Providers are the implementation of the resources on a system. Types express the interface used in describing the resources, whereas providers provide the implementation about how the resources interact with the underlying system.
The separation between the interface and its implementation allows multiple providers to be developed for a type.
The package type provided as part of a Puppet installation, for example, has many separate providers that interact with systems, including rpm, apt, yum, zipper, chocolatey, and so on. All that's needed for a new provider to be developed is for it to adhere to the interface defined in its type.
You can check out the official documentation pages on Puppet providers at https://puppet.com/docs/puppet/5.3/custom_types.html#providers and https://puppet.com/docs/puppet/5.3/provider_development.html. Gary Larizza's blog also offers an alternative set of useful examples on providers at http://garylarizza.com/blog/2013/11/26/fun-with-providers-part-2/.
Go through the following steps to create a new provider for your type:
- Create and distribute your provider
- Indicate the suitability of the provider to the type in the following ways:
- Using the confine method
- Using the defaultfor method
- Using the commands method
- Implement the ensure property
- Using the exists? method
- Using the create and destroy methods
- Use the GET and SET methods to manage type properties
- Implement the self.instances method
Let's now go into more detail for each of these steps for creating your new provider in the following sections.