client.rb¶

A client.rb file is used to specify the configuration details for the chef-client.

This file is loaded every time this executable is run
On UNIX- and Linux-based machines, the default location for this file is /etc/chef/client.rb; on Microsoft Windows machines, the default location for this file is C:\chef\client.rb; use the --config option from the command line to change this location
This file is not created by default
When a client.rb file is present in the default location, the settings contained within that client.rb file will override the default configuration settings

Settings¶

This configuration file has the following settings:

add_formatter

A 3rd-party formatter. (See nyan-cat for an example of a 3rd-party formatter.) Each formatter requires its own entry.

audit_mode

Enable audit-mode. Set to audit-only to skip the converge phase of the chef-client run and only perform audits. Possible values: audit-only, disabled, and enabled. Default value: disabled.

New in Chef Client 12.1

authentication_protocol_version

Sets the authentication protocol that is used to communicate with Chef server. For example, specify protocol version 1.3 to enable support for SHA-256 algorithms:

knife[:authentication_protocol_version] = '1.3'
Note

Authentication protocol 1.3 is only supported on Chef server versions 12.4.0 and above.

automatic_attribute_blacklist

A hash that blacklists automatic attributes, preventing blacklisted attributes from being saved.

New in Chef Client 13.0.

automatic_attribute_whitelist

A hash that whitelists automatic attributes, preventing non-whitelisted attributes from being saved.

New in Chef Client 13.0.

cache_path

Optional. The home directory for the user that is running the chef-client as a non-root user.

checksum_path

The location in which checksum files are stored. These are used to validate individual cookbook files, such as recipes. The checksum itself is stored in the Chef server database and is then compared to a file in the checksum path that has a filename identical to the checksum.

chef_guid

The node UUID used by Automate. Setting this allows the node UUID to be specified, and can be carried across instances of a node.

chef_repo_path

The path to the chef-repo.

chef_server_url

The URL for the Chef server. For example:

https://localhost/organizations/ORG_NAME

chef_zero.enabled

Enable chef-zero. This setting requires local_mode to be set to true. Default value: false.

chef_zero.port

The port on which chef-zero is to listen. This value may be specified as a range; the chef-client will take the first available port in the range. For example 10,20,30 or 10000-20000. Default value: 8889-9999.

client_fork

Contain the chef-client run in a secondary process with dedicated RAM. When the chef-client run is complete, the RAM is returned to the master process. This setting helps ensure that a chef-client uses a steady amount of RAM over time because the master process does not run recipes. This setting also helps prevent memory leaks such as those that can be introduced by the code contained within a poorly designed cookbook. Default value: true. Set to false to disable running the chef-client in fork node.

Note

Must be set to false up to Chef Client 13.11.3 to gather the standard return code offered by exit_status true. Chef Client 14.x behaves as expected, with no changes to the Chef Client configuration file necessary.

client_key

The location of the file that contains the client key. Default value: /etc/chef/client.pem.

client_registration_retries

The number of times a chef-client is to attempt to register with a Chef server. Default value: 5.

chef_gem_compile_time

Controls the phase during which a gem is installed on a node. Set to true to install a gem while the resource collection is being built (the “compile phase”). Set to false to install a gem while the chef-client is configuring the node (the “converge phase”). Recommended value: false.

client_d_dir

A directory that contains additional configuration scripts to load for chef-client.

New in Chef client 12.8.

cookbook_path

The sub-directory for cookbooks on the chef-client. This value can be a string or an array of file system locations, processed in the specified order. The last cookbook is considered to override local modifications.

cookbook_sync_threads

The number of helper threads available for parallel cookbook synchronization. Increasing this value may increase the frequency of gateway errors from the Chef server (503 and 504 errors). Decreasing this number reduces the frequency of gateway errors, if present. Default value: 10.

data_bag_decrypt_minimum_version

The minimum required version of data bag encryption. Possible values: 0, 1, and 2. When all of the machines in an organization are running chef-client version 11.6 (or higher), it is recommended that this value be set to 2.

data_bag_path

The location from which a data bag is loaded. Default value: /var/chef/data_bags.

data_collector.server_url

The fully qualified URL to the data collector server API.

data_collector.token

The shared data collector security token. When configured, the token will be passed as an HTTP header named x-data-collector-token which the server can choose to accept or reject.

data_collector.mode

The chef-client mode in which the Data Collector will be enabled. Possible values: :solo, :client, or :both. The :solo value is used for Chef operating in Chef Solo Mode or Chef Solo Legacy Mode. Default value: both.

data_collector.raise_on_failure

When enabled the chef-client will raise an error if it is unable to successfully POST to the data collector server. Default value: false.

default_attribute_blacklist

A hash that blacklists default attributes, preventing blacklisted attributes from being saved.

