Resolve a Puppet run overriding a new license.key file with an old license.key file in Puppet Enterprise

You got a new license.key and copied it to the default location, /etc/puppetlabs. When you run puppet license, it shows the correct start and end date for your license. However, during the next Puppet run, the new license.key file is overwritten with the with old, expired license.key file, and in the console you see a license expiry alert.

Note: The license expiry alert in the console will not stop Puppet Enterprise from functioning. Our terminology changed, a primary server was formerly called a master or master of masters. 

Version and installation information

PE version: All supported versions

Solution

This issue occurs when you put a new license key in place with use_cached_catalog set to true in puppet.conf. The agent then uses the cached license file from previous runs rather than compiling a new catalog and using the new license.

To fix the issue, complete the following steps on the primary server.

1. Get information on when and how your new license.key was overwritten by the old license file in the cached catalog. Run puppet agent -td 2>&1 | tee puppetdebug.txt

   Your output should look similar to the following:

   ...
   --- /etc/puppetlabs/license.key             2018-11-02 05:04:16.264208625 +0000
   +++ /tmp/puppet-file20181102-1527-1inovmv   2018-11-02 05:05:26.498883711 +0000
   ...

2. Back up both the new and old license.key files.

3. Edit /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/puppet.conf to set use_cached_catalog=false

4. Disable scheduled puppet runs. Run puppet resource service puppet ensure=stopped

5. Replace the old license key with the new license key at `/etc/puppetlabs/license.key’.

6. Check to see if the new license.key will be overwritten by running the agent as --noop: puppet agent -t --noop

7. When you are happy with your changes, apply them. Run: puppet agent -t

8. Enable scheduled puppet runs. Run puppet resource service puppet ensure=running

When the issue is resolved, if you need to, you can change the cached catalog in puppet.conf to use_cached_catalog=true without causing license key issues.