Providers are the implementation of the resources on a system. Types express the interface used in describing the resources, whereas providers provide the implementation about how the resources interact with the underlying system.
The separation between the interface and its implementation allows multiple providers to be developed for a type.
The package type provided as part of a Puppet installation, for example, has many separate providers that interact with systems, including rpm, apt, yum, zipper, chocolatey, and so on. All that's needed for a new provider to be developed is for it to adhere to the interface defined in its type.
You can check out the official documentation pages on Puppet providers at https://puppet.com/docs/puppet/5.3/custom_types.html#providers ...
