Server Services

The Chef Infra Server has a built in process supervisor, which ensures that all of the required services are in the appropriate state at any given time. The supervisor starts two processes per service.

Service Subcommands

This command has a built in process supervisor that ensures all of the required services are in the appropriate state at any given time. The supervisor starts two processes for each service and provides the following subcommands for managing services: hup, int, kill, once, restart, service-list, start, status, stop, tail, and term.

hup

The hup subcommand is used to send a SIGHUP to all services. This command can also be run for an individual service by specifying the name of the service in the command.

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef-server-ctl hup SERVICE_NAME

where SERVICE_NAME represents the name of any service that is listed after running the service-list subcommand.

int

The int subcommand is used to send a SIGINT to all services. This command can also be run for an individual service by specifying the name of the service in the command.

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef-server-ctl int SERVICE_NAME

where SERVICE_NAME represents the name of any service that is listed after running the service-list subcommand.

kill

The kill subcommand is used to send a SIGKILL to all services. This command can also be run for an individual service by specifying the name of the service in the command.

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef-server-ctl kill SERVICE_NAME

where SERVICE_NAME represents the name of any service that is listed after running the service-list subcommand.

once

The supervisor for the Chef Infra Server is configured to restart any service that fails, unless that service has been asked to change its state. The once subcommand is used to tell the supervisor to not attempt to restart any service that fails.

This command is useful when troubleshooting configuration errors that prevent a service from starting. Run the once subcommand followed by the status subcommand to look for services in a down state and/or to identify which services are in trouble. This command can also be run for an individual service by specifying the name of the service in the command.

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef-server-ctl once SERVICE_NAME

where SERVICE_NAME represents the name of any service that is listed after running the service-list subcommand.

restart

The restart subcommand is used to restart all services enabled on the Chef Infra Server or to restart an individual service by specifying the name of that service in the command.

Warning

When running the Chef Infra Server in a high availability configuration, restarting all services may trigger failover.

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef-server-ctl restart SERVICE_NAME

where SERVICE_NAME represents the name of any service that is listed after running the service-list subcommand. When a service is successfully restarted the output should be similar to:

ok: run: service_name: (pid 12345) 1s

service-list

The service-list subcommand is used to display a list of all available services. A service that is enabled is labeled with an asterisk (*).

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef-server-ctl service-list

start

The start subcommand is used to start all services that are enabled in the Chef Infra Server. This command can also be run for an individual service by specifying the name of the service in the command.

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef-server-ctl start SERVICE_NAME

where SERVICE_NAME represents the name of any service that is listed after running the service-list subcommand. When a service is successfully started the output should be similar to:

ok: run: service_name: (pid 12345) 1s

The supervisor for the Chef Infra Server is configured to wait seven seconds for a service to respond to a command from the supervisor. If you see output that references a timeout, it means that a signal has been sent to the process, but that the process has yet to actually comply. In general, processes that have timed out are not a big concern, unless they are failing to respond to the signals at all. If a process is not responding, use a command like the kill subcommand to stop the process, investigate the cause (if required), and then use the start subcommand to re-enable it.

status

The status subcommand is used to show the status of all services available to the Chef Infra Server. The results will vary based on the configuration of a given server. This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef-server-ctl status

and will return the status for all services. Status can be returned for individual services by specifying the name of the service as part of the command:

chef-server-ctl status SERVICE_NAME

where SERVICE_NAME represents the name of any service that is listed after running the service-list subcommand.

When service status is requested, the output should be similar to:

run: service_name: (pid 12345) 12345s; run: log: (pid 1234) 67890s

where

run: is the state of the service (run: or down:)
service_name: is the name of the service for which status is returned
(pid 12345) is the process identifier
12345s is the uptime of the service, in seconds

For example:

down: opscode-erchef: (pid 35546) 10s

By default, runit will restart services automatically when the services fail. Therefore, runit may report the status of a service as run: even when there is an issue with that service. When investigating why a particular service is not running as it should be, look for the services with the shortest uptimes. For example, the list below indicates that the opscode-erchef should be investigated further:

run: oc-id
run: opscode-chef: (pid 4327) 13671s; run: log: (pid 4326) 13671s
run: opscode-erchef: (pid 5383) 5s; run: log: (pid 4382) 13669s

