chef_handler resource¶

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Use the chef_handler resource to enable handlers during a chef-client run. The resource allows arguments to be passed to the chef-client, which then applies the conditions defined by the custom handler to the node attribute data collected during the chef-client run, and then processes the handler based on that data.

The chef_handler resource is typically defined early in a node’s run-list (often being the first item). This ensures that all of the handlers will be available for the entire chef-client run.

New in Chef Client 14.0.

Handler Types¶

There are three types of handlers:

Handler	Description
exception	An exception handler is used to identify situations that have caused a chef-client run to fail. An exception handler can be loaded at the start of a chef-client run by adding a recipe that contains the chef_handler resource to a node’s run-list. An exception handler runs when the `failed?` property for the `run_status` object returns `true`.
report	A report handler is used when a chef-client run succeeds and reports back on certain details about that chef-client run. A report handler can be loaded at the start of a chef-client run by adding a recipe that contains the chef_handler resource to a node’s run-list. A report handler runs when the `success?` property for the `run_status` object returns `true`.
start	A start handler is used to run events at the beginning of the chef-client run. A start handler can be loaded at the start of a chef-client run by adding the start handler to the `start_handlers` setting in the client.rb file or by installing the gem that contains the start handler by using the chef_gem resource in a recipe in the chef-client cookbook. (A start handler may not be loaded using the `chef_handler` resource.)

Exception / Report¶

Exception and report handlers are used to trigger certain behaviors in response to specific situations, typically identified during a chef-client run.

An exception handler is used to trigger behaviors when a defined aspect of a chef-client run fails.
A report handler is used to trigger behaviors when a defined aspect of a chef-client run is successful.

Both types of handlers can be used to gather data about a chef-client run and can provide rich levels of data about all types of usage, which can be used later for trending and analysis across the entire organization.

Exception and report handlers are made available to the chef-client run in one of the following ways:

By adding the chef_handler resource to a recipe, and then adding that recipe to the run-list for a node. (The chef_handler resource is available from the chef_handler cookbook.)
By adding the handler to one of the following settings in the node’s client.rb file: exception_handlers and/or report_handlers

The chef_handler resource allows exception and report handlers to be enabled from within recipes, which can then added to the run-list for any node on which the exception or report handler should run. The chef_handler resource is available from the chef_handler cookbook.

To use the chef_handler resource in a recipe, add code similar to the following:

chef_handler 'name_of_handler' do
  source '/path/to/handler/handler_name'
  action :enable
end

For example, a handler for Growl needs to be enabled at the beginning of the chef-client run:

chef_gem 'chef-handler-growl'

and then is activated in a recipe by using the chef_handler resource:

chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::Growl' do
  source 'chef/handler/growl'
  action :enable
end

Start¶

A start handler is not loaded into the chef-client run from a recipe, but is instead listed in the client.rb file using the start_handlers attribute. The start handler must be installed on the node and be available to the chef-client prior to the start of the chef-client run. Use the chef-client cookbook to install the start handler.

Start handlers are made available to the chef-client run in one of the following ways:

By adding a start handler to the chef-client cookbook, which installs the handler on the node so that it is available to the chef-client at the start of the chef-client run
By adding the handler to one of the following settings in the node’s client.rb file: start_handlers

The chef-client cookbook can be configured to automatically install and configure gems that are required by a start handler. For example:

node.normal['chef_client']['load_gems']['chef-reporting'] = {
  :require_name => 'chef_reporting',
  :action => :install
}

node.normal['chef_client']['config']['start_handlers'] = [
  {
    :class => 'Chef::Reporting::StartHandler',
    :arguments => []
  }
]

include_recipe 'chef-client::config'

Syntax¶

A chef_handler resource block enables handlers during a chef-client run. Two handlers—JsonFile and ErrorReport—are built into Chef:

chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::JsonFile' do
  source 'chef/handler/json_file'
  arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports'
  action :enable
end

and:

chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::ErrorReport' do
  source 'chef/handler/error_report'
  action :enable
end

show how to enable those handlers in a recipe.

