Which configuration management tool accepts inbound requests from agents by using HTTPS on TCP port 8140?

Which configuration management tool accepts inbound requests from agents by using HTTPS on TCP port 8140?

• A. Puppet
• B. Chef
• C. Ansible
• D. Salt

Answer: (A)

This question is about how a configuration management tool handles communication between its server (master) and the agents, specifically the transport and port used for inbound agent requests. Puppet uses an HTTPS channel for this communication, with the Puppet master listening on TCP port 8140. The Puppet agent connects to the master over TLS, authenticates with certificates, and receives its catalogs and instructions through that secure port. That combination—HTTPS over port 8140 for agent-to-master requests—is distinctive to Puppet. Other tools work differently. Chef typically serves its API over HTTPS on the standard port 443, with clients communicating to the Chef Server rather than agents dialing in on a special port like 8140. Ansible is designed to be agentless in the common use, connecting over SSH (port 22 by default) to managed nodes rather than having agents dial into a central server. Salt uses its own messaging system based on ZeroMQ, with ports like 4505 and 4506 by default, not HTTPS on 8140. So the setup described—inbound HTTPS requests from agents on TCP port 8140—matches Puppet.

This question is about how a configuration management tool handles communication between its server (master) and the agents, specifically the transport and port used for inbound agent requests. Puppet uses an HTTPS channel for this communication, with the Puppet master listening on TCP port 8140. The Puppet agent connects to the master over TLS, authenticates with certificates, and receives its catalogs and instructions through that secure port. That combination—HTTPS over port 8140 for agent-to-master requests—is distinctive to Puppet.

Other tools work differently. Chef typically serves its API over HTTPS on the standard port 443, with clients communicating to the Chef Server rather than agents dialing in on a special port like 8140. Ansible is designed to be agentless in the common use, connecting over SSH (port 22 by default) to managed nodes rather than having agents dial into a central server. Salt uses its own messaging system based on ZeroMQ, with ports like 4505 and 4506 by default, not HTTPS on 8140.

So the setup described—inbound HTTPS requests from agents on TCP port 8140—matches Puppet.