chef_handler

Use the chef_handler resource to enable handlers during a chef-client run. The resource allows arguments to be passed to the chef-client, which then applies the conditions defined by the custom handler to the node attribute data collected during the chef-client run, and then processes the handler based on that data.

The chef_handler resource is typically defined early in a node’s run-list (often being the first item). This ensures that all of the handlers will be available for the entire chef-client run.

The chef_handler resource is included with the chef_handler cookbook. This cookbook defines the the resource itself and also provides the location in which the chef-client looks for custom handlers. All custom handlers should be added to the files/default/handlers directory in the chef_handler cookbook.

Handler Types

There are three types of handlers:

Handler	Description
exception	An exception handler is used to identify situations that have caused a chef-client run to fail. An exception handler can be loaded at the start of a chef-client run by adding a recipe that contains the chef_handler resource to a node’s run-list. An exception handler runs when the failed? property for the run_status object returns true.
report	A report handler is used when a chef-client run succeeds and reports back on certain details about that chef-client run. A report handler can be loaded at the start of a chef-client run by adding a recipe that contains the chef_handler resource to a node’s run-list. A report handler runs when the success? property for the run_status object returns true.
start	A start handler is used to run events at the beginning of the chef-client run. A start handler can be loaded at the start of a chef-client run by adding the start handler to the start_handlers setting in the client.rb file or by installing the gem that contains the start handler by using the chef_gem resource in a recipe in the chef-client cookbook. (A start handler may not be loaded using the chef_handler resource.)

Exception / Report

Exception and report handlers are used to trigger certain behaviors in response to specific situations, typically identified during a chef-client run.

• An exception handler is used to trigger behaviors when a defined aspect of a chef-client run fails.
• A report handler is used to trigger behaviors when a defined aspect of a chef-client run is successful.

Both types of handlers can be used to gather data about a chef-client run and can provide rich levels of data about all types of usage, which can be used later for trending and analysis across the entire organization.

Exception and report handlers are made available to the chef-client run in one of the following ways:

• By adding the chef_handler resource to a recipe, and then adding that recipe to the run-list for a node. (The chef_handler resource is available from the chef_handler cookbook.)
• By adding the handler to one of the following settings in the node’s client.rb file: exception_handlers and/or report_handlers

The chef_handler resource allows exception and report handlers to be enabled from within recipes, which can then added to the run-list for any node on which the exception or report handler should run. The chef_handler resource is available from the chef_handler cookbook.

To use the chef_handler resource in a recipe, add code similar to the following:

chef_handler 'name_of_handler' do
  source '/path/to/handler/handler_name'
  action :enable
end

For example, a handler for Growl needs to be enabled at the beginning of the chef-client run:

chef_gem 'chef-handler-growl'

and then is activated in a recipe by using the chef_handler resource:

chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::Growl' do
  source 'chef/handler/growl'
  action :enable
end

Start

A start handler is not loaded into the chef-client run from a recipe, but is instead listed in the client.rb file using the start_handlers attribute. The start handler must be installed on the node and be available to the chef-client prior to the start of the chef-client run. Use the chef-client cookbook to install the start handler.

Start handlers are made available to the chef-client run in one of the following ways:

• By adding a start handler to the chef-client cookbook, which installs the handler on the node so that it is available to the chef-client at the start of the chef-client run
• By adding the handler to one of the following settings in the node’s client.rb file: start_handlers

The chef-client cookbook can be configured to automatically install and configure gems that are required by a start handler. For example:

node.set['chef_client']['load_gems']['chef-reporting'] = {
  :require_name => 'chef_reporting',
  :action => :install
}

node.set['chef_client']['config']['start_handlers'] = [
  {
    :class => 'Chef::Reporting::StartHandler',
    :arguments => []
  }
]

include_recipe 'chef-client::config'

Syntax

A chef_handler resource block enables handlers during a chef-client run. Two handlers—JsonFile and ErrorReport—are built into Chef:

chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::JsonFile' do
  source 'chef/handler/json_file'
  arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports'
  action :enable
end

and:

chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::ErrorReport' do
  source 'chef/handler/error_report'
  action :enable
end

show how to enable those handlers in a recipe.