New in Chef Client 13.0.

default_attribute_whitelist

A hash that whitelists default attributes, preventing non-whitelisted attributes from being saved.

New in Chef Client 13.0.

diff_disabled

Cause the chef-client to create a diff when changes are made to a file. Default value: false.

diff_filesize_threshold

The maximum size (in bytes) of a file for which the chef-client can create a diff. Default value: 10000000.

diff_output_threshold

The maximum size (in bytes) of a diff file created by the chef-client. Default value: 1000000.

disable_event_logger

Enable or disable sending events to the Microsoft Windows “Application” event log. When false, events are sent to the Microsoft Windows “Application” event log at the start and end of a chef-client run, and also if a chef-client run fails. Set to true to disable event logging. Default value: false.

enable_reporting

Cause the chef-client to send data to the Chef server for use with Reporting.

enable_reporting_url_fatals

Cause the chef-client run to fail when Reporting data cannot be sent to the Chef server (for any reason).

enable_selinux_file_permission_fixup

SELinux environments only. Cause the chef-client to attempt to apply the correct file permissions to an updated file via the restorecon command. Set this value to false to prevent the chef-client from attempting this action.

encrypted_data_bag_secret

The subdirectory in which encrypted data bag secrets are located.

environment

The name of the environment.

environment_path

The path to the environment. Default value: /var/chef/environments.

exit_status

When set to :enabled, chef-client will use standardized exit codes for Chef client run status, and any non-standard exit codes will be converted to 1 or GENERIC_FAILURE. This setting can also be set to :disabled which preserves the old behavior of using non-standardized exit codes and skips the deprecation warnings. Default value: nil.

Note

The behavior with the default value consists of a warning on the use of deprecated and non-standard exit codes. In the 13.x release of Chef Client and beyond, using standardized exit codes is the default behavior and cannot be changed with this config item.

In Chef Client 13.x, you will also need to set client_fork false in the Chef Client config file in order to capture the standard return code. Otherwise, you will be gathering the exit status of the master process, and not that of the forked chef-client process that did the actual run. Chef 14.x allows the standard return codes to be returned to the calling shell in both forking and non-forking mode.

file_atomic_update

Apply atomic file updates to all resources. Set to true for global atomic file updates. Set to false for global non-atomic file updates. (Use the atomic_update setting on a per-resource basis to override this setting.) Default value: true.

Warning

Changing this setting to false may cause file corruption, data loss, or instability. Use the atomic_update property on the cookbook_file, file, remote_file, and template resources to tune this behavior at the recipe level.

file_backup_path

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

file_cache_path

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

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']. Default value: true.

fips

Allows OpenSSL to enforce FIPS-validated security during the chef-client run. Set to true to enable FIPS-validated security.

Changed in Chef server 12.13 to expose FIPS runtime flag on RHEL.

ftp_proxy

The proxy server for FTP connections.

ftp_proxy_pass

The password for the proxy server when the proxy server is using an FTP connection. Default value: nil.

ftp_proxy_user

The user name for the proxy server when the proxy server is using an FTP connection. Default value: nil.

group

The group that owns a process. This is required when starting any executable as a daemon. Default value: nil.

http_proxy

The proxy server for HTTP connections. Default value: nil.

http_proxy_pass

The password for the proxy server when the proxy server is using an HTTP connection. Default value: nil.

http_proxy_user

The user name for the proxy server when the proxy server is using an HTTP connection. Default value: nil.

http_retry_count

The number of retry attempts. Default value: 5.

http_retry_delay

The delay (in seconds) between retry attempts. Default value: 5.

https_proxy

The proxy server for HTTPS connections. Default value: nil.

https_proxy_pass

The password for the proxy server when the proxy server is using an HTTPS connection. Default value: nil.

https_proxy_user

The user name for the proxy server when the proxy server is using an HTTPS connection. Default value: nil.

interval

The frequency (in seconds) at which the chef-client runs. Default value: 1800.

json_attribs

The path to a file that contains JSON data.

listen

Run chef-zero in socketless mode. Set to false to disable port binding and HTTP requests on localhost.

local_key_generation

Whether the Chef server or chef-client generates the private/public key pair. When true, the chef-client generates the key pair, and then sends the public key to the Chef server. Default value: true.

local_mode

Run the chef-client in local mode. This allows all commands that work against the Chef server to also work against the local chef-repo.

lockfile

The location of the chef-client lock file. This value is typically platform-dependent, so should be a location defined by file_cache_path. The default location of a lock file should not on an NF mount. Default value: a location defined by file_cache_path.

log_level

The level of logging to be stored in a log file. Possible levels: :auto (default), :debug, :info, :warn, :error, or :fatal. Default value: :warn (when a terminal is available) or :info (when a terminal is not available).

log_location

The location of the log file. Possible values: /path/to/log_location, STDOUT, STDERR, :win_evt (Windows Event Logger), or :syslog (writes to the syslog daemon facility with the originator set as chef-client). The application log will specify the source as Chef. Default value: STDOUT.