Log Files

A typical status line for a service that is running any of the Chef Infra Server front-end services is similar to the following:

run: name_of_service: (pid 1486) 7819s; run: log: (pid 1485) 7819s

where:

run describes the state in which the supervisor attempts to keep processes. This state is either run or down. If a service is in a down state, it should be stopped
name_of_service is the service name, for example: opscode-erchef
(pid 1486) 7819s; is the process identifier followed by the amount of time (in seconds) the service has been running
run: log: (pid 1485) 7819s is the log process. It is typical for a log process to have a longer run time than a service; this is because the supervisor does not need to restart the log process in order to connect the supervised process

If the service is down, the status line will appear similar to the following:

down: opscode-erchef: 3s, normally up; run: log: (pid 1485) 8526s

where

down indicates that the service is in a down state
3s, normally up; indicates that the service is normally in a run state and that the supervisor would attempt to restart this service after a reboot

stop

The stop subcommand is used to stop all services enabled on the Chef Infra Server. This command can also be run for an individual service by specifying the name of the service in the command.

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef-server-ctl stop SERVICE_NAME

where SERVICE_NAME represents the name of any service that is listed after running the service-list subcommand. When a service is successfully stopped the output should be similar to:

ok: down: service_name: 0s, normally up

For example:

chef-server-ctl stop

will return something similar to:

ok: down: nginx: 393s, normally up
ok: down: opscode-chef: 391s, normally up
ok: down: opscode-erchef: 391s, normally up
ok: down: opscode-solr4: 389s, normally up
ok: down: postgresql: 388s, normally up
ok: down: redis_lb: 387s, normally up

tail

The tail subcommand is used to follow all of the Chef Infra Server logs for all services. This command can also be run for an individual service by specifying the name of the service in the command.

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef-server-ctl tail SERVICE_NAME

where SERVICE_NAME represents the name of any service that is listed after running the service-list subcommand.

term

The term subcommand is used to send a SIGTERM to all services. This command can also be run for an individual service by specifying the name of the service in the command.

This subcommand has the following syntax:

chef-server-ctl term SERVICE_NAME

where SERVICE_NAME represents the name of any service that is listed after running the service-list subcommand.

List of Services

The following services are part of the Chef Infra Server:

bifrost
bookshelf
elasticsearch
nginx
opscode-erchef
postgresql
redis_lb

Note

From Chef Infra Server version 15.10.12 onwards, we are using keydb instead of redis underneath. All the functions are supposed to work the same because keydb is a fork of redis. The configuration name and service name will continue to be redis_lb.

bifrost

The oc_bifrost service ensures that every request to view or manage objects stored on the Chef Infra Server is authorized.

status

To view the status for the service:

chef-server-ctl status bifrost

to return something like:

run: bifrost: (pid 1234) 123456s; run: log: (pid 5678) 789012s

start

To start the service:

chef-server-ctl start bifrost

stop

To stop the service:

chef-server-ctl stop bifrost

restart

To restart the service:

chef-server-ctl restart bifrost

to return something like:

ok: run: bifrost: (pid 1234) 1234s

kill

To kill the service (send a SIGKILL command):

chef-server-ctl kill bifrost

run once

To run the service, but not restart it (if the service fails):

chef-server-ctl once bifrost

tail

To follow the logs for the service:

chef-server-ctl tail bifrost

bookshelf

The bookshelf service is an Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)-compatible service that is used to store cookbooks, including all of the files—recipes, templates, and so on—that are associated with each cookbook.

