Getting Started

Getting Started with knife-zero.

You have 2 servers, production and development.

servers have public ip address. (Please replace your IPs.)
- server1: 153.120.97.132 (development)
- server2: 153.120.97.133 (production)
ssh login user is ubuntu which can sudo.

Setup Chef-Repo

First, create your Chef repository.

$ mkdir my_chef_repo
$ cd my_chef_repo
$ touch ./knife.rb

Write settings into knife.rb.

local_mode true
chef_repo_path   File.expand_path('../' , __FILE__)

knife[:ssh_attribute] = "knife_zero.host"
knife[:use_sudo] = true

## use specific key file to connect server instead of ssh_agent(use ssh_agent is set true by default).
# knife[:identity_file] = "~/.ssh/id_rsa"
# knife[:ssh_identity_file] = 'PATH_TO_YOUR_PRIVATE_KEY'  # Newer than Chef 14

## Attributes of node objects will be saved to json file.
## the automatic_attribute_whitelist option limits the attributes to be saved.
knife[:automatic_attribute_whitelist] = %w[
  fqdn
  os
  os_version
  hostname
  ipaddress
  roles
  recipes
  ipaddress
  platform
  platform_version
  cloud
  cloud_v2
  chef_packages
]

Bootstrap servers

Bootstrapping development server. Unless otherwise stated, all commands have been running on the workstation.

If you going to using version 15.x on the Chef Infra Client on the remote node, add the --chef-license accept option.

$ knife zero bootstrap 153.120.97.132 --ssh-user ubuntu

Connecting to 153.120.97.132

120.97.132 -----> Installing Chef Omnibus (-v 12)

...

120.97.132 Setting up chef (12.4.3-1) ...
120.97.132 Thank you for installing Chef!

120.97.132 Starting first Chef Client run...
120.97.132 Starting Chef Client, version 12.4.3
120.97.132 Creating a new client identity for server1 using the validator key.
120.97.132 resolving cookbooks for run list: []
120.97.132 Synchronizing Cookbooks:
120.97.132 Compiling Cookbooks...
120.97.132 WARN: Node server1 has an empty run list.
120.97.132 Converging 0 resources
120.97.132
120.97.132 Running handlers:
120.97.132 Running handlers complete
120.97.132 Chef Client finished, 0/0 resources updated in 1.935799462 seconds

Bootstrap does the following.

Installs Omnibus-Chef to remote node.
Create files for chef-client run.
Run chef-client once.

These process will not affect to almost server’s behavior.

There are created files in /etc/chef below by default. This behavior is same as chef-server/client environment.

(server1) $ sudo find /etc/chef
/etc/chef
/etc/chef/first-boot.json
/etc/chef/client.pem
/etc/chef/validation.pem
/etc/chef/client.rb

Node object will be created in ./nodes/ under current directory as json file.
And, We can manage with knife command.

$ ls nodes/server1.json
nodes/server1.json


$ knife node show server1
Node Name:   server1
Environment: _default
FQDN:        
IP:          153.120.97.132
Run List:    
Roles:       
Recipes:     
Platform:    ubuntu 12.04
Tags:        

If you would like to use another Node Name of remote server, we can use specific name of it by passing --node--name option.

$ knife zero bootstrap 153.120.97.132 --ssh-user ubuntu --node-name develop-server
...

$ knife node list
develop-server

$ knife node show develop-server
Node Name:   develop-server
Environment: _default
FQDN:        
IP:          153.120.97.132
Run List:    
Roles:       
Recipes:     
Platform:    ubuntu 12.04
Tags:        

Similarly, also bootstrap production server.

$ knife zero bootstrap 153.120.97.133 --ssh-user ubuntu --node-name production-server

...


$ knife node list
develop-server
production-server


$ knife node show production-server
Node Name:   production-server
Environment: _default
FQDN:        
IP:          153.120.97.133
Run List:    
Roles:       
Recipes:     
Platform:    ubuntu 12.04
Tags:        

Search and SSH

We can search and run command via ssh.

Search with attributes.

$ knife search node "name:dev*"
1 items found

Node Name:   develop-server
Environment: _default
FQDN:        
IP:          153.120.97.132
Run List:    
Roles:       
Recipes:     
Platform:    ubuntu 12.04
Tags:        


$ knife search node "platform:ubuntu"
2 items found

Node Name:   develop-server
Environment: _default
FQDN:        
IP:          153.120.97.132
Run List:    
Roles:       
Recipes:     
Platform:    ubuntu 12.04
Tags:        

Node Name:   production-server
Environment: _default
FQDN:        
IP:          153.120.97.133
Run List:    
Roles:       
Recipes:     
Platform:    ubuntu 12.04
Tags:        

Run command to nodes witch was found by query.

