ifconfig resource¶

Use the ifconfig resource to manage interfaces on Unix and Linux systems.

Syntax¶

An ifconfig resource block manages interfaces, such as a static IP address:

ifconfig '33.33.33.80' do
  device 'eth1'
end

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

ifconfig 'name' do
  bcast             String
  bonding_opts      String
  bootproto         String
  device            String
  ethtool_opts      String
  family            String # default value: inet
  gateway           String
  hwaddr            String
  inet_addr         String
  mask              String
  master            String
  metric            String
  mtu               String
  network           String
  onboot            String
  onparent          String
  slave             String
  target            String # default value: 'name' unless specified
  vlan              String
  action            Symbol # defaults to :add if not specified
end

where:

ifconfig 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.
bcast, bonding_opts, bootproto, device, ethtool_opts, family, gateway, hwaddr, inet_addr, mask, master, metric, mtu, network, onboot, onparent, slave, target, and vlan are the properties available to this resource.

Actions¶

The ifconfig resource has the following actions:

:add: Default. Run ifconfig to configure a network interface and (on some platforms) write a configuration file for that network interface.
:delete: Run ifconfig to disable a network interface and (on some platforms) delete that network interface’s configuration file.
:disable: Run ifconfig to disable a network interface.
:enable: Run ifconfig to enable a network interface.
: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 ifconfig resource has the following properties:

bcast

Ruby Type: String

The broadcast address for a network interface. On some platforms this property is not set using ifconfig, but instead is added to the startup configuration file for the network interface.

bonding_opts

Ruby Type: String

Bonding options to pass via BONDING_OPTS on RHEL and CentOS. For example: mode=active-backup miimon=100

New in Chef Client 13.4.

bootproto

Ruby Type: String

The boot protocol used by a network interface.

device

Ruby Type: String

The network interface to be configured.

ethtool_opts

Ruby Type: String

Options to be passed to ethtool(8). For example: -A eth0 autoneg off rx off tx off

New in Chef Client 13.4.

family

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: inet

Networking family option for Debian-based systems; for example: inet or inet6.

New in Chef Client 14.0.

gateway

Ruby Type: String

The gateway to use for the interface.

New in Chef Client 14.4.

hwaddr

Ruby Type: String

The hardware address for the network interface.

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

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

inet_addr

Ruby Type: String

The Internet host address for the network interface.

mask

Ruby Type: String

The decimal representation of the network mask. For example: 255.255.255.0.

master

Ruby Type: String

Specifies the channel bonding interface to which the Ethernet interface is linked.

New in Chef Client 13.4.

metric

Ruby Type: String

The routing metric for the interface.

mtu

Ruby Type: String

The maximum transmission unit (MTU) for the network interface.

network

Ruby Type: String

The address for the network interface.

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

onboot

Ruby Type: String

Bring up the network interface on boot.

onparent

Ruby Type: String

Bring up the network interface when its parent interface is brought up.

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).

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

slave

Ruby Type: String

When set to yes, this device is controlled by the channel bonding interface that is specified via the master property.

New in Chef Client 13.4.

target

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: 'name'

The IP address that is to be assigned to the network interface. Default value: the name of the resource block. See “Syntax” section above for more information.

vlan

Ruby Type: String

The VLAN to assign the interface to. New in Chef Client 14.4.

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.

Configure a network interface

ifconfig "33.33.33.80" do
  bootproto "dhcp"
  device "eth1"
end

will create the following interface:

vagrant@default-ubuntu-1204:~$ cat /etc/network/interfaces.d/ifcfg-eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

Specify a boot protocol

ifconfig '192.186.0.1' do
  device 'eth0'
end

Specify a static IP address

ifconfig "33.33.33.80" do
  device "eth1"
end

will create the following interface:

iface eth1 inet static
  address 33.33.33.80

Update a static IP address with a boot protocol

ifconfig "33.33.33.80" do
  bootproto "dhcp"
  device "eth1"
end

will update the interface from static to dhcp:

iface eth1 inet dhcp
  address 33.33.33.80