Changed in Chef Client 12.9 to support new :win_evt and :syslog output locations. Changed in 12.4 to support the Windows Event Logger and configuration with the daemon facility.

minimal_ohai

Run the Ohai plugins for name detection and resource/provider selection and no other Ohai plugins. Set to true during integration testing to speed up test cycles.

named_run_list

The run-list associated with a policy file.

no_lazy_load

Download all cookbook files and templates at the beginning of the chef-client run. Default value: true.

no_proxy

A comma-separated list of URLs that do not need a proxy. Default value: nil.

node_name

The name of the node. Determines which configuration should be applied and sets the client_name, which is the name used when authenticating to a Chef server. The default value is the FQDN of the chef-client, as detected by Ohai. In general, Chef recommends that you leave this setting blank and let Ohai assign the FQDN of the node as the node_name during each chef-client run.

node_path

The location in which nodes are stored when the chef-client is run in local mode. Default value: /var/chef/node.

normal_attribute_blacklist

A hash that blacklists normal attributes, preventing blacklisted attributes from being saved.

New in Chef Client 13.0.

override_attribute_blacklist

A hash that blacklists override attributes, preventing blacklisted attributes from being saved.

New in Chef Client 13.0.

normal_attribute_whitelist

A hash that whitelists normal attributes, preventing non-whitelisted attributes from being saved.

New in Chef Client 13.0.

override_attribute_whitelist

A hash that whitelists override attributes, preventing non-whitelisted attributes from being saved.

New in Chef Client 13.0.

pid_file

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. Default value: /tmp/name-of-executable.pid.

policy_group

The name of a policy, as identified by the name setting in a Policyfile.rb file. policy_name must also be specified.

policy_name

The name of a policy group that exists on the Chef server. policy_group must also be specified.

rest_timeout

The time (in seconds) after which an HTTP REST request is to time out. Default value: 300.

role_path

The location in which role files are located. Default value: /var/chef/roles.

rubygems_url

The location to source rubygems. It can be set to a string or array of strings for URIs to set as rubygems sources. This allows individuals to setup an internal mirror of rubygems for “airgapped” environments. Default value: https://www.rubygems.org.

Changed in Chef Client 13.0.

run_lock_timeout

The amount of time (in seconds) to wait for a chef-client lock file to be deleted. A chef-client run will not start when a lock file is present. If a lock file is not deleted before this time expires, the pending chef-client run will exit. Default value: not set (indefinite). Set to 0 to cause a second chef-client to exit immediately.

splay

A random number between zero and splay that is added to interval. Use splay to help balance the load on the Chef server by ensuring that many chef-client runs are not occurring at the same interval. Default value: nil.

ssl_ca_file

The file in which the OpenSSL key is saved. This setting is generated automatically by the chef-client and most users do not need to modify it.

ssl_ca_path

The path to where the OpenSSL key is located. This setting is generated automatically by the chef-client and most users do not need to modify it.

ssl_client_cert

The OpenSSL X.509 certificate used for mutual certificate validation. This setting is only necessary when mutual certificate validation is configured on the Chef server. Default value: nil.

ssl_client_key

The OpenSSL X.509 key used for mutual certificate validation. This setting is only necessary when mutual certificate validation is configured on the Chef server. Default value: nil.

ssl_verify_mode

Set the verify mode for HTTPS requests.

Use :verify_none to do no validation of SSL certificates.
Use :verify_peer to do validation of all SSL certificates, including the Chef server connections, S3 connections, and any HTTPS remote_file resource URLs used in the chef-client run. This is the recommended setting.

Depending on how OpenSSL is configured, the ssl_ca_path may need to be specified. Default value: :verify_peer.

syntax_check_cache_path

All files in a cookbook must contain valid Ruby syntax. Use this setting to specify the location in which knife caches information about files that have been checked for valid Ruby syntax.

umask

The file mode creation mask, or umask. Default value: 0022.

use_policyfile

The chef-client automatically checks the configuration, node JSON, and the stored node on the Chef server to determine if Policyfile files are being used, and then automatically updates this flag. Default value: false.

user

The user that owns a process. This is required when starting any executable as a daemon. Default value: nil.

validation_client_name

The name of the chef-validator key that is used by the chef-client to access the Chef server during the initial chef-client run.

validation_key

The location of the file that contains the key used when a chef-client is registered with a Chef server. A validation key is signed using the validation_client_name for authentication. Default value: /etc/chef/validation.pem.

verbose_logging

Set the log level. Options: true, nil, and false. When this is set to false, notifications about individual resources being processed are suppressed (and are output at the :info logging level). Setting this to false can be useful when a chef-client is run as a daemon. Default value: nil.

verify_api_cert

Verify the SSL certificate on the Chef server. When true, the chef-client always verifies the SSL certificate. When false, the chef-client uses the value of ssl_verify_mode to determine if the SSL certificate requires verification. Default value: false.

whitelist

A hash that contains the whitelist used by Chef push jobs. For example:

whitelist {
  'job-name' => 'command',
  'job-name' => 'command',
  'chef-client' => 'chef-client'
}

A job entry may also be 'job-name' => {:lock => true}, which will check the lockfile setting in the client.rb file before starting the job.