The full syntax for all of the properties that are available to the chef_handler resource is:

chef_handler 'name' do
  arguments                  Array
  class_name                 String
  notifies                   # see description
  source                     String
  subscribes                 # see description
  supports                   Hash
  action                     Symbol
end

where

• chef_handler is the resource
• name is the name of the resource block
• :action identifies the steps the chef-client will take to bring the node into the desired state
• arguments, class_name, source, and supports are properties of this resource, with the Ruby type shown. See “Properties” section below for more information about all of the properties that may be used with this resource.

Actions

This resource has the following actions:

:disable

Disable the handler for the current chef-client run on the current node.

:enable

Enable the handler for the current chef-client run on the current node.

:nothing

Define this resource block to do nothing until notified by another resource to take action. When this resource is notified, this resource block is either run immediately or it is queued up to be run at the end of the chef-client run.

Properties

This resource has the following properties:

arguments

Ruby Type: Array

An array of arguments that are passed to the initializer for the handler class. Default value: []. For example:

arguments :key1 => 'val1'

or:

arguments [:key1 => 'val1', :key2 => 'val2']

class_name

Ruby Type: String

The name of the handler class. This can be module name-spaced.

ignore_failure

Ruby Types: TrueClass, FalseClass

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason. Default value: false.

notifies

Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may notify another resource to take action when its state changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action that resource should take, and then the :timer for that action. A resource may notifiy more than one resource; use a notifies statement for each resource to be notified.

A timer specifies the point during the chef-client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the very end of the chef-client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for notifies is:

notifies :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

retries

Ruby Type: Integer

The number of times to catch exceptions and retry the resource. Default value: 0.

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer

The retry delay (in seconds). Default value: 2.

source

Ruby Type: String

The full path to the handler file or the path to a gem (if the handler ships as part of a Ruby gem).

subscribes

Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may listen to another resource, and then take action if the state of the resource being listened to changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action to be taken, and then the :timer for that action.

A timer specifies the point during the chef-client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the very end of the chef-client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for subscribes is:

subscribes :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

supports

Ruby Type: Hash

The type of handler. Possible values: :exception, :report, or :start. Default value: { :report => true, :exception => true }.

Custom Handlers

A custom handler can be created to support any situation. The easiest way to build a custom handler:

1. Download the chef_handler cookbook
2. Create a custom handler
3. Write a recipe using the chef_handler resource
4. Add that recipe to a node’s run-list, often as the first recipe in that run-list

Syntax

The syntax for a handler can vary, depending on what the the situations the handler is being asked to track, the type of handler being used, and so on. All custom exception and report handlers are defined using Ruby and must be a subclass of the Chef::Handler class.

require 'chef/log'

module ModuleName
  class HandlerName < Chef::Handler
    def report
      # Ruby code goes here
    end
  end
end

where:

• require ensures that the logging functionality of the chef-client is available to the handler
• ModuleName is the name of the module as it exists within the Chef library
• HandlerName is the name of the handler as it is used in a recipe
• report is an interface that is used to define the custom handler

For example, the following shows a custom handler that sends an email that contains the exception data when a chef-client run fails:

require 'net/smtp'

module OrgName
  class SendEmail < Chef::Handler
    def report
      if run_status.failed? then
        message  = "From: sender_name <[email protected]>\n"
        message << "To: recipient_address <[email protected]>\n"
        message << "Subject: chef-client Run Failed\n"
        message << "Date: #{Time.now.rfc2822}\n\n"
        message << "Chef run failed on #{node.name}\n"
        message << "#{run_status.formatted_exception}\n"
        message << Array(backtrace).join('\n')
        Net::SMTP.start('your.smtp.server', 25) do |smtp|
          smtp.send_message message, 'sender@example', 'recipient@example'
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

and then is used in a recipe like:

send_email 'blah' do
  # recipe code
end

report Interface

The report interface is used to define how a handler will behave and is a required part of any custom handler. The syntax for the report interface is as follows:

def report
  # Ruby code
end

The Ruby code used to define a custom handler will vary significantly from handler to handler. The chef-client includes two default handlers: error_report and json_file. Their use of the report interface is shown below.

