####Table of Contents
- Overview
- Module Description - What the module does and why it is useful
- Setup - The basics of getting started with avahi
- Usage - Configuration options and additional functionality
- Limitations - OS compatibility, etc.
- Development - Guide for contributing to the module
##Overview
The avahi module allows to set up a mDNS responder for your local network and manage the announced services with simple definitions.
##Module Description
Avahi is the most widely used implementation of Multicast DNS on Linux based systems. This module manages the setup & configuration of the server component of the Avahi toolkit.
##Setup
###What avahi affects
- Package, service & configuration files for avahi-daemon
###Beginning with avahi
To install the Avahi daemon with default parameters
class { 'avahi': }The defaults – like for example the announced hostname – are determined by the facts provided by puppet or derived from operating system dependent facts. The defaults are usually sufficient for production environments, though without additional service definitions Avahi does not usually do much by itself.
###Advanced configuration
A typical use case for bigger network installations, is the ability to forward mDNS announcements between two or more IP networks. Since multicast DNS is specified to be link-local, the easiest way to do so, is to setup an Avahi daemon on a machine, which resides in all those networks (for example DHCP server).
To make Avahi daemon forward multicast DNS between two networks on different network interfaces
class { 'avahi':
allow_interfaces => ['eth1', 'eth2'],
enable_reflector => true
}##Usage
###Classes and Defined Types
####Class: avahi
The primary class of the avahi module. It orchestrates the setup of the
daemon package and it's configuration on the system. The corresponding
configuration settings can also be looked up in the `avahi-daemon documentation
Parameters within avahi:
#####avahi_hostname
This sets the default for the hostname announced via mDNS. This also becomes
the default for service declarations that don't define a hostname themselves.
Defaults to the value of $::hostname from facter.
#####avahi_domainname
The mDNS domain name, under which services are announced. Defaults to local.
#####allow_interfaces
When given, make avahi-daemon only listen & broadcast on the specified interfaces.
#####deny_interfaces
When given, make avahi-daemon ignore the specified interfaces and not listen
or broadcast on the given interfaces at all.
#####enable_reflector
When set to true, let avahi-daemon act as a mDNS repeater between all the networks,
which it is connected to. Combined with allow_interfaces or deny_interfaces, this
allows you to bridge, for example, mDNS announcement from a printer-only network to the
user machine network.
####Defined Type: avahi::service
Next to the services announced by default (often DBUS-aware software), this class allows
to explicitly announce other services via mDNS, either on the host itself or even on behalf
of other hosts. The title for this defined type will be used as the human readable name.
Parameters within avahi::service
#####type
The type of service to be announced. This is usually corresponding to an entry in
/etc/protocols and is used (in conjunction with transport) by mDNS browsing
software to determine the actions available to the user.
#####port
The TCP or UDP port providing this service.
#####transport
The transport protocol for this particular service. This can be either tcp (the default)
or udp.
#####protocol
The IP protocol(s) available to reach this service. This can be either any (the default),
ipv4 (only available via IPv4) or ipv6 (only available via IPv6).
#####hostname
The fully qualified hostname on which the service is running. This is used, when announcing
services on behalf of another machine or device, which itself is not capable of announcing
mDNS services to the network. If not given, the service is announced for the machine running
avahi-daemon itself.
##Limitations
The module is currently only tested on Debian & Puppet 3.7.
##Development
Pull requests are welcome, but right now we doubt anyone will start using it, since it is very limited.