Warning

The whitelist setting is available only when using Chef push jobs, a tool that runs jobs against nodes in an organization.

New in Chef Client 13.0.

windows_service.watchdog_timeout

The maximum amount of time (in seconds) available to the chef-client run when the chef-client is run as a service on the Microsoft Windows platform. If the chef-client run does not complete within the specified timeframe, the chef-client run is terminated. Default value: 2 * (60 * 60).

New in Chef Client 12.1.

yum_lock_timeout

The amount of time (in seconds) after which a Yum lock request is to time out. Default value: 30.

Automatic Proxy Config¶

If http_proxy, https_proxy, ftp_proxy, or no_proxy is set in the client.rb file and is not already set in the ENV, the chef-client will configure the ENV variable based on these (and related) settings. For example:

http_proxy 'http://proxy.example.org:8080'
http_proxy_user 'myself'
http_proxy_pass 'Password1'

Or an alternative way to define the proxy (if the previous version does not work):

http_proxy 'http://myself:Password1@proxy.example.org:8080'

will be set to:

ENV['http_proxy'] = 'http://myself:Password1@proxy.example.org:8080'

.d Directories¶

The chef-client supports reading multiple configuration files by putting them inside a .d configuration directory. For example: /etc/chef/client.d. All files that end in .rb in the .d directory are loaded; other non-.rb files are ignored.

.d directories may exist in any location where the client.rb, config.rb, or solo.rb files are present, such as:

/etc/chef/client.d
/etc/chef/config.d
~/chef/solo.d

(There is no support for a knife.d directory; use config.d instead.)

For example, when using knife, the following configuration files would be loaded:

~/.chef/config.rb
~/.chef/config.d/company_settings.rb
~/.chef/config.d/ec2_configuration.rb
~/.chef/config.d/old_settings.rb.bak

The old_settings.rb.bak file is ignored because it’s not a configuration file. The config.rb, company_settings.rb, and ec2_configuration files are merged together as if they are a single configuration file.

Note

If multiple configuration files exists in a .d directory, ensure that the same setting has the same value in all files.

Ohai Settings¶

Ohai configuration settings can be added to the client.rb file.

ohai.directory

The directory in which Ohai plugins are located.

ohai.disabled_plugins

An array of Ohai plugins to be disabled on a node. The list of plugins included in Ohai can be found in the ohai/lib/ohai/plugins directory. For example, disabling a single plugin:

ohai.disabled_plugins = [
  :MyPlugin
]

or disabling multiple plugins:

ohai.disabled_plugins = [
  :MyPlugin,
  :MyPlugin,
  :MyPlugin
]

and to disable multiple plugins, including Ohai 6 plugins:

ohai.disabled_plugins = [
          :MyPlugin,
  :MyPlugin,
  'my_ohai_6_plugin'
]

When a plugin is disabled, the chef-client log file will contain entries similar to:

[2014-06-13T23:49:12+00:00] DEBUG: Skipping disabled plugin MyPlugin

ohai.hints_path

The path to the file that contains hints for Ohai.

ohai.log_level

The level of logging to be stored in a log file.

ohai.log_location

The location of the log file.

ohai.plugin_path

An array of paths at which Ohai plugins are located. Default value: [<CHEF_GEM_PATH>/ohai-9.9.9/lib/ohai/plugins]. When custom Ohai plugins are added, the paths must be added to the array. For example, a single plugin:

ohai.plugin_path << '/etc/chef/ohai_plugins'

and for multiple plugins:

ohai.plugin_path += [
  '/etc/chef/ohai_plugins',
  '/path/to/other/plugins'
  ]

ohai.version

The version of Ohai.

Note

The Ohai executable ignores settings in the client.rb file when Ohai is run independently of the chef-client.

Example¶

A sample client.rb file that contains the most simple way to connect to https://manage.chef.io:

log_level        :info
log_location     STDOUT
chef_server_url  'https://api.chef.io/organizations/<orgname>'
validation_client_name '<orgname>-validator'
validation_key '/etc/chef/validator.pem'
client_key '/etc/chef/client.pem'