$ knife ssh "platform:ubuntu" --ssh-user ubuntu hostname
153.120.97.132 server1
153.120.97.133 server2


$ knife ssh "platform:ubuntu" --ssh-user ubuntu sudo apt-get update
153.120.97.132 sudo: unable to resolve host server1
153.120.97.133 sudo: unable to resolve host server2

...

Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done


$ knife ssh "platform:ubuntu" --ssh-user ubuntu sudo apt-get install -y unattended-upgrades

...

$ knife ssh "platform:ubuntu" --ssh-user ubuntu sudo apt-get install -y unattended-upgrades
153.120.97.132 sudo: unable to resolve host server1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
153.120.97.133 sudo: unable to resolve host server2
Reading package lists... Done
153.120.97.132 Suggested packages:
153.120.97.132   bsd-mailx
153.120.97.132 The following NEW packages will be installed:

...

153.120.97.133 Processing triggers for man-db ...
153.120.97.132 Setting up unattended-upgrades (0.76ubuntu1.1) ...
153.120.97.133 Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
153.120.97.133 Setting up unattended-upgrades (0.76ubuntu1.1) ...

Converge

Next, we can run chef-client on remote servers by zero converge without any changes.

$ knife zero converge "name:*" --ssh-user ubuntu
120.97.132 sudo: unable to resolve host server1
120.97.133 sudo: unable to resolve host server2
120.97.132 Starting Chef Client, version 12.4.3
120.97.133 Starting Chef Client, version 12.4.3
120.97.132 resolving cookbooks for run list: []
120.97.132 Synchronizing Cookbooks:
120.97.132 Compiling Cookbooks...
120.97.132 WARN: Node develop-server has an empty run list.
120.97.132 Converging 0 resources
120.97.132
120.97.132 Running handlers:
120.97.132 Running handlers complete
120.97.132 Chef Client finished, 0/0 resources updated in 1.612886172 seconds
120.97.133 resolving cookbooks for run list: []
120.97.133 Synchronizing Cookbooks:
120.97.133 Compiling Cookbooks...
120.97.133 WARN: Node production-server has an empty run list.
120.97.133 Converging 0 resources
120.97.133
120.97.133 Running handlers:
120.97.133 Running handlers complete
120.97.133 Chef Client finished, 0/0 resources updated in 1.970427916 seconds

Now, we have prepared to manage by chef.

Note:
Remember, we don’t have to use recipes to manage servers.
It is possible that we can manage simply with using knife (ssh|search|node list) without converge.
In other words, we can use chef-repository which is created by Knife-Zero as just management ledger.

Create recipe and apply it.

OK, let’s edit our Chef-Repo and manage servers.

Create cookbook create_file to ./cookbooks/.

$ knife cookbook create create_file
** Creating cookbook create_file in /Users/sawanoboriyu/bitbucket/sawanoboly/knife-zero.gettingstarted/cookbooks
** Creating README for cookbook: create_file
** Creating CHANGELOG for cookbook: create_file
** Creating metadata for cookbook: create_file

And edit cookbooks/create_file/recipes/default.rb like below.

file '/tmp/myenvironment' do
  content node.chef_environment
end

Converge develop-server by --override-runlist option.

$ knife zero converge "name:develop-server" --ssh-user ubuntu --override-runlist create_file
120.97.132 sudo: unable to resolve host server1
120.97.132 Starting Chef Client, version 12.4.3
120.97.132 WARN: Run List override has been provided.
120.97.132 WARN: Original Run List: []
120.97.132 WARN: Overridden Run List: [recipe[create_file]]
120.97.132 resolving cookbooks for run list: ["create_file"]
120.97.132 Synchronizing Cookbooks:
120.97.132   - create_file
120.97.132 Compiling Cookbooks...
120.97.132 Converging 1 resources
120.97.132 Recipe: create_file::default
120.97.132   * file[/tmp/myenvironment] action create
120.97.132     - create new file /tmp/myenvironment
120.97.132     - update content in file /tmp/myenvironment from none to 3bf305
120.97.132     --- /tmp/myenvironment	2015-xx-xx xx:xx:xx.846280326 +0900
120.97.132     +++ /tmp/.myenvironment20151006-17877-1itgu45	2015-xx-xx xx:xx:xx.846280326 +0900
120.97.132     @@ -1 +1,2 @@
120.97.132     +_default
120.97.132 WARN: Skipping final node save because override_runlist was given
120.97.132
120.97.132 Running handlers:
120.97.132 Running handlers complete
120.97.132 Chef Client finished, 1/1 resources updated in 1.712681794 seconds

It creates file on remote server.

(server1)$ cat /tmp/myenvironment
_default

--override-runlist doesn’t update local node file. Run-List of node was leave empty.

