knife environment

An environment is a way to map an organization’s real-life workflow to what can be configured and managed when using Chef server. Every organization begins with a single environment called the _default environment, which cannot be modified (or deleted). Additional environments can be created to reflect each organization’s patterns and workflow. For example, creating production, staging, testing, and development environments. Generally, an environment is also associated with one (or more) cookbook versions.

The knife environment subcommand is used to manage environments within a single organization on the Chef server.

compare

Use the compare argument to compare the cookbook version constraints that are set on one (or more) environments.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife environment compare [ENVIRONMENT_NAME...] (options)

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a, --all

Upload all environments found at the specified path.

-m, --mismatch

Show only matching versions.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Compare cookbook versions in a single environment

To compare cookbook versions for a single environment:

$ knife environment compare development

to return something similar to:

development
apache     2.3.1
windows    4.1.2

Compare cookbook versions for multiple environments

To compare cookbook versions for multiple environments:

$ knife environment compare development staging

to return something similar to:

development    staging
apache        2.3.1          1.2.2
windows       4.1.2          1.0.0
postgresql    1.0.0          1.0.0

Compare cookbook versions for all environments

To compare all cookbook versions for all environments:

$ knife environment compare --all

to return something similar to:

staging  development
ulimit             latest   latest
redisio            latest   latest
journly            latest   latest
aws                latest   latest
test               latest   latest
unicorn            latest   latest
sensu              latest   latest
runit              latest   latest
templater          latest   latest
powershell         latest   latest
openssl            latest   latest
rbenv              latest   latest
rabbitmq           latest   latest
postgresql         latest   latest
mysql              latest   latest
ohai               latest   latest
git                latest   latest
erlang             latest   latest
ssh_known_hosts    latest   latest
nginx              latest   latest
database           latest   latest
yum                latest   latest
xfs                latest   latest
apt                latest   latest
dmg                latest   latest
chef_handler       latest   latest
windows            1.0.0    4.1.2

create

Use the create argument to add an environment object to the Chef server. When this argument is run, knife will open $EDITOR to enable editing of the ENVIRONMENT description field (unless a description is specified as part of the command). When finished, knife will add the environment to the Chef server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife environment create ENVIRONMENT_NAME -d DESCRIPTION

Options

This argument has the following options:

--description DESCRIPTION

The description of the environment. This value populates the description field for the environment on the Chef server.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Create an environment

To create an environment named dev with a description of The development environment.:

$ knife environment create dev --description "The development environment."

delete

Use the delete argument to delete an environment from a Chef server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife environment delete ENVIRONMENT_NAME

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Delete an environment

To delete an environment named dev, enter:

$ knife environment delete dev

Type Y to confirm a deletion.

edit

Use the edit argument to edit the attributes of an environment. When this argument is run, knife will open $EDITOR to enable editing of ENVIRONMENT attributes. When finished, knife will update the Chef server with those changes.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife environment edit ENVIRONMENT_NAME

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Edit an environment

To edit an environment named devops, enter:

$ knife environment edit devops

from file

Use the from file argument to add or update an environment using a JSON or Ruby DSL description.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife environment from file FILE (options)

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a, --all

Upload all environments found at the specified path.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Create an environment from a JSON file

To add an environment using data contained in a JSON file:

$ knife environment from file "path to JSON file"

list

Use the list argument to list all of the environments that are currently available on the Chef server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife environment list -w

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 environments

To view a list of environments:

$ knife environment list -w

show

Use the show argument to display information about the specified environment.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife environment show ENVIRONMENT_NAME

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a ATTR, --attribute ATTR

The attribute (or attributes) to show.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Show environments

To view information about the dev environment enter:

$ knife environment show dev

to return:

% knife environment show dev
chef_type:            environment
cookbook_versions:
default_attributes:
description:
json_class:           Chef::Environment
name:                 dev
override_attributes:

\\
\\
\\
\\

Show environments as JSON

To view information in JSON format, use the -F common option as part of the command like this:

$ knife environment show devops -F json

Other formats available include text, yaml, and pp.