knife node

A node is any machine—physical, virtual, cloud, network device, etc.—that is under management by Chef.

The knife node subcommand is used to manage the nodes that exist on a Chef server.

bulk delete

Use the bulk delete argument to delete one or more nodes that match a pattern defined by a regular expression. The regular expression must be within quotes and not be surrounded by forward slashes (/).

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node bulk delete REGEX

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Bulk delete nodes

Use a regular expression to define the pattern used to bulk delete nodes:

$ knife node bulk delete "^[0-9]{3}$"

Type Y to confirm a deletion.

create

Use the create argument to add a node to the Chef server. Node data is stored as JSON on the Chef server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node create NODE_NAME

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Create a node

To add a node named node1, enter:

$ knife node create node1

In the $EDITOR enter the node data in JSON:

{
   "normal": {
   },
   "name": "foobar",
   "override": {
   },
   "default": {
   },
   "json_class": "Chef::Node",
   "automatic": {
   },
   "run_list": [
      "recipe[zsh]",
      "role[webserver]"
   ],
   "chef_type": "node"
}

When finished, save it.

delete

Use the delete argument to delete a node from the Chef server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node delete NODE_NAME

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Delete a node

To delete a node named node1, enter:

$ knife node delete node1

edit

Use the edit argument to edit the details of a node on a Chef server. Node data is stored as JSON on the Chef server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node edit NODE_NAME (options)

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a, --all

Display a node in the $EDITOR. By default, attributes that are default, override, or automatic, are not shown.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Edit a node

To edit the data for a node named node1, enter:

$ knife node edit node1 -a

Update the role data in JSON:

{
   "normal": {
   },
   "name": "node1",
   "override": {
   },
   "default": {
   },
   "json_class": "Chef::Node",
   "automatic": {
   },
   "run_list": [
      "recipe[devops]",
      "role[webserver]"
   ],
   "chef_type": "node"
}

When finished, save it.

environment set

Use the environment set argument to set the environment for a node without editing the node object.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node environment_set NODE_NAME ENVIRONMENT_NAME (options)

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

None.

from file

Use the from file argument to create a node using existing node data as a template.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node from file FILE

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Create a node using a JSON file

To add a node using data contained in a JSON file:

$ knife node from file "PATH_TO_JSON_FILE"

list

Use the list argument to view all of the nodes that exist on a Chef server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node list (options)

Options

This argument has the following options:

-w, --with-uri

Show the corresponding URIs.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

View a list of nodes

To verify the list of nodes that are registered with the Chef server, enter:

$ knife node list

to return something similar to:

i-12345678
rs-123456

run_list add

A run-list defines all of the information necessary for Chef to configure a node into the desired state. A run-list is:

• An ordered list of roles and/or recipes that are run in the exact order defined in the run-list; if a recipe appears more than once in the run-list, the chef-client will not run it twice
• Always specific to the node on which it runs; nodes may have a run-list that is identical to the run-list used by other nodes
• Stored as part of the node object on the Chef server
• Maintained using knife, and then uploaded from the workstation to the Chef server, or is maintained using the Chef management console

Use the run_list add argument to add run-list items (roles or recipes) to a node.

A run-list must be in one of the following formats: fully qualified, cookbook, or default. Both roles and recipes must be in quotes, for example:

'role[NAME]'

or

'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE]'

Use a comma to separate roles and recipes when adding more than one item the run-list:

'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE],COOKBOOK::RECIPE,role[NAME]'

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node run_list add NODE_NAME RUN_LIST_ITEM (options)

$ knife node run_list set test-node 'recipe[iptables]'

$ knife node run_list set test-node '''recipe[iptables]'''

$ Import-Module chef

~\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

$ knife exec -E 'puts ARGV' """&s0meth1ng"""

$ knife exec -E 'puts ARGV' '&s0meth1ng'

$ knife node run_list set test-node '''role[ssssssomething]'''

$ knife node run_list set test-node 'role[ssssssomething]'

$ Remove-Module chef

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a ITEM, --after ITEM

Add a run-list item after the specified run-list item.