The error_report handler:

require 'chef/handler'
require 'chef/resource/directory'

class Chef
  class Handler
    class ErrorReport < ::Chef::Handler
      def report
        Chef::FileCache.store('failed-run-data.json', Chef::JSONCompat.to_json_pretty(data), 0640)
        Chef::Log.fatal("Saving node information to #{Chef::FileCache.load('failed-run-data.json', false)}")
      end
    end
 end
end

The json_file handler:

require 'chef/handler'
require 'chef/resource/directory'

class Chef
  class Handler
    class JsonFile < ::Chef::Handler
      attr_reader :config
      def initialize(config={})
        @config = config
        @config[:path] ||= '/var/chef/reports'
        @config
      end
      def report
        if exception
          Chef::Log.error('Creating JSON exception report')
        else
          Chef::Log.info('Creating JSON run report')
        end
        build_report_dir
        savetime = Time.now.strftime('%Y%m%d%H%M%S')
        File.open(File.join(config[:path], 'chef-run-report-#{savetime}.json'), 'w') do |file|
          run_data = data
          run_data[:start_time] = run_data[:start_time].to_s
          run_data[:end_time] = run_data[:end_time].to_s
          file.puts Chef::JSONCompat.to_json_pretty(run_data)
        end
      end
      def build_report_dir
        unless File.exist?(config[:path])
          FileUtils.mkdir_p(config[:path])
          File.chmod(00700, config[:path])
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

Optional Interfaces

The following interfaces may be used in a handler in the same way as the report interface to override the default handler behavior in the chef-client. That said, the following interfaces are not typically used in a handler and, for the most part, are completely unnecessary for a handler to work properly and/or as desired.

data

The data method is used to return the Hash representation of the run_status object. For example:

def data
  @run_status.to_hash
end

run_report_safely

The run_report_safely method is used to run the report handler, rescuing and logging errors that may arise as the handler runs and ensuring that all handlers get a chance to run during the chef-client run (even if some handlers fail during that run). In general, this method should never be used as an interface in a custom handler unless this default behavior simply must be overridden.

def run_report_safely(run_status)
  run_report_unsafe(run_status)
rescue Exception => e
  Chef::Log.error('Report handler #{self.class.name} raised #{e.inspect}')
  Array(e.backtrace).each { |line| Chef::Log.error(line) }
ensure
  @run_status = nil
end

run_report_unsafe

The run_report_unsafe method is used to run the report handler without any error handling. This method should never be used directly in any handler, except during testing of that handler. For example:

def run_report_unsafe(run_status)
  @run_status = run_status
  report
end

run_status Object

The run_status object is initialized by the chef-client before the report interface is run for any handler. The run_status object keeps track of the status of the chef-client run and will contain some (or all) of the following properties:

Property	Description
all_resources	A list of all resources that are included in the resource_collection property for the current chef-client run.
backtrace	A backtrace associated with the uncaught exception data that caused a chef-client run to fail, if present; nil for a successful chef-client run.
elapsed_time	The amount of time between the start (start_time) and end (end_time) of a chef-client run.
end_time	The time at which a chef-client run ended.
exception	The uncaught exception data which caused a chef-client run to fail; nil for a successful chef-client run.
failed?	Show that a chef-client run has failed when uncaught exceptions were raised during a chef-client run. An exception handler runs when the failed? indicator is true.
node	The node on which the chef-client run occurred.
run_context	An instance of the Chef::RunContext object; used by the chef-client to track the context of the run; provides access to the cookbook_collection, resource_collection, and definitions properties.
start_time	The time at which a chef-client run started.
success?	Show that a chef-client run succeeded when uncaught exceptions were not raised during a chef-client run. A report handler runs when the success? indicator is true.
updated_resources	A list of resources that were marked as updated as a result of the chef-client run.

Examples

The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using resources in recipes. If you want to see examples of how Chef uses resources in recipes, take a closer look at the cookbooks that Chef authors and maintains: https://github.com/chef-cookbooks.

