inspec_waiver Resource

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Use the inspec_waiver resource to add a waiver to the Compliance Phase.

New in Chef Infra Client 17.5.

Syntax

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

inspec_waiver 'name' do
  control            String # default value: 'name' unless specified
  expiration         String
  justification      String
  run_test           true, false
  source             Hash, String
  action             Symbol # defaults to :add if not specified
end

where:

inspec_waiver is the resource.
name is the name given to the resource block.
action identifies which steps Chef Infra Client will take to bring the node into the desired state.
control, expiration, justification, run_test, and source are the properties available to this resource.

Actions

The inspec_waiver resource has the following actions:

:add: Add a waiver to the compliance phase (default)
:nothing: This resource block doesn’t 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 a Chef Infra Client run.

Properties

The inspec_waiver resource has the following properties:

control

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: The resource block's name

The name of the control being waived

expiration

Ruby Type: String

The expiration date of the waiver - provided in YYYY-MM-DD format

justification

Ruby Type: String

Can be any text you want and might include a reason for the waiver as well as who signed off on the waiver.

run_test

Ruby Type: true, false

If present and true, the control will run and be reported, but failures in it won’t make the overall run fail. If absent or false, the control will not be run.

source

Ruby Type: Hash, String

Common Resource Functionality

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

Common Properties

The following properties are common to every resource:

compile_time

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Control the phase during which the resource is run on the node. Set to true to run while the resource collection is being built (the compile phase). Set to false to run while Chef Infra Client is configuring the node (the converge phase).

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false, :quiet | Default Value: false

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason. :quiet won’t display the full stack trace and the recipe will continue to run if a resource fails.

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 delay in seconds between retry attempts.

sensitive

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Ensure that sensitive resource data isn’t logged by Chef Infra 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.

If the referenced resource doesn’t exist, an error is raised. In contrast, subscribes won’t fail if the source resource isn’t found.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra 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 a Chef Infra Client run.
:immediate, :immediately: Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, for each 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 doesn’t 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 doesn’t 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.

If the other resource doesn’t exist, the subscription won’t raise an error. Contrast this with the stricter semantics of notifies, which will raise an error if the other resource doesn’t exist.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra 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 a Chef Infra Client run.
:immediate, :immediately: Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, for each 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 a Chef Infra Client run. Based on the results of this evaluation, a guard property is then used to tell Chef Infra 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 isn’t 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 isn’t 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’s being executed, and then if the desired state is present, for Chef Infra Client to don’thing.

Properties

The following properties can be used to define a guard that’s evaluated during the execution phase of a Chef Infra 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 the inspec_waiver resource in recipes:

Activate the default waiver in the openssh cookbook’s compliance segment:

  inspec_waiver 'openssh' do
    action :add
  end

Activate all waivers in the openssh cookbook’s compliance segment:

  inspec_waiver 'openssh::.*' do
    action :add
  end

Add an InSpec waiver to the Compliance Phase:

  inspec_waiver 'Add waiver entry for control' do
    control 'my_inspec_control_01'
    run_test false
    justification "The subject of this control is not managed by Chef Infra Client on the systems in policy group #{node['policy_group']}"
    expiration '2022-01-01'
    action :add
  end

Add an InSpec waiver to the Compliance Phase using the ’name’ property to identify the control:

  inspec_waiver 'my_inspec_control_01' do
    justification "The subject of this control is not managed by Chef Infra Client on the systems in policy group #{node['policy_group']}"
    action :add
  end

Add an InSpec waiver to the Compliance Phase using an arbitrary YAML, JSON, or TOML file:

  # files ending in .yml or .yaml that exist are parsed as YAML
  inspec_waiver "/path/to/my/waiver.yml"

  inspec_waiver "my-waiver-name" do
    source "/path/to/my/waiver.yml"
  end

  # files ending in .json that exist are parsed as JSON
  inspec_waiver "/path/to/my/waiver.json"

  inspec_waiver "my-waiver-name" do
    source "/path/to/my/waiver.json"
  end

  # files ending in .toml that exist are parsed as TOML
  inspec_waiver "/path/to/my/waiver.toml"

  inspec_waiver "my-waiver-name" do
    source "/path/to/my/waiver.toml"
  end

Add an InSpec waiver to the Compliance Phase using a hash:

  my_hash = { "ssh-01" => {
    "expiration_date" => "2033-07-31",
    "run" => false,
    "justification" => "because"
  } }

  inspec_waiver "my-waiver-name" do
    source my_hash
  end

Note that the inspec_waiver resource does not update and will not fire notifications (similar to the log resource). This is done to preserve the ability to use the resource while not causing the updated resource count to be larger than zero. Since the resource does not update the state of the managed node, this behavior is still consistent with the configuration management model. Instead, you should use events to observe configuration changes for the compliance phase. It is possible to use the notify_group resource to chain notifications of the two resources, but notifications are the wrong model to use, and you should use pure ruby conditionals instead. Compliance configuration should be independent of other resources and should only be conditional based on state/attributes, not other resources.