-b ITEM, --before ITEM

Add a run-list item before the specified run-list item.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Add a role

To add a role to a run-list, enter:

$ knife node run_list add NODE_NAME 'role[ROLE_NAME]'

Add roles and recipes

To add roles and recipes to a run-list, enter:

$ knife node run_list add NODE_NAME 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME],recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME],role[ROLE_NAME]'

Add a recipe with a FQDN

To add a recipe to a run-list using the fully qualified format, enter:

$ knife node run_list add NODE_NAME 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME]'

Add a recipe with a cookbook

To add a recipe to a run-list using the cookbook format, enter:

$ knife node run_list add NODE_NAME 'COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME'

Add the default recipe

To add the default recipe of a cookbook to a run-list, enter:

$ knife node run_list add NODE_NAME 'COOKBOOK'

run_list remove

Use the run_list remove argument to remove run-list items (roles or recipes) from a node. A recipe must be in one of the following formats: fully qualified, cookbook, or default. Both roles and recipes must be in quotes, for example: 'role[ROLE_NAME]' or 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME]'. Use a comma to separate roles and recipes when removing more than one, like this: 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME],COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME,role[ROLE_NAME]'.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node run_list remove NODE_NAME RUN_LIST_ITEM

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Remove a role

To remove a role from a run-list, enter:

$ knife node run_list remove NODE_NAME 'role[ROLE_NAME]'

Remove a run-list

To remove a recipe from a run-list using the fully qualified format, enter:

$ knife node run_list remove NODE_NAME 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME]'

run_list set

Use the run_list set argument to set the run-list for a node. A recipe must be in one of the following formats: fully qualified, cookbook, or default. Both roles and recipes must be in quotes, for example: 'role[ROLE_NAME]' or 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME]'. Use a comma to separate roles and recipes when setting more than one, like this: 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME],COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME,role[ROLE_NAME]'.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node run_list set NODE_NAME RUN_LIST_ITEM

$ knife node run_list set test-node 'recipe[iptables]'

$ knife node run_list set test-node '''recipe[iptables]'''

$ Import-Module chef

~\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

$ knife exec -E 'puts ARGV' """&s0meth1ng"""

$ knife exec -E 'puts ARGV' '&s0meth1ng'

$ knife node run_list set test-node '''role[ssssssomething]'''

$ knife node run_list set test-node 'role[ssssssomething]'

$ Remove-Module chef

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

None.

show

Use the show argument to display information about a node.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node show NODE_NAME (options)

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a ATTR, --attribute ATTR

The attribute (or attributes) to show.

-l, --long

Display all attributes in the output and show the output as JSON.

-m, --medium

Display normal attributes in the output and to show the output as JSON.

-r, --run-list

Show only the run-list.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Show all data about nodes

To view all data for a node named build, enter:

$ knife node show build

to return:

Node Name:   build
Environment: _default
FQDN:
IP:
Run List:
Roles:
Recipes:
Platform:

Show basic information about nodes

To show basic information about a node, truncated and nicely formatted:

knife node show NODE_NAME

Show all data about nodes, truncated

To show all information about a node, nicely formatted:

knife node show -l NODE_NAME

Show attributes

To list a single node attribute:

knife node show NODE_NAME -a ATTRIBUTE_NAME

where ATTRIBUTE_NAME is something like kernel or platform.

To list a nested attribute:

knife node show NODE_NAME -a ATTRIBUTE_NAME.NESTED_ATTRIBUTE_NAME

where ATTRIBUTE_NAME is something like kernel and NESTED_ATTRIBUTE_NAME is something like machine.

Show the FQDN

To view the FQDN for a node named i-12345678, enter:

$ knife node show i-12345678 -a fqdn

to return:

fqdn: ip-10-251-75-20.ec2.internal

Show a run-list

To view the run-list for a node named dev, enter:

$ knife node show dev -r

Show as JSON data

To view information in JSON format, use the -F common option; use a command like this for a node named devops:

$ knife node show devops -F json

Other formats available include text, yaml, and pp.

Show as raw JSON data

To view node information in raw JSON, use the -l or --long option:

knife node show -l -F json NODE_NAME

and/or:

knife node show -l --format=json NODE_NAME