chef_client_config Resource

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Use the chef_client_config resource to create a client.rb file in the Chef Infra Client configuration directory. See the client.rb docs for more details on options available in the client.rb configuration file.

New in Chef Infra Client 16.6.

Syntax

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

chef_client_config 'name' do
  additional_config              String
  chef_license                   String
  chef_server_url                String
  config_directory               String
  event_loggers                  Array # default value: []
  exception_handlers             Array # default value: []
  file_backup_path               String
  file_cache_path                String
  file_staging_uses_destdir      String
  formatters                     Array # default value: []
  ftp_proxy                      String
  group                          String
  http_proxy                     String
  https_proxy                    String
  log_level                      Symbol
  log_location                   String, Symbol
  minimal_ohai                   true, false
  named_run_list                 String
  no_proxy                       String, Array # default value: []
  node_name                      String
  ohai_disabled_plugins          Array # default value: []
  ohai_optional_plugins          Array # default value: []
  pid_file                       String
  policy_group                   String
  policy_name                    String
  report_handlers                Array # default value: []
  ssl_verify_mode                Symbol, String
  start_handlers                 Array # default value: []
  user                           String
  action                         Symbol # defaults to :create if not specified
end

where:

• chef_client_config is the resource.
• name is the name given to the resource block.
• action identifies which steps Chef Infra Client will take to bring the node into the desired state.
• additional_config, chef_license, chef_server_url, config_directory, event_loggers, exception_handlers, file_backup_path, file_cache_path, file_staging_uses_destdir, formatters, ftp_proxy, group, http_proxy, https_proxy, log_level, log_location, minimal_ohai, named_run_list, no_proxy, node_name, ohai_disabled_plugins, ohai_optional_plugins, pid_file, policy_group, policy_name, report_handlers, ssl_verify_mode, start_handlers, and user are the properties available to this resource.

Actions

The chef_client_config resource has the following actions:

:create

:nothing

This resource block does not act unless notified by another resource to take action. Once notified, this resource block either runs immediately or is queued up to run at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.

:remove

Properties

The chef_client_config resource has the following properties:

additional_config

Ruby Type: String

Additional text to add at the bottom of the client.rb config. This can be used to run custom Ruby or to add less common config options

chef_license

Ruby Type: StringAllowed Values: "accept", "accept-no-persist", "accept-silent"

Accept the Chef EULA

chef_server_url

Ruby Type: String | REQUIRED

The URL for the Chef Infra Server.

config_directory

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: `/etc/chef/` on *nix-like systems and `C:\chef\` on Windows

The directory to store the client.rb in.

event_loggers

Ruby Type: Array | Default Value: []

exception_handlers

Ruby Type: Array | Default Value: []

An array of hashes that contain a exception handler class and the arguments to pass to that class on initialization. The hash should include class and argument keys where class is a String and argument is an array of quoted String values. For example: [{'class' => 'MyHandler', %w('"argument1"', '"argument2"')}]

file_backup_path

Ruby Type: String

The location in which backup files are stored. If this value is empty, backup files are stored in the directory of the target file

file_cache_path

Ruby Type: String

The location in which cookbooks (and other transient data) files are stored when they are synchronized. This value can also be used in recipes to download files with the remote_file resource.

file_staging_uses_destdir

Ruby Type: String

How file staging (via temporary files) is done. When true, temporary files are created in the directory in which files will reside. When false, temporary files are created under ENV['TMP']

formatters

Ruby Type: Array | Default Value: []

ftp_proxy

Ruby Type: String

The proxy server to use for FTP connections.

group

Ruby Type: String

The group that should own the client.rb file and the configuration directory if it needs to be created. Note: The configuration directory will not be created if it already exists, which allows you to further control the setup of that directory outside of this resource.

http_proxy

Ruby Type: String

The proxy server to use for HTTP connections.

https_proxy

Ruby Type: String

The proxy server to use for HTTPS connections.