status

To view the status for the service:

chef-server-ctl status bookshelf

to return something like:

run: bookshelf: (pid 1234) 123456s; run: log: (pid 5678) 789012s

start

To start the service:

chef-server-ctl start bookshelf

stop

To stop the service:

chef-server-ctl stop bookshelf

restart

To restart the service:

chef-server-ctl restart bookshelf

to return something like:

ok: run: bookshelf: (pid 1234) 1234s

kill

To kill the service (send a SIGKILL command):

chef-server-ctl kill bookshelf

run once

To run the service, but not restart it (if the service fails):

chef-server-ctl once bookshelf

tail

To follow the logs for the service:

chef-server-ctl tail bookshelf

Elasticsearch

status

To view the status for the service:

chef-server-ctl status elasticsearch

to return something like:

elasticsearch: (pid 12345) 1s; run: log: (pid 5678) 123456s

start

To start the service:

chef-server-ctl start elasticsearch

to return something like:

ok: run: elasticsearch: (pid 5678) 0s

stop

To stop the service:

chef-server-ctl stop elasticsearch

to return something like:

ok: down: elasticsearch: 123456s, normally up

restart

To restart the service:

chef-server-ctl restart elasticsearch

to return something like:

ok: run: elasticsearch: (pid 56789) 1s

kill

To kill the service (send a SIGKILL command):

chef-server-ctl kill elasticsearch

run once

chef-server-ctl once elasticsearch

tail

To follow the logs for the service:

chef-server-ctl tail elasticsearch

nginx

The nginx service is used to manage traffic to the Chef Infra Server, including virtual hosts for internal and external API request/response routing, external add-on request routing, and routing between front- and back-end components.

status

To view the status for the service:

chef-server-ctl status nginx

to return something like:

run: nginx: (pid 1234) 123456s; run: log: (pid 5678) 789012s

start

To start the service:

chef-server-ctl start nginx

stop

To stop the service:

chef-server-ctl stop nginx

restart

To restart the service:

chef-server-ctl restart nginx

to return something like:

ok: run: nginx: (pid 1234) 1234s

kill

To kill the service (send a SIGKILL command):

chef-server-ctl kill nginx

run once

To run the service, but not restart it (if the service fails):

chef-server-ctl once nginx

tail

To follow the logs for the service:

chef-server-ctl tail nginx

opscode-erchef

The opscode-erchef service is an Erlang-based service that is used to handle Chef Infra Server API requests to the following areas within the Chef Infra Server:

Cookbooks
Data bags
Environments
Nodes
Roles
Sandboxes
Search

status

To view the status for the service:

chef-server-ctl status opscode-erchef

to return something like:

run: opscode-erchefs: (pid 1234) 123456s; run: log: (pid 5678) 789012s

start

To start the service:

chef-server-ctl start opscode-erchef

stop

To stop the service:

chef-server-ctl stop opscode-erchef

restart

To restart the service:

chef-server-ctl restart opscode-erchef

to return something like:

ok: run: opscode-erchef: (pid 1234) 1234s

kill

To kill the service (send a SIGKILL command):

chef-server-ctl kill opscode-erchef

run once

To run the service, but not restart it (if the service fails):

chef-server-ctl once opscode-erchef

tail

To follow the logs for the service:

chef-server-ctl tail opscode-erchef

postgresql

The postgresql service is used to store node, object, and user data.

status

To view the status for the service:

chef-server-ctl status postgresql

to return something like:

run: postgresql: (pid 1234) 123456s; run: log: (pid 5678) 789012s

start

To start the service:

chef-server-ctl start postgresql

stop

To stop the service:

chef-server-ctl stop postgresql

restart

To restart the service:

chef-server-ctl restart postgresql

to return something like:

ok: run: postgresql: (pid 1234) 1234s

kill

To kill the service (send a SIGKILL command):

chef-server-ctl kill postgresql

run once

To run the service, but not restart it (if the service fails):

chef-server-ctl once postgresqls

tail

To follow the logs for the service:

chef-server-ctl tail postgresql

redis

Key-value store used in conjunction with Nginx to route requests and populate request data used by the Chef Infra Server.

Note

status

To view the status for the service:

chef-server-ctl status redis

to return something like:

run: redis: (pid 1234) 123456s; run: log: (pid 5678) 789012s

start

To start the service:

chef-server-ctl start redis

stop

To stop the service:

chef-server-ctl stop redis

restart

To restart the service:

chef-server-ctl restart redis

to return something like:

ok: run: redis: (pid 1234) 1234s

kill

To kill the service (send a SIGKILL command):

chef-server-ctl kill name_of_service

run once

To run the service, but not restart it (if the service fails):

chef-server-ctl once redis

tail

To follow the logs for the service:

chef-server-ctl tail name_of_service