puppetlabs/puppet · error · ArgumentError

Unknown service #{name}

Error message

Unknown service #{name}

What it means

Puppet::HTTP::Service.create is the factory behind session.create_service and supports exactly five service names: :ca, :fileserver, :puppet (the compiler), :puppetserver, and :report. Any other value raises ArgumentError. Because the dispatch case-matches Symbols, passing a String like 'ca' also falls through to the error.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/http/service.rb:47

  # @param [<Type>] port optional, the port to connect to
  #
  # @return [Puppet::HTTP::Service] an instance of the service type requested
  #
  # @api private
  def self.create_service(client, session, name, server = nil, port = nil)
    case name
    when :ca
      Puppet::HTTP::Service::Ca.new(client, session, server, port)
    when :fileserver
      Puppet::HTTP::Service::FileServer.new(client, session, server, port)
    when :puppet
      ::Puppet::HTTP::Service::Compiler.new(client, session, server, port)
    when :puppetserver
      ::Puppet::HTTP::Service::Puppetserver.new(client, session, server, port)
    when :report
      Puppet::HTTP::Service::Report.new(client, session, server, port)
    else
      raise ArgumentError, "Unknown service #{name}"
    end
  end

  # Check if the service named is included in the list of available services.
  #
  # @param [Symbol] name
  #
  # @return [Boolean]
  #
  # @api private
  def self.valid_name?(name)
    SERVICE_NAMES.include?(name)
  end

  # Create a new service. Services should be created by calling `Puppet::HTTP::Session#route_to`.
  #
  # @param [Puppet::HTTP::Client] client
  # @param [Puppet::HTTP::Session] session

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Use one of the supported Symbols: :ca, :fileserver, :puppet, :puppetserver, :report.
2. Validate first with Puppet::HTTP::Service.valid_name?(name) or check Puppet::HTTP::Service::SERVICE_NAMES.
3. For PuppetDB, use the puppetdb-ruby / pdbclient libraries, not this factory.

Example fix

# before
service = session.create_service('puppetdb')

# after
raise ArgumentError, name unless Puppet::HTTP::Service.valid_name?(name.to_sym)
service = session.create_service(name.to_sym)

name = name.to_sym
raise ArgumentError, "unknown service #{name}" unless Puppet::HTTP::Service.valid_name?(name)
service = session.create_service(name)

valid_service = ->(n) { Puppet::HTTP::Service::SERVICE_NAMES.include?(n.to_sym) }
raise ArgumentError, n unless valid_service.call(name)

When it happens

Trigger: session.create_service(:puppetdb), :status, or a typo like :reports; create_service('ca') with a String; dynamically built names from config that arrive as Strings.

Common situations: Porting from the pre-6.x Puppet::Network::HttpPool/indirection APIs and guessing the new service name; attempting PuppetDB access through puppet's HTTP session instead of the puppetdb client; name-to-symbol conversion missing when service names come from YAML config.

Related errors

• Unable to verify the SSL certificate at %{uri}
• Please provide a file or checksum to diff with
• Failed to diff files
• Unsupported translation file format #{file_format}; please u
• 'put' requires a string 'body' argument

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7294d5c7c99dfe21. Report an issue: GitHub.