openssl_x509_certificate Resource

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Use the openssl_x509_certificate resource to generate signed or self-signed, PEM-formatted x509 certificates. If no existing key is specified, the resource will automatically generate a passwordless key with the certificate. If a CA private key and certificate are provided, the certificate will be signed with them.

New in Chef Infra Client 14.4.

Syntax

The full syntax for all of the properties that are available to the openssl_x509_certificate resource is:

openssl_x509_certificate 'name' do
  ca_cert_file             String
  ca_key_file              String
  ca_key_pass              String
  city                     String
  common_name              String
  country                  String
  csr_file                 String
  email                    String
  expire                   Integer # default value: 365
  extensions               Hash # default value: {}
  group                    String, Integer
  key_curve                String # default value: "prime256v1"
  key_file                 String
  key_length               Integer # default value: 2048
  key_pass                 String
  key_type                 String # default value: "rsa"
  mode                     Integer, String
  org                      String
  org_unit                 String
  owner                    String, Integer
  path                     String # default value: 'name' unless specified
  renew_before_expiry      Integer
  state                    String
  subject_alt_name         Array # default value: []
  action                   Symbol # defaults to :create if not specified
end

where:

• openssl_x509_certificate 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.
• ca_cert_file, ca_key_file, ca_key_pass, city, common_name, country, csr_file, email, expire, extensions, group, key_curve, key_file, key_length, key_pass, key_type, mode, org, org_unit, owner, path, renew_before_expiry, state, and subject_alt_name are the properties available to this resource.

Actions

The openssl_x509_certificate resource has the following actions:

:create

Generate a certificate file. (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 openssl_x509_certificate resource has the following properties:

ca_cert_file

Ruby Type: String

The path to the CA X509 Certificate on the filesystem. If the ca_cert_file property is specified, the ca_key_file property must also be specified, the certificate will be signed with them.

ca_key_file

Ruby Type: String

The path to the CA private key on the filesystem. If the ca_key_file property is specified, the ca_cert_file property must also be specified, the certificate will be signed with them.

ca_key_pass

Ruby Type: String

The passphrase for CA private key’s passphrase.

city

Ruby Type: String

Value for the L certificate field.

common_name

Ruby Type: String

Value for the CN certificate field.

country

Ruby Type: String

Value for the C certificate field.

csr_file

Ruby Type: String

The path to a X509 Certificate Request (CSR) on the filesystem. If the csr_file property is specified, the resource will attempt to source a CSR from this location. If no CSR file is found, the resource will generate a Self-Signed Certificate and the certificate fields must be specified (common_name at last).

email

Ruby Type: String

Value for the email certificate field.

expire

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 365

Value representing the number of days from now through which the issued certificate cert will remain valid. The certificate will expire after this period.

extensions

Ruby Type: Hash | Default Value: {}

Hash of X509 Extensions entries, in format { 'keyUsage' => { 'values' => %w( keyEncipherment digitalSignature), 'critical' => true } }.

group

Ruby Type: String, Integer

The group ownership applied to all files created by the resource.

key_curve

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: prime256v1
Allowed Values: "prime256v1", "secp384r1", "secp521r1"

The desired curve of the generated key (if key_type is equal to ’ec’). Run openssl ecparam -list_curves to see available options.

key_file

Ruby Type: String

The path to a certificate key file on the filesystem. If the key_file property is specified, the resource will attempt to source a key from this location. If no key file is found, the resource will generate a new key file at this location. If the key_file property is not specified, the resource will generate a key file in the same directory as the generated certificate, with the same name as the generated certificate.

key_length

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2048
Allowed Values: 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192

The desired bit length of the generated key (if key_type is equal to ‘rsa’).

key_pass

Ruby Type: String

The passphrase for an existing key’s passphrase.

key_type

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: rsa
Allowed Values: "ec", "rsa"

The desired type of the generated key.

mode

Ruby Type: Integer, String

The permission mode applied to all files created by the resource.

org

Ruby Type: String

Value for the O certificate field.

org_unit

Ruby Type: String

Value for the OU certificate field.

owner

Ruby Type: String, Integer

The owner applied to all files created by the resource.

path

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

An optional property for specifying the path to write the file to if it differs from the resource block’s name.

renew_before_expiry

Ruby Type: Integer

The number of days before the expiry. The certificate will be automatically renewed when the value is reached.

New in Chef Infra Client 15.7

state

Ruby Type: String

Value for the ST certificate field.

subject_alt_name

Ruby Type: Array | Default Value: []

Array of Subject Alternative Name entries, in format DNS:example.com or IP:1.2.3.4.

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.

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 openssl_x509_certificate resource in recipes:

Create a simple self-signed certificate file

openssl_x509_certificate '/etc/httpd/ssl/mycert.pem' do
  common_name 'www.f00bar.com'
  org 'Foo Bar'
  org_unit 'Lab'
  country 'US'
end

Create a certificate using additional options

openssl_x509_certificate '/etc/ssl_files/my_signed_cert.crt' do
  common_name 'www.f00bar.com'
  ca_key_file '/etc/ssl_files/my_ca.key'
  ca_cert_file '/etc/ssl_files/my_ca.crt'
  expire 365
  extensions(
    'keyUsage' => {
      'values' => %w(
        keyEncipherment
        digitalSignature),
      'critical' => true,
    },
    'extendedKeyUsage' => {
      'values' => %w(serverAuth),
      'critical' => false,
    }
  )
  subject_alt_name ['IP:127.0.0.1', 'DNS:localhost.localdomain']
end