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

chef_handler 'name' do
  arguments                  Array
  class_name                 String
  notifies                   # see description
  source                     String
  subscribes                 # see description
  supports                   Hash
  action                     Symbol
end

where:

chef_handler is the resource.
name is the name given to the resource block.
action identifies which steps the chef-client will take to bring the node into the desired state.
arguments, class_name, source, and supports are properties of this resource, with the Ruby type shown. See “Properties” section below for more information about all of the properties that may be used with this resource.

Actions¶

The chef_handler resource has the following actions:

:disable: Disable the handler for the current chef-client run on the current node.
:enable: Enable the handler for the current chef-client run on the current node.
:nothing: Define this resource block to do nothing until notified by another resource to take action. When this resource is notified, this resource block is either run immediately or it is queued up to be run at the end of the Chef Client run.

Properties¶

The chef_handler resource has the following properties:

arguments

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

An array of arguments that are passed to the initializer for the handler class. For example:

arguments :key1 => 'val1'

or:

arguments [:key1 => 'val1', :key2 => 'val2']

class_name

Ruby Type: String

The name of the handler class. This can be module name-spaced.

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason.

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.

A timer specifies the point during the Chef 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 the Chef 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

retries

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 0

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

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2

The retry delay (in seconds).

source

Ruby Type: String

The full path to the handler file or the path to a gem (if the handler ships as part of a Ruby gem).

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.

A timer specifies the point during the Chef 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 the Chef 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

supports

Warning

This property has been deprecated, and will be removed in the future. Use the type property instead.

Ruby Type: Hash | Default Value: { report: true, exception: true }.

The type of handler. Possible values: :exception, :report, or :start.

type

Ruby Type: Hash | Default Value: { report: true, exception: true }.

The type of handler. Possible values: :exception, :report, or :start.

Custom Handlers¶

A custom handler can be created to support any situation. The easiest way to build a custom handler:

Download the chef_handler cookbook
Create a custom handler
Write a recipe using the chef_handler resource
Add that recipe to a node’s run-list, often as the first recipe in that run-list

Syntax¶

The syntax for a handler can vary, depending on what the the situations the handler is being asked to track, the type of handler being used, and so on. All custom exception and report handlers are defined using Ruby and must be a subclass of the Chef::Handler class.

require 'chef/log'

module ModuleName
  class HandlerName < Chef::Handler
    def report
      # Ruby code goes here
    end
  end
end

where:

require ensures that the logging functionality of the chef-client is available to the handler
ModuleName is the name of the module as it exists within the Chef library
HandlerName is the name of the handler as it is used in a recipe
report is an interface that is used to define the custom handler

For example, the following shows a custom handler that sends an email that contains the exception data when a chef-client run fails:

require 'net/smtp'

module OrgName
  class SendEmail < Chef::Handler
    def report
      if run_status.failed? then
        message  = "From: sender_name <sender@example.com>\n"
        message << "To: recipient_address <recipient@example.com>\n"
        message << "Subject: chef-client Run Failed\n"
        message << "Date: #{Time.now.rfc2822}\n\n"
        message << "Chef run failed on #{node.name}\n"
        message << "#{run_status.formatted_exception}\n"
        message << Array(backtrace).join('\n')
        Net::SMTP.start('your.smtp.server', 25) do |smtp|
          smtp.send_message message, 'sender@example', 'recipient@example'
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

and then is used in a recipe like:

send_email 'blah' do
  # recipe code
end

report Interface¶

The report interface is used to define how a handler will behave and is a required part of any custom handler. The syntax for the report interface is as follows:

def report
  # Ruby code
end

The Ruby code used to define a custom handler will vary significantly from handler to handler. The chef-client includes two default handlers: error_report and json_file. Their use of the report interface is shown below.

