push-jobs cookbook

Installs the Chef Push client package and sets it up to run as a service.

The official documentation is on
docs.chef.io

Requirements

Requires Chef Server with the Chef Push Server add-on.

Platforms

• Debian/Ubuntu
• Windows

Tested on Ubuntu 10.04, 12.04, CentOS 6.4, and Windows 2008 R2. It may work on other debian, rhel, or windows platform families with or without modification.

Testing for Ubuntu/CentOS can be done with Test Kitchen, see TESTING.md in this repository.

Chef

• Chef 11.4+

Cookbooks

• runit
• windows
• chef-ingredient

Install the Workstation

To set up the Chef push jobs workstation, install the knife push plugin. The simplest way to install the plugin is by entering the following command at a shell prompt:

chef gem install knife-push  

Alternatives to chef gem install be found at https://docs.chef.io/plugin_knife_custom.html#install-a-plugin. Once installed, the following subcommands will be available:
* knife job list
* knife job start
* knife job status.

Usage

Include the default recipe in a node's run list. On Windows, the URL to the package to install and its SHA256 checksum are required so the package may be retrieved. For example:

node.default['push_jobs']['package_url'] = "http://www.example.com/pkgs/opscode-push-jobs-client-windows-1.1.5-1.windows.msi"
node.default['push_jobs']['package_checksum'] = "a-sha256-checksum"

Set a whitelist of job names and their commands in the configuration file. This is automatically generated from the node['push_jobs']['whitelist'] attribute Hash, such as:

node.default['push_jobs']['whitelist'] = {
  "chef-client" => "chef-client",
  "apt-get-update" => "apt-get update"
}

As this is an attribute, interesting uses arise from orchestrating a
Chef Client run. Assuming the above is present on the node prior to
running the recipe, run Chef Client with this command from the local
workstation:

knife job start chef-client A_NODE_NAME

New jobs can be added to the whitelist simply by creating attributes.
This can be done with knife exec:

knife exec -E 'nodes.transform("name:A_NODE_NAME") do |n|
  n.set["push_jobs"]["whitelist"]["ntpdate"] = "ntpdate -u time"
end'

Then, run the chef-client job, and then the ntpdate job:

knife job start chef-client A_NODE_NAME
knife job start ntpdate A_NODE_NAME

In a future release, an LWRP may be added to automatically add push
jobs.

Attributes

Attributes are documented in metadata.rb. See attributes/default.rb
for default values.

Recipes

There are several recipes in this cookbook, so they can be used all
together (include the default recipe), or as necessary.

default

The default recipe includes the appropriate recipe based on the node's
platform_family. It will raise an error if:

• The package URL and checksum attributes are not set on Windows
• The whitelist is not a Hash.
• The node's platform is not supported.

config

This recipe ensures the platform-specific configuration directory
(/etc/chef) is created, and renders the configuration file
(push-jobs-client.rb) using the whitelist attribute.
Any environment variables can be set using environment_variables
attribute with key value pairs.
You can provide your own push-jobs-client.rb.erb template file in
a wrapper cookbook and set the ['config']['template_cookbook']
attribute to the name of that wrapper cookbook.

The path to the configuration file is set using the PushJobsHelper
module's #config_path method. This is done to ensure the correct
file path is used on Linux and Windows platforms, as it uses
Chef::Config's #platform_specific_path method.

linux

This recipe downloads and installs the Chef Push client from CHEF's public repositories. Setting the node['push_jobs']['package_version'] attribute installs a specific version from the public repositories. Setting the node['push_jobs']['package_url'] and node['push_jobs']['package_checksum'] attributes together will override the default behavior and download the package from the specified URL.

knife

If the node['push_jobs']['gem_url'] attribute is set, this
recipe will download the knife-pushy gem to the system.

Use this recipe on workstation systems that should manage running jobs
with the knife plugin.

service

This recipe is responsible for handling the service resource based on
the node's platform. On Linux (Debian and RHEL families), it will
create a runit service. The default logger is used, and the log will
be /var/log/push-jobs-client/current. On Windows, it will add a
registry key for the Chef Push client, and manage the Windows service.

The service resources expect to be restarted if the configuration
template is changed, using subscribes notification.

windows

The node['push_jobs']['package_url'] and node['push_jobs']['package_checksum'] attributes must be set
to use this recipe. The URL will be used (with the
checksum attribute) to install the package using the windows_package
resource from the windows cookbook.

Client Connection Configuration

The push job client establishes a command and heartbeat channel to the
push server over tcp. The tcp connection information is read from
the Chef Server upon startup of the push client service from an endpoint
similar to the following:

https://private-chef-server/organizations/org1/pushy/config/

The connection information for the push server is established when the
push server is installed and the Chef Server is reconfigured. In the case
the Chef Server is not providing the correct push server configuration,
please verify hostnames are correct and that both the push server and
Chef Server have been reconfigured.

Verify Push Jobs Client Connection

If the push client has been successfully installed on a node, the
client should be able to successfully respond to a knife job directed
to the node. If the node is not responding correctly, please consult the
logs /var/log/push-jobs-client/current (for Debian and Rhel families) and
look for entries similar to the following:

INFO: [pclient] Starting client ...
INFO: [pclient] Retrieving configuration from https://private-chef-server/organizations/org1/pushy/config/pc_6_1 ...
INFO: [pclient] Connecting to command channel at tcp://private-chef-server:10002
INFO: [pclient] Listening for server heartbeat at tcp://private-chef-server:10000
INFO: [pclient] Started client.

License & Authors

• Author: Joshua Timberman (joshua@chef.io)
• Author: Charles Johnson (charles@chef.io)
• Author: Christopher Maier (cm@chef.io)

Copyright:: 2009-2015, Chef Software, Inc
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.