By default, the Puppet agent runs automatically every 30 minutes to check for configuration updates from the Puppet master. This behavior is controlled by the runinterval setting in puppet.conf, which defaults to 1800 seconds (30 minutes).

The most reliable way to disable automatic runs is by modifying the agent's configuration:

[agent]
daemon = false
runinterval = 0

After making these changes, restart the Puppet agent service:

sudo systemctl restart puppet

For temporary disablement, use the --disable flag:

sudo puppet agent --disable "Manual control enabled"

To verify the disabled status:

sudo puppet agent --configprint agent_disabled_lockfile

On systems using systemd, you can prevent the timer from running:

sudo systemctl stop puppet.timer
sudo systemctl disable puppet.timer

After applying any of these methods, verify the changes:

sudo puppet agent --configprint runinterval
# Should return 0 or be absent

When disabling automatic runs:

• Ensure you have alternative methods to trigger Puppet runs when needed
• Consider using puppet agent --test for manual runs
• For production systems, document the change and inform your team

If you want to keep the runs but prevent actual changes:

[agent]
noop = true

This maintains the schedule but only reports what would change without making modifications.

The default Puppet agent configuration runs automatically every 30 minutes through a background service. This behavior is controlled by the puppet service on most Linux systems.

# Check current service status
systemctl status puppet

# Common service names across distros:
# - puppet (RHEL/CentOS)
# - puppet-agent (Ubuntu/Debian)
# - pxp-agent (Puppet Enterprise)

For production environments where you want to permanently disable automatic runs while keeping manual execution capability:

# Method 1: Stop and disable the service
systemctl stop puppet
systemctl disable puppet

# Method 2: Alternative configuration approach
# Edit /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/puppet.conf
[agent]
daemon = false
runinterval = 0

When you need to temporarily prevent automatic runs without stopping the service:

# Create a manual lock file
puppet agent --disable "Maintenance window"

# Verify disabled status
puppet agent --configprint disable_message

# Re-enable when ready
puppet agent --enable

Different platforms may require special handling:

# Windows systems using task scheduler
schtasks /Change /TN "Puppet Agent" /DISABLE

# AIX systems using cron
crontab -e
# Comment out puppet agent cron entries

After making changes, verify the agent won't run automatically:

# Check runinterval setting
puppet agent --configprint runinterval

# Simulate what would happen
puppet agent --noop --test

# Monitor for unexpected runs
tail -f /var/log/puppetlabs/puppet/puppet-agent.log

For more control, consider replacing the timer with triggers:

# Example systemd override
# /etc/systemd/system/puppet.service.d/override.conf
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet agent --no-daemonize --onetime