$ knife node show develop-server
Node Name:   develop-server
Environment: _default
FQDN:        
IP:          153.120.97.132
Run List:    
Roles:       
Recipes:     
Platform:    ubuntu 12.04
Tags:        

If we want to register recipe to node permanently, should use node run_list add.

knife node run_list add [NODE] [ENTRY[,ENTRY]] (options)

$ knife node run_list add develop-server create_file
develop-server:
  run_list: recipe[create_file]

$ knife node show develop-server
Node Name:   develop-server
Environment: _default
FQDN:        
IP:          153.120.97.132
Run List:    recipe[create_file]
Roles:       
Recipes:     
Platform:    ubuntu 12.04
Tags:        

To apply Run-List of node by running converge without --override-runlist option.

$ knife zero converge "name:develop-server" -x ubuntu
120.97.132 sudo: unable to resolve host server1
120.97.132 Starting Chef Client, version 12.4.3
120.97.132 resolving cookbooks for run list: ["create_file"]
120.97.132 Synchronizing Cookbooks:
120.97.132   - create_file
120.97.132 Compiling Cookbooks...
120.97.132 Converging 1 resources
120.97.132 Recipe: create_file::default
120.97.132   * file[/tmp/myenvironment] action create (up to date)
120.97.132
120.97.132 Running handlers:
120.97.132 Running handlers complete
120.97.132 Chef Client finished, 0/1 resources updated in 1.852618101 seconds

Managing nodes with knife-zero workflow is almost same as Chef-Server and Client usage. Please see official document to learn more.

knife node — Chef Docs

assigning environments

Create two environments, development and production.

$ knife environment create development --disable-editing
Created development

$ knife environment create production --disable-editing
Created production


$ ls -1 environments/
development.json
production.json

About Environments — Chef Docs

We can assign specific environment each nodes by node environment set.

knife node environment set NODE ENVIRONMENT

$ knife node environment set develop-server development
develop-server:
  chef_environment: development

$ knife node environment set production-server production
production-server:
  chef_environment: production

Search key of environment is chef_environment.

$ knife search node "chef_environment:production"
1 items found

Node Name:   production-server
Environment: production
FQDN:        
IP:          153.120.97.133
Run List:    
Roles:       
Recipes:     
Platform:    ubuntu 12.04
Tags:        

Next, set same recipes to production-server.

$ knife node run_list add production-server create_file
production-server:
  run_list: recipe[create_file]

Converge all servers. It runs same recipe to two servers, but result depends on their environment.

$ knife zero converge "chef_environment:*" -x ubuntu
120.97.132 sudo: unable to resolve host server1
120.97.133 sudo: unable to resolve host server2
120.97.132 Starting Chef Client, version 12.4.3
120.97.133 Starting Chef Client, version 12.4.3
120.97.132 resolving cookbooks for run list: ["create_file"]
120.97.132 Synchronizing Cookbooks:
120.97.132   - create_file
120.97.132 Compiling Cookbooks...
120.97.132 Converging 1 resources
120.97.132 Recipe: create_file::default
120.97.132   * file[/tmp/myenvironment] action create
120.97.132     - update content in file /tmp/myenvironment from 3bf305 to 875b93
120.97.132     --- /tmp/myenvironment	2015-xx-xx xx:xx:xx.846280326 +0900
120.97.132     +++ /tmp/.myenvironment20151006-19739-ml9ybe	2015-xx-xx xx:xx:xx.698338024 +0900
120.97.132     @@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
120.97.132     -_default
120.97.132     +development
120.97.132
120.97.132 Running handlers:
120.97.132 Running handlers complete
120.97.132 Chef Client finished, 1/1 resources updated in 1.953228699 seconds
120.97.133 resolving cookbooks for run list: ["create_file"]
120.97.133 Synchronizing Cookbooks:
120.97.133   - create_file
120.97.133 Compiling Cookbooks...
120.97.133 Converging 1 resources
120.97.133 Recipe: create_file::default
120.97.133   * file[/tmp/myenvironment] action create
120.97.133     - create new file /tmp/myenvironment
120.97.133     - update content in file /tmp/myenvironment from none to ab8e18
120.97.133     --- /tmp/myenvironment	2015-xx-xx xx:xx:xx.291539816 +0900
120.97.133     +++ /tmp/.myenvironment20151006-17291-rpkr7j	2015-xx-xx xx:xx:xx.291539816 +0900
120.97.133     @@ -1 +1,2 @@
120.97.133     +production
120.97.133
120.97.133 Running handlers:
120.97.133 Running handlers complete
120.97.133 Chef Client finished, 1/1 resources updated in 2.218201444 seconds

Were you able to do?

If there is that if you are in trouble, First, let’s check the official document. Again, Knife-Zero is the same as the Chef-Server environment.

All about Chef … — Chef Docs

Or, you can create issue an pull request to knife-zero, or visit chat.

higanworks/knife-zero … Github