openssl_x509_request Resource

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Use the openssl_x509_request resource to generate PEM-formatted x509 certificates requests. If no existing key is specified, the resource will automatically generate a passwordless key with the certificate.

New in Chef Infra Client 14.4.

Syntax

The full syntax for all of the properties that are available to the openssl_x509_request resource is:

openssl_x509_request 'name' do
  city             String
  common_name      String
  country          String
  email            String
  group            String, Integer
  key_curve        String # default value: "prime256v1"
  key_file         String
  key_length       Integer # default value: 2048
  key_pass         String
  key_type         String # default value: "ec"
  mode             Integer, String
  org              String
  org_unit         String
  owner            String, Integer
  path             String # default value: 'name' unless specified
  state            String
  action           Symbol # defaults to :create if not specified
end

where:

• openssl_x509_request 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.
• city, common_name, country, email, group, key_curve, key_file, key_length, key_pass, key_type, mode, org, org_unit, owner, path, and state are the properties available to this resource.

Actions

The openssl_x509_request resource has the following actions:

:create

Default. Create the certificate request file.

: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.

Properties

The openssl_x509_request resource has the following properties:

city

Ruby Type: String

Value for the L certificate field.

common_name

Ruby Type: String | REQUIRED

Value for the CN certificate field.

country

Ruby Type: String

Value for the C certificate field.

email

Ruby Type: String

Value for the email certificate field.

group

Ruby Type: String, Integer

The group ownership applied to all files created by the resource.

key_curve

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: prime256v1Allowed Values: "prime256v1", "secp384r1", "secp521r1"

The desired curve of the generated key (if key_type is equal to ec). Run openssl ecparam -list_curves to see available options.

key_file

Ruby Type: String

The path to a certificate key file on the filesystem. If the key_file property is specified, the resource will attempt to source a key from this location. If no key file is found, the resource will generate a new key file at this location. If the key_file property is not specified, the resource will generate a key file in the same directory as the generated certificate, with the same name as the generated certificate.

key_length

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2048Allowed Values: 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192

The desired bit length of the generated key (if key_type is equal to rsa).

key_pass

Ruby Type: String

The passphrase for an existing key’s passphrase.

key_type

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: ecAllowed Values: "ec", "rsa"

The desired type of the generated key.

mode

Ruby Type: Integer, String

The permission mode applied to all files created by the resource.

org

Ruby Type: String

Value for the O certificate field.

org_unit

Ruby Type: String

Value for the OU certificate field.

owner

Ruby Type: String, Integer

The owner applied to all files created by the resource.

path

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: The resource block's name

An optional property for specifying the path to write the file to if it differs from the resource block’s name.

state

Ruby Type: String

Value for the ST certificate field.

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 openssl_x509_request resource in recipes:

Generate new EC key and CSR file

openssl_x509_request '/etc/ssl_files/my_ec_request.csr' do
  common_name 'myecrequest.example.com'
  org 'Test Kitchen Example'
  org_unit 'Kitchens'
  country 'UK'
end

Generate a new CSR file from an existing EC key

openssl_x509_request '/etc/ssl_files/my_ec_request2.csr' do
  common_name 'myecrequest2.example.com'
  org 'Test Kitchen Example'
  org_unit 'Kitchens'
  country 'UK'
  key_file '/etc/ssl_files/my_ec_request.key'
end

Generate new RSA key and CSR file

openssl_x509_request '/etc/ssl_files/my_rsa_request.csr' do
  common_name 'myrsarequest.example.com'
  org 'Test Kitchen Example'
  org_unit 'Kitchens'
  country 'UK'
  key_type 'rsa'
end