0003-use-short-hostname-for-bolt-inventory-listing.md

3. Use short hostname for bolt inventory listing

Date: 2024-05-01

Status

Accepted

Context

A typical command in bolt specifies the --targets or the hosts on which to run a specific set of commands. For example, bolt plan run vmfloaty::test --targets=flaxen-green.vmpooler-prod.puppet.net will run the vmfloaty::test plan on the host flaxen-green.vmpooler-prod.puppet.net. Since this hostname is not only hard to remember but a bit cumbersome to type out, I'd like to shorten the target in the bolt inventory.

One way to do this is to associate a "name", like flaxen-green alongside the required "uri" of flaxen-green.vmpooler-prod.puppet.net

Decision

Therefore, I decided to change generate_inventory.rb so that it always creates a short name for each target in the bolt inventory.

Consequences

Now this:

bolt plan run vmfloaty::test --targets=flaxen-green.vmpooler-prod.puppet.net

becomes this:

bolt plan run vmfloaty::test --targets=flaxen-green