log_level

Ruby Type: SymbolAllowed Values: :auto, :debug, :fatal, :info, :trace, :warn

The level of logging performed by the Chef Infra Client.

log_location

Ruby Type: String, Symbol

The location to save logs to. This can either by a path to a log file on disk :syslog to log to Syslog, :win_evt to log to the Windows Event Log, or 'STDERR'/'STDOUT' to log to the *nix text streams.

minimal_ohai

Ruby Type: true, false

Run a minimal set of Ohai plugins providing data necessary for the execution of Chef Infra Client’s built-in resources. Setting this to true will skip many large and time consuming data sets such as cloud or packages. Setting this this to true may break cookbooks that assume all Ohai data will be present.

named_run_list

Ruby Type: String

A specific named runlist defined in the node’s applied Policyfile, which the should be used when running Chef Infra Client.

no_proxy

Ruby Type: String, Array | Default Value: []

A comma-separated list or an array of URLs that do not need a proxy.

node_name

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: The `node.name` value reported by Chef Infra Client.

The name of the node. This configuration sets the node.name value used in cookbooks and the client_name value used when authenticating to a Chef Infra Server to determine what configuration to apply. Note: By default this configuration uses the node.name value which would be set during bootstrap. Hard coding this value in the client.rb config avoids logic within Chef Infra Server that performs DNS lookups and may fail in the event of a DNS outage. To skip this default value and instead use the built-in Chef Infra Server logic, set this property to nil

ohai_disabled_plugins

Ruby Type: Array | Default Value: []

Ohai plugins that should be disabled in order to speed up the Chef Infra Client run and reduce the size of node data sent to Chef Infra Client

ohai_optional_plugins

Ruby Type: Array | Default Value: []

Optional Ohai plugins that should be enabled to provide additional Ohai data for use in cookbooks.

pid_file

Ruby Type: String

The location in which a process identification number (pid) is saved. An executable, when started as a daemon, writes the pid to the specified file.

policy_group

Ruby Type: String

The name of a policy group that exists on the Chef Infra Server. policy_name must also be specified when setting this property.

policy_name

Ruby Type: String

The name of a policy, as identified by the name setting in a Policyfile.rb file. policy_group when setting this property.

report_handlers

Ruby Type: Array | Default Value: []

An array of hashes that contain a report handler class and the arguments to pass to that class on initialization. The hash should include class and argument keys where class is a String and argument is an array of quoted String values. For example: [{'class' => 'MyHandler', %w('"argument1"', '"argument2"')}]

ssl_verify_mode

Ruby Type: Symbol, StringAllowed Values: :verify_none, :verify_peer

Set the verify mode for HTTPS requests.

• Use :verify_none for no validation of SSL certificates.
• Use :verify_peer for validation of all SSL certificates, including the Chef Infra Server connections, S3 connections, and any HTTPS remote_file resource URLs used in Chef Infra Client runs. This is the recommended setting.

start_handlers

Ruby Type: Array | Default Value: []

An array of hashes that contain a report handler class and the arguments to pass to that class on initialization. The hash should include class and argument keys where class is a String and argument is an array of quoted String values. For example: [{'class' => 'MyHandler', %w('"argument1"', '"argument2"')}]

user

Ruby Type: String

The user that should own the client.rb file and the configuration directory if it needs to be created. Note: The configuration directory will not be created if it already exists, which allows you to further control the setup of that directory outside of this resource.

Common Resource Functionality

Chef resources include common properties, notifications, and resource guards.

Common Properties

The following properties are common to every resource:

compile_time

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Control the phase during which the resource is run on the node. Set to true to run while the resource collection is being built (the compile phase). Set to false to run while Chef Infra Client is configuring the node (the converge phase).

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false, :quiet | Default Value: false

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason. :quiet will not display the full stack trace and the recipe will continue to run if a resource fails.

retries

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 0

The number of attempts to catch exceptions and retry the resource.

