.

On your system is in puppet-playground/manifests/init.pp

On the VM is available at /tmp/vagrant-puppet/manifests/init.pp

From the VM you can run a test with:

    vm# puppet apply -v --modulepath '/tmp/vagrant-puppet/modules-0' --pluginsync /tmp/vagrant-puppet/manifests/init.pp

From your host:

    vagrant provision Test_Centos6_64

To test the code on all the running nodes

    vagrant provision

USE BUNDLED TOASTERS

You can experiment with bundles of modules and Puppet code with the toast.sh script. It copies configurations from the toasters/directory to manifests/init.pp and Puppetfile and runs librarian-puppet to automatically install the required modules in the modules/ directory.

To show the available toasters:

    ./toash.sh list

To install a specific toaster:

    ./toash.sh install garethr-riemann

To install and directly test on the running boxes a specific toaster

    ./toash.sh run garethr-riemann

To show the status of currently installed modules and manifests/init.pp

    ./toast.sh status

To cleanup the modules directory, the Puppetfile and manifests/init.pp (Beware all the existing changes will be wiped off)

    ./toast.sh clean

CAVEATS

Broken Vagrant Boxes

Not all the Vagrant boxes have been widely tested, they have probably old versions of the VirtualBox Guest Additions and maybe provide not updated Vagrant configurations.

If you find errors like:

    /Users/al/.vagrant.d/boxes/solaris10_64/include/_Vagrantfile:7: undefined method `system=' for #<Vagrant::Config::VMConfig:0x1025fc5a0> (NoMethodError)

Try to remove or delete the referred file:

    mv /Users/al/.vagrant.d/boxes/solaris10_64/include/_Vagrantfile /Users/al/.vagrant.d/boxes/solaris10_64/include/_Vagrantfile.bak

Some boxes (currently the ones with the ToFix prefix) are not fully working for Puppet provisioning.

Modules directory

The cohexistence of different ways to manage the modules directory (with puppet module tool, with the Example42 NextGen git repo, with custom modules r via librarian-puppet) may create inconsistent status, if you mix these methods.

Start from an empty modules dir to have a clean setup good for every use.

SUPPORT AND BUGS

Please submit bug filings, pull requests and suggestions via GitHub.

This Puppet Playground might become more and more useful if:

• More Working vagrant Boxes are provided for different OS

• More toasters are provided that use different modules sets with librarian-puppet

Any contribution to these is very welcomed.