The error_report handler:

require 'chef/handler'
require 'chef/resource/directory'

class Chef
  class Handler
    class ErrorReport < ::Chef::Handler
      def report
        Chef::FileCache.store('failed-run-data.json', Chef::JSONCompat.to_json_pretty(data), 0640)
        Chef::Log.fatal("Saving node information to #{Chef::FileCache.load('failed-run-data.json', false)}")
      end
    end
 end
end

The json_file handler:

require 'chef/handler'
require 'chef/resource/directory'

class Chef
  class Handler
    class JsonFile < ::Chef::Handler
      attr_reader :config
      def initialize(config={})
        @config = config
        @config[:path] ||= '/var/chef/reports'
        @config
      end
      def report
        if exception
          Chef::Log.error('Creating JSON exception report')
        else
          Chef::Log.info('Creating JSON run report')
        end
        build_report_dir
        savetime = Time.now.strftime('%Y%m%d%H%M%S')
        File.open(File.join(config[:path], 'chef-run-report-#{savetime}.json'), 'w') do |file|
          run_data = data
          run_data[:start_time] = run_data[:start_time].to_s
          run_data[:end_time] = run_data[:end_time].to_s
          file.puts Chef::JSONCompat.to_json_pretty(run_data)
        end
      end
      def build_report_dir
        unless File.exist?(config[:path])
          FileUtils.mkdir_p(config[:path])
          File.chmod(00700, config[:path])
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

Optional Interfaces¶

The following interfaces may be used in a handler in the same way as the report interface to override the default handler behavior in the chef-client. That said, the following interfaces are not typically used in a handler and, for the most part, are completely unnecessary for a handler to work properly and/or as desired.

data¶

The data method is used to return the Hash representation of the run_status object. For example:

def data
  @run_status.to_hash
end

run_report_safely¶

The run_report_safely method is used to run the report handler, rescuing and logging errors that may arise as the handler runs and ensuring that all handlers get a chance to run during the chef-client run (even if some handlers fail during that run). In general, this method should never be used as an interface in a custom handler unless this default behavior simply must be overridden.

def run_report_safely(run_status)
  run_report_unsafe(run_status)
rescue Exception => e
  Chef::Log.error('Report handler #{self.class.name} raised #{e.inspect}')
  Array(e.backtrace).each { |line| Chef::Log.error(line) }
ensure
  @run_status = nil
end

run_report_unsafe¶

The run_report_unsafe method is used to run the report handler without any error handling. This method should never be used directly in any handler, except during testing of that handler. For example:

def run_report_unsafe(run_status)
  @run_status = run_status
  report
end

run_status Object¶

The run_status object is initialized by the chef-client before the report interface is run for any handler. The run_status object keeps track of the status of the chef-client run and will contain some (or all) of the following properties:

Property	Description
`all_resources`	A list of all resources that are included in the `resource_collection` property for the current chef-client run.
`backtrace`	A backtrace associated with the uncaught exception data that caused a chef-client run to fail, if present; `nil` for a successful chef-client run.
`elapsed_time`	The amount of time between the start (`start_time`) and end (`end_time`) of a chef-client run.
`end_time`	The time at which a chef-client run ended.
`exception`	The uncaught exception data which caused a chef-client run to fail; `nil` for a successful chef-client run.
`failed?`	Show that a chef-client run has failed when uncaught exceptions were raised during a chef-client run. An exception handler runs when the `failed?` indicator is `true`.
`node`	The node on which the chef-client run occurred.
`run_context`	An instance of the `Chef::RunContext` object; used by the chef-client to track the context of the run; provides access to the `cookbook_collection`, `resource_collection`, and `definitions` properties.
`start_time`	The time at which a chef-client run started.
`success?`	Show that a chef-client run succeeded when uncaught exceptions were not raised during a chef-client run. A report handler runs when the `success?` indicator is `true`.
`updated_resources`	A list of resources that were marked as updated as a result of the chef-client run.

Note

These properties are not always available. For example, a start handler runs at the beginning of the chef-client run, which means that properties like end_time and elapsed_time are still unknown and will be unavailable to the run_status object.

Examples¶

The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using resources in recipes. If you want to see examples of how Chef uses resources in recipes, take a closer look at the cookbooks that Chef authors and maintains: https://github.com/chef-cookbooks.

