Policyfile.rb

Syntax

A Policyfile.rb is a Ruby file in which run-list and cookbook locations are specified. The syntax is as follows:

name "name"
run_list "ITEM", "ITEM", ...
default_source :SOURCE_TYPE, *args
cookbook "NAME" [, "VERSION_CONSTRAINT"] [, SOURCE_OPTIONS]
ATTRIBUTE_TYPE['attribute'] = 'value'

Settings

A Policyfile.rb file may contain the following settings:

name "name"

Required. The name of the policy. Use a name that reflects the purpose of the machines against which the policy will run, such as application server, chat server, or load balancer.

run_list "ITEM", "ITEM", ...

Required. The run-list Chef Infra Client will use to apply the policy to one (or more) nodes.

default_source :SOURCE_TYPE, *args

The location in which any cookbooks not specified by cookbook are located.

Possible values for :SOURCE_TYPE are:

• :artifactory
• :chef_repo
• :chef_server
• :supermarket

:artifactory

Pulls cookbooks from an Artifactory server. Requires either artifactory_api_key to be set in config.rb or ARTIFACTORY_API_KEY to be set in your environment.

For example, default_source :artifactory, "https://artifactory.example/api/chef/my-supermarket".

:chef_repo

Pulls cookbooks from a monolithic cookbook repository. This may be a path to the top-level of a cookbook repository or to the /cookbooks directory within that repository.

For example, default_source :chef_repo, "path/to/repo".

:chef_server

Pulls cookbooks from the Chef Infra Server.

For example, default_source :chef_server, "https://chef-server.example/organizations/example".

:supermarket

Pulls cookbooks from the public Chef Supermarket or a private Chef Supermarket.

By default :supermarket pulls cookbooks from the public Chef Supermarket. For example, default_source :supermarket.

Specify the Supermarket URL to pull cookbooks from a private Supermarket. For example, default_source :supermarket, "https://supermarket-name.example".

You can specify multiple cookbook sources. For example from the public Chef Supermarket and a monolithic repository:

default_source :supermarket
default_source :chef_repo, 'path/to/repo'

or from both a public and private Chef Supermarket:

default_source :supermarket
default_source :supermarket, 'https://supermarket.example'

Note

If a run-list or any dependencies require a cookbook that’s present in more than one source, be explicit about which source is preferred. This will ensure that a cookbook is always pulled from an expected source. For example, an internally-developed cookbook named chef-client will conflict with the public chef-client cookbook that’s maintained by Chef. To specify a named source for a cookbook:

default_source :supermarket
default_source :supermarket, 'https://supermarket.example' do |s|
  s.preferred_for 'chef-client'
end

List multiple cookbooks on the same line:

default_source :supermarket
default_source :supermarket, 'https://supermarket.example' do |s|
  s.preferred_for 'chef-client', 'nginx', 'mysql'
end

cookbook "NAME" [, "VERSION_CONSTRAINT"] [, SOURCE_OPTIONS]

Add cookbooks to the policy, specify a version constraint, or specify an alternate source location, such as Chef Supermarket. For example, add a cookbook:

cookbook 'apache2'

Specify a version constraint:

run_list 'jenkins::master'

# Restrict the jenkins cookbook to version 2.x, greater than 2.1
cookbook 'jenkins', '~> 2.1'

Specify an alternate source:

cookbook 'my_app', path: 'cookbooks/my_app'

or:

cookbook 'mysql', github: 'opscode-cookbooks/mysql', branch: 'master'

or:

cookbook 'chef-ingredient', git: 'https://github.com/chef-cookbooks/chef-ingredient.git', tag: 'v0.12.0'

named_run_list "NAME", "ITEM1", "ITEM2", ...

Specify a named run-list to be used as an alternative to the override run-list. This setting should be used carefully and for specific use cases, like running a small set of recipes to quickly converge configuration for a single application on a host or for one-time setup tasks. For example:

named_run_list :update_app, 'my_app_cookbook::default'

include_policy "NAME", *args

Specify a Policyfile lock to be merged with this policy. Chef Workstation supports pulling this lock from a local or remote file, from a Chef Infra Server, or from a git repository. When the Policyfile lock is included, its run-list will appear before the current Policyfile’s run-list. This setting requires that the solved cookbooks appear as-is from the included Policyfile lock. If conflicting attributes or cookbooks are provided, an error will be presented. See RFC097 for the full specifications of this feature.

Pull the Policyfile lock from ./NAME.lock.json:

include_policy 'NAME', path: '.'

Pull the Policyfile lock from ./foo.lock.json.

include_policy 'NAME', path: './foo.lock.json'

Pull the Policyfile lock foo.lock.json from the example/foo Git repository on the git.example.com Git server.

include_policy 'NAME', git: 'https://git.example.com/example/foo', path: 'foo.lock.json'

Pull the Policyfile lock from ./bar.lock.json with revision ID ‘revision1’.

include_policy 'NAME', policy_revision_id: 'revision1', path: './bar.lock.json'

Pull the Policyfile lock from a remote server https://internal.example.com/foo.lock.json.

include_policy 'NAME', remote: 'https://internal.example.com/foo.lock.json'

Pull the Policyfile lock from a remote server https://internal.example.com/bar.lock.json and with revision ID ‘revision1’.

include_policy 'NAME', policy_revision_id: 'revision1', remote: 'https://internal.example.com/foo.lock.json'

Pull the policy NAME with revision ID revision1 from the http://chef-server.example Chef Infra Server:

include_policy 'NAME', policy_revision_id: 'revision1', server: 'http://chef-server.example'

Pull the policy foo with revision ID revision1:

include_policy 'NAME', policy_name: 'foo', policy_revision_id: 'revision1', server: 'http://chef-server.example'

Pull and lock the current revision for policy foo in policy group prod:

include_policy 'NAME', policy_name: 'foo', policy_group: 'prod', server: 'http://chef-server.example'

ATTRIBUTE_TYPE['attribute'] = 'value'

Specify one or more attributes to be included with the policy. This is similar to defining attributes using roles.

Possible values for ATTRIBUTE_TYPE are:

• default
• override

default

A default attribute is automatically reset at the start of every Chef Infra Client run and has the lowest attribute precedence.

For example:

default['attribute'] = 'value'
default['attribute']['level2'] = 'another_value'

override

An override attribute is automatically reset at the start of every Chef Infra Client run and has a higher attribute precedence than a default attribute.

override['attribute'] = 'value'
override['attribute']['level2'] = 'another_value'

Attribute hoisting allows you to define attributes by policy group.

Use the following syntax to define policy group-specific attributes:

ATTRIBUTE_TYPE['POLICY_GROUP']['attribute'] = 'value'

where:

• ATTRIBUTE_TYPE is either default or override as described above.
• POLICY_GROUP is a user-defined policy group, such as “dev”, “test” “staging”, or “production”.

In the following example, the value of default['attribute'] is set to either dev_value or prod_value depending on the policy group.

default['dev']['attribute'] = 'dev_value'
default['prod']['attribute'] = 'prod_value'

Example

For example:

name 'jenkins-master'
run_list 'java', 'jenkins::master', 'recipe[policyfile_demo]'
default_source :supermarket, 'https://mysupermarket.example'
cookbook 'policyfile_demo', path: 'cookbooks/policyfile_demo'
cookbook 'jenkins', '~> 8.2'
cookbook 'mysql', github: 'sous-chefs/mysql', branch: 'master'
default['stage']['mysql']['install_s3'] = 'https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/example/stage/file.rpm'
default['prod']['mysql']['install_s3'] = 'https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/example/prod/file.rpm'