What is the main purpose of the Puppet master?

The primary function of the Puppet master is to compile the catalog. The catalog is a document generated by the Puppet master, which contains all the resources and their relationships as defined in the Puppet manifests for each node. When agent nodes request configurations, the Puppet master compiles the catalog based on the current state of the system and the defined resources. This enables the agents to know exactly what configurations and resources they need to apply in order to reach the desired state.

While other functionalities such as running system commands, applying configurations directly to agents, or managing databases can be part of a broader systems management process, they are not the central role of the Puppet master. The master serves as the authoritative source that orchestrates configuration management through catalog compilation, thus ensuring that each agent can enforce compliance with the designated state.