Enable the CloudkickHandler handler

The following example shows how to enable the CloudkickHandler handler, which adds it to the default handler path and passes the oauth key/secret to the handler’s initializer:

chef_handler "CloudkickHandler" do
  source "#{node['chef_handler']['handler_path']}/cloudkick_handler.rb"
  arguments [node['cloudkick']['oauth_key'], node['cloudkick']['oauth_secret']]
  action :enable
end

Enable handlers during the compile phase

chef_handler "Chef::Handler::JsonFile" do
  source "chef/handler/json_file"
  arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports'
  action :nothing
end.run_action(:enable)

Handle only exceptions

chef_handler "Chef::Handler::JsonFile" do
  source "chef/handler/json_file"
  arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports'
  supports :exception => true
  action :enable
end

Cookbook Versions (a custom handler)

Community member juliandunn created a custom report handler that logs all of the cookbooks and cookbook versions that were used during the chef-client run, and then reports after the run is complete. This handler requires the chef_handler resource (which is available from the chef_handler cookbook).

cookbook_versions.rb:

The following custom handler defines how cookbooks and cookbook versions that are used during the chef-client run will be compiled into a report using the Chef::Log class in the chef-client:

require 'chef/log'

module Opscode
  class CookbookVersionsHandler < Chef::Handler

    def report
      cookbooks = run_context.cookbook_collection
      Chef::Log.info('Cookbooks and versions run: #{cookbooks.keys.map {|x| cookbooks[x].name.to_s + ' ' + cookbooks[x].version} }')
    end
  end
end

default.rb:

The following recipe is added to the run-list for every node on which a list of cookbooks and versions will be generated as report output after every chef-client run.

include_recipe 'chef_handler'

cookbook_file "#{node['chef_handler']['handler_path']}/cookbook_versions.rb" do
  source 'cookbook_versions.rb'
  owner 'root'
  group 'root'
  mode '0755'
  action :create
end

chef_handler 'Opscode::CookbookVersionsHandler' do
  source "#{node['chef_handler']['handler_path']}/cookbook_versions.rb"
  supports :report => true
  action :enable
end

This recipe will generate report output similar to the following:

[2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Chef Run complete in 0.300029878 seconds
[2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Running report handlers
[2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Cookbooks and versions run: ["chef_handler 1.1.4", "cookbook_versions_handler 1.0.0"]
[2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Report handlers complete

JsonFile Handler

The json_file handler is available from the chef_handler cookbook and can be used with exceptions and reports. It serializes run status data to a JSON file. This handler may be enabled in one of the following ways.

By adding the following lines of Ruby code to either the client.rb file or the solo.rb file, depending on how the chef-client is being run:

require 'chef/handler/json_file'
report_handlers << Chef::Handler::JsonFile.new(:path => '/var/chef/reports')
exception_handlers << Chef::Handler::JsonFile.new(:path => '/var/chef/reports')

By using the chef_handler resource in a recipe, similar to the following:

chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::JsonFile' do
  source 'chef/handler/json_file'
  arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports'
  action :enable
end

After it has run, the run status data can be loaded and inspected via Interactive Ruby (IRb):

irb(main):002:0> require 'json' => true
irb(main):003:0> require 'chef' => true
irb(main):004:0> r = JSON.parse(IO.read('/var/chef/reports/chef-run-report-20110322060731.json')) => ... output truncated
irb(main):005:0> r.keys => ['end_time', 'node', 'updated_resources', 'exception', 'all_resources', 'success', 'elapsed_time', 'start_time', 'backtrace']
irb(main):006:0> r['elapsed_time'] => 0.00246

Register the JsonFile handler

chef_handler "Chef::Handler::JsonFile" do
  source "chef/handler/json_file"
  arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports'
  action :enable
end

ErrorReport Handler

The error_report handler is built into the chef-client and can be used for both exceptions and reports. It serializes error report data to a JSON file. This handler may be enabled in one of the following ways.

By adding the following lines of Ruby code to either the client.rb file or the solo.rb file, depending on how the chef-client is being run:

require 'chef/handler/error_report'
report_handlers << Chef::Handler::ErrorReport.new()
exception_handlers << Chef::Handler::ErrorReport.new()

By using the chef_handler resource in a recipe, similar to the following:

chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::ErrorReport' do
  source 'chef/handler/error_report'
  action :enable
end