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2

The retry delay (in seconds).

sensitive

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Ensure that sensitive resource data is not logged by Chef InfraClient.

Notifications

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 notify more than one resource; use a notifies statement for each resource to be notified.

If the referenced resource does not exist, an error is raised. In contrast, subscribes will not fail if the source resource is not found.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra Client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before

Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the end of a Chef Infra 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

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.

Note that subscribes does not apply the specified action to the resource that it listens to - for example:

file '/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt' do
  mode '0600'
  owner 'root'
end

service 'nginx' do
  subscribes :reload, 'file[/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt]', :immediately
end

In this case the subscribes property reloads the nginx service whenever its certificate file, located under /etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt, is updated. subscribes does not make any changes to the certificate file itself, it merely listens for a change to the file, and executes the :reload action for its resource (in this example nginx) when a change is detected.

If the other resource does not exist, the subscription will not raise an error. Contrast this with the stricter semantics of notifies, which will raise an error if the other resource does not exist.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra Client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before

Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the end of a Chef Infra 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

Guards

A guard property can be used to evaluate the state of a node during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run. Based on the results of this evaluation, a guard property is then used to tell Chef Infra Client if it should continue executing a resource. A guard property accepts either a string value or a Ruby block value:

• A string is executed as a shell command. If the command returns 0, the guard is applied. If the command returns any other value, then the guard property is not applied. String guards in a powershell_script run Windows PowerShell commands and may return true in addition to 0.
• A block is executed as Ruby code that must return either true or false. If the block returns true, the guard property is applied. If the block returns false, the guard property is not applied.

A guard property is useful for ensuring that a resource is idempotent by allowing that resource to test for the desired state as it is being executed, and then if the desired state is present, for Chef Infra Client to do nothing.

The following properties can be used to define a guard that is evaluated during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run:

not_if

Prevent a resource from executing when the condition returns true.

only_if

Allow a resource to execute only if the condition returns true.

Examples

The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using the chef_client_config resource in recipes:

Bare minimum Chef Infra Client client.rb:

The absolute minimum configuration necessary for a node to communicate with the Infra Server is the URL of the Infra Server. All other configuration options either have values at the server side (Policyfiles, Roles, Environments, etc) or have default values determined at client startup.

chef_client_config 'Create client.rb' do
  chef_server_url 'https://chef.example.dmz'
end

More complex Chef Infra Client client.rb:

chef_client_config 'Create client.rb' do
  chef_server_url 'https://chef.example.dmz'
  log_level :info
  log_location :syslog
  http_proxy 'proxy.example.dmz'
  https_proxy 'proxy.example.dmz'
  no_proxy %w(internal.example.dmz)
end

Adding additional config content to the client.rb:

This resource aims to provide common configuration options. Some configuration options are missing and some users may want to use arbitrary Ruby code within their configuration. For this we offer an additional_config property that can be used to add any configuration or code to the bottom of the client.rb file. Also keep in mind that within the configuration directory is a client.d directory where you can put additional .rb files containing configuration options. These can be created using file or template resources within your cookbooks as necessary.

chef_client_config 'Create client.rb' do
  chef_server_url 'https://chef.example.dmz'
  additional_config <<~CONFIG
    # Extra config code to safely load a gem into the client run.
    # Since the config is Ruby you can run any Ruby code you want via the client.rb.
    # It's a great way to break things, so be careful
    begin
      require 'aws-sdk'
    rescue LoadError
      Chef::Log.warn "Failed to load aws-sdk."
    end
  CONFIG
end

Setup two report handlers in the client.rb:

chef_client_config 'Create client.rb' do
  chef_server_url 'https://chef.example.dmz'
  report_handlers [
    {
     'class' => 'ReportHandler1Class',
     'arguments' => ["'FirstArgument'", "'SecondArgument'"],
    },
    {
     'class' => 'ReportHandler2Class',
     'arguments' => ["'FirstArgument'", "'SecondArgument'"],
    },
  ]
end