ohai resource¶

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Use the ohai resource to reload the Ohai configuration on a node. This allows recipes that change system attributes (like a recipe that adds a user) to refer to those attributes later on during the chef-client run.

Syntax¶

The ohai resource has the following syntax:

ohai 'name' do
  plugin      String
  action      Symbol # defaults to :reload if not specified
end

where:

ohai 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.
plugin is the property available to this resource.

Actions¶

The ohai resource has the following actions:

:nothing: This resource block does not act unless notified by another resource to take action. Once notified, this resource block either runs immediately or is queued up to run at the end of the Chef Infra Client run.
:reload: Default. Reload the Ohai configuration on a node.

Properties¶

The ohai resource has the following properties:

plugin

Ruby Type: String

The name of an Ohai plugin to be reloaded. If this property is not specified, the Chef Infra Client will reload all plugins.

Common Resource Functionality¶

Chef resources include common properties, notifications, and resource guards.

Common Properties¶

The following properties are common to every resource:

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

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

retries

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 0

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

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2

The retry delay (in seconds).

sensitive

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Ensure that sensitive resource data is not logged by the chef-client.

Notifications¶

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

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

Guards¶

A guard property can be used to evaluate the state of a node during the execution phase of the chef-client run. Based on the results of this evaluation, a guard property is then used to tell the chef-client if it should continue executing a resource. A guard property accepts either a string value or a Ruby block value:

A string is executed as a shell command. If the command returns 0, the guard is applied. If the command returns any other value, then the guard property is not applied. String guards in a powershell_script run Windows PowerShell commands and may return true in addition to 0.
A block is executed as Ruby code that must return either true or false. If the block returns true, the guard property is applied. If the block returns false, the guard property is not applied.

A guard property is useful for ensuring that a resource is idempotent by allowing that resource to test for the desired state as it is being executed, and then if the desired state is present, for the chef-client to do nothing.

The following properties can be used to define a guard that is evaluated during the execution phase of the chef-client run:

not_if: Prevent a resource from executing when the condition returns true.
only_if: Allow a resource to execute only if the condition returns true.

Examples¶

The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using resources in recipes:

Reload Ohai

ohai 'reload' do
  action :reload
end

Reload Ohai after a new user is created

ohai 'reload_passwd' do
  action :nothing
  plugin 'etc'
end

user 'daemonuser' do
  home '/dev/null'
  shell '/sbin/nologin'
  system true
  notifies :reload, 'ohai[reload_passwd]', :immediately
end

ruby_block 'just an example' do
  block do
    # These variables will now have the new values
    puts node['etc']['passwd']['daemonuser']['uid']
    puts node['etc']['passwd']['daemonuser']['gid']
  end
end