groups.yaml

#hieradata/ldap/groups.yaml
---
  top:
    middle:
      groups:
        foo:
          gid: 500

hiera.yaml

---
:backends:
  - yaml
:yaml:
  :datadir: /etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/%{::environment}/hieradata
:hierarchy:
  - ldap/users
  - ldap/groups
  - common
:merge_behavior: deeper
:logger: console

output.txt

-------------
WORKING
-------------
#ii  puppet-agent                     1.8.3-1jessie                amd64        The Puppet Agent package contains all of the elements needed to run puppet, including ruby, facter, hiera and mcollective.
#ii  puppetserver                     2.7.2-1puppetlabs1           all          Puppet Labs puppetserver

Notice: /Stage[main]/Main/Node[default]/Notify[{
  "middle": {
    "groups": {
      "foo": {
        "gid": 500
      }
    },
    "users": {
      "kevin": {
        "uid": 500
      }
    }
  }
}]/message: current_value absent, should be {
  "middle": {
    "groups": {
      "foo": {
        "gid": 500
      }
    },
    "users": {
      "kevin": {
        "uid": 500
      }
    }
  }
} (noop)

-------------
NOT WORKING
-------------
#ii  puppet-agent                     1.9.1-1jessie                amd64        The Puppet Agent package contains all of the elements needed to run puppet, including ruby, facter, hiera and mcollective.
#ii  puppetserver                     2.7.2-1puppetlabs1           all          Puppet Labs puppetserver

Notice: /Stage[main]/Main/Node[default]/Notify[{
  "middle": {
    "users": {
      "kevin": {
        "uid": 500
      }
    }
  }
}]/message: current_value absent, should be {
  "middle": {
    "users": {
      "kevin": {
        "uid": 500
      }
    }
  }
} (noop)

site.pp

#manifests/site.pp
node default {
  $hiera_data = hiera_hash('top')
  notify { inline_template("<%= JSON.pretty_generate(@hiera_data) %>"): }
}

users.yaml

#hieradata/ldap/users.yaml
---
  top:
    middle:
      users:
        kevin:
          uid: 500