An overview of all available chef resources. Each description is broken in to several categories: Category Description Actions The list of actions for this resource Attributes The list of attributes for this resource Providers The list of providers for this resource, along with any shortcut resource name. (You can use the shortcut resource name instead of specifying the provider attribute - apt_package rather than package with provider Chef::Provider::Package::Apt.) Examples The first section, shows examples of using each action. Meta These actions and attributes are available in every resource. Actions Action Description Default nothing Do nothing - useful if you want to specify a resource, but only notify it of other actions. Yes - in the absence of another default action, nothing is the default Attributes Meta attributes do not have default values. Attribute Description ignore_failure If true, we will continue running the recipe if this resource fails for any reason. (defaults to false) notifies Notify another resource to take an action if this resource changes state for any reason. Syntax: notifies :action, resources(:service => "apache"), [:immediately | :delayed]. Defaults to notifying the resource at the end of the run (delayed). See examples. not_if Do not apply this resource if the given string (shell command) or block (ruby code) results in return code 0 or is true. only_if Only apply this resource if the given string (shell command) or block (ruby code) results in return code 0 or is true. subscribes Take action on this resource if another resource changes state - the opposite of notifies. See examples. provider The class name of a provider to use for this resource. supports A hash of options that hint providers as to the capabilities of this resource. Further clarification on not_if and only_if. These attributes can be passed as strings or blocks. Strings are executed as a shell command. The attribute is true if the command returns 0. Blocks are Ruby code. The attribute is true if the result is true. The behavior of the resource depends on whether the attribute was true. not_if - A true value indicates the action should not be performed. only_if - A true value indicates the resource's action should be performed.. For not_if and only_if, optional arguments are supported: Argument Description Example :user Sets the user to run the command as not_if "grep adam /etc/passwd", :user => 'adam' :group Sets the group to run the command as not_if "grep adam /etc/passwd", :group => 'adam' :environment A Hash of environment variables to set not_if "grep adam /etc/passwd", :environment => { 'HOME' => "/home/adam" } :cwd Sets the current working directory before running the command not_if "grep adam passwd", :cwd => '/etc' :timeout Sets a timeout for the command not_if "sleep 10000", :timeout => 10 Further clarification for notifies and subscribes. The resources list can be either: resources(:resource => "name") resources("resource[name]") Here, resources is a method in Chef. resource is a resource type as described on this page. name is the name of the resource. Examples below show both formats of specifying the arguments to the resources method, and either works.

Table of Contents Meta Cron Deploy Directory Erlang Call Execute File Group HTTP Request Ifconfig Link Log Mdadm Mount Package Remote Directory Remote File Route Ruby Block SCM Script Service Template User

Examples

Cron

---

Manage a cron entry. Attributes for schedule will default to '*' if not provided so only specify the schedule attributes that are applicable to your cron entry.

Create will update an entry if it shares the same name. The delete action will delete an entry with a matching name. Both notes only apply on a per-user basis.

Requires that a package providing crontab program is installed (typically cron).

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Examples

Deploy

---

The deploy resource is quite detailed and has a separate document.

Directory

---

Manage a directory.

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Examples

Erlang Call

Connects to a distributed erlang node and makes a call. See the documentation for erl_call in the OTP documentation for more information.

Like the Execute and Script resources, Erlang Call resources are not idempotent. Use the not_if and only_if meta parameters to guard the resource for idempotence.

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Examples

Execute

---

Execute a command. Use Script resources to execute a script with a specific interpreter.

By their nature, Execute resources are not idempotent, as they are completely up to the user's imagination. Use the not_if or only_if meta parameters to guard the resource for idempotence.

Actions

Use action :nothing to set a command to only run if another resource notifies it.

Attributes

Providers

Examples

File

---

Manage files (see Template or Remote File if you want to manage contents).

Actions

Attributes

A note about mode: When specifying the mode, the value can be a quoted string, eg "644". For a numeric value, it should be 5 digits, eg "00644" to ensure that Ruby can parse it correctly. For more detail, see Ticket CHEF-174.

Providers

Examples

Group

---

Manage a local group.

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Examples

HTTP Request

---

Send an HTTP request with an arbitrary message. Handy for implementing your own callbacks!

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Examples

Ifconfig

---

You can manage interfaces with the ifconfig resource. It is in early stage of development and hasn't been fully documented yet. In the Chef source, it is ifconfig.rb.

Link

---

Create symbolic or hard links.

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Examples

Log

---

Adds log entries from your recipes.

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Examples

Mdadm

—
Manage mdadm software RAID devices.

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Examples

Mount

---

Manage a mounted filesystem. Available in version 0.5.6. device_type available in 0.7.0.

Actions

Attributes

For now, device is required for umount and remount in order to check the mount command output for presence. This requirement will be removed at a later date.

For now, fstype is required. This requirement will be removed at a later date.

If options is a string, it will be converted to an array.

Providers

Examples

Package

---

Manage packages.

Actions

Attributes

For providers that install from a local file (rubygems, dpkg, rpm), you must first grab the file via remote_file.

Providers

The options attribute was added in 0.7.0.

Examples

Remote Directory

---

Recursively transfer a remote directory. Remote directory includes the attributes and actions of Directory. Name variable is still path.

Attributes

A note about mode: When specifying the mode, the value can be a quoted string, eg "644". For a numeric value, it should be 5 digits, eg "00644" to ensure that Ruby can parse it correctly. For more detail, see Ticket CHEF-174.

Providers

Examples

Remote File

---

Transfer a file from a remote source. Remote File includes the attributes and actions of File. Name variable is still path.

Read more about Files to learn how Chef determines where to get the file.

Actions

Attributes

The source follows the same search path as Templates

Providers

Examples

Route

---

Manage the system routing table.

Available in 0.5.2. Added in commits ceec2c 2491e4 192484.

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Examples

Ruby Block

---

Ticket CHEF-381 brought a new resource, "ruby_block" that can be used to execute a bit of Ruby code during a run. Ruby code in ruby_block resources is evaluated with other resources, whereas Ruby code outside ruby_block resources is evaluated before other resources.

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Examples

SCM

---

Source code can be managed via the SCM resource. This is closely linked with doing application code deployment, so it is documented along with the Deploy Resource.

Script

---

Execute a script using the specified interpreter