Enable the CloudkickHandler handler

The following example shows how to enable the CloudkickHandler handler, which adds it to the default handler path and passes the oauth key/secret to the handler’s initializer:

chef_handler "CloudkickHandler" do
  source "#{node['chef_handler']['handler_path']}/cloudkick_handler.rb"
  arguments [node['cloudkick']['oauth_key'], node['cloudkick']['oauth_secret']]
  action :enable
end

Enable handlers during the compile phase

chef_handler "Chef::Handler::JsonFile" do
  source "chef/handler/json_file"
  arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports'
  action :nothing
end.run_action(:enable)

Handle only exceptions

chef_handler "Chef::Handler::JsonFile" do
  source "chef/handler/json_file"
  arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports'
  supports :exception => true
  action :enable
end

Cookbook Versions (a custom handler)

Community member juliandunn created a custom report handler that logs all of the cookbooks and cookbook versions that were used during the chef-client run, and then reports after the run is complete. This handler requires the chef_handler resource (which is available from the chef_handler cookbook).

cookbook_versions.rb:

The following custom handler defines how cookbooks and cookbook versions that are used during the chef-client run will be compiled into a report using the Chef::Log class in the chef-client:

require 'chef/log'

module Opscode
  class CookbookVersionsHandler < Chef::Handler

    def report
      cookbooks = run_context.cookbook_collection
      Chef::Log.info('Cookbooks and versions run: #{cookbooks.keys.map {|x| cookbooks[x].name.to_s + ' ' + cookbooks[x].version} }')
    end
  end
end

default.rb:

The following recipe is added to the run-list for every node on which a list of cookbooks and versions will be generated as report output after every chef-client run.

include_recipe 'chef_handler'

cookbook_file "#{node['chef_handler']['handler_path']}/cookbook_versions.rb" do
  source 'cookbook_versions.rb'
  owner 'root'
  group 'root'
  mode '0755'
  action :create
end

chef_handler 'Opscode::CookbookVersionsHandler' do
  source "#{node['chef_handler']['handler_path']}/cookbook_versions.rb"
  supports :report => true
  action :enable
end

This recipe will generate report output similar to the following:

[2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Chef Run complete in 0.300029878 seconds
[2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Running report handlers
[2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Cookbooks and versions run: ["chef_handler 1.1.4", "cookbook_versions_handler 1.0.0"]
[2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Report handlers complete

JsonFile Handler

The json_file handler is available from the chef_handler cookbook and can be used with exceptions and reports. It serializes run status data to a JSON file. This handler may be enabled in one of the following ways.

By adding the following lines of Ruby code to either the client.rb file or the solo.rb file, depending on how the chef-client is being run:

require 'chef/handler/json_file'
report_handlers << Chef::Handler::JsonFile.new(:path => '/var/chef/reports')
exception_handlers << Chef::Handler::JsonFile.new(:path => '/var/chef/reports')

By using the chef_handler resource in a recipe, similar to the following:

chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::JsonFile' do
  source 'chef/handler/json_file'
  arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports'
  action :enable
end

After it has run, the run status data can be loaded and inspected via Interactive Ruby (IRb):

irb(main):001:0> require 'rubygems' => true
irb(main):002:0> require 'json' => true
irb(main):003:0> require 'chef' => true
irb(main):004:0> r = JSON.parse(IO.read('/var/chef/reports/chef-run-report-20110322060731.json')) => ... output truncated
irb(main):005:0> r.keys => ['end_time', 'node', 'updated_resources', 'exception', 'all_resources', 'success', 'elapsed_time', 'start_time', 'backtrace']
irb(main):006:0> r['elapsed_time'] => 0.00246

Register the JsonFile handler

chef_handler "Chef::Handler::JsonFile" do
  source "chef/handler/json_file"
  arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports'
  action :enable
end

ErrorReport Handler

The error_report handler is built into the chef-client and can be used for both exceptions and reports. It serializes error report data to a JSON file. This handler may be enabled in one of the following ways.

By adding the following lines of Ruby code to either the client.rb file or the solo.rb file, depending on how the chef-client is being run:

require 'chef/handler/error_report'
report_handlers << Chef::Handler::ErrorReport.new()
exception_handlers << Chef::Handler::ErrorReport.new()

By using the chef_handler resource in a recipe, similar to the following:

chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::ErrorReport' do
  source 'chef/handler/error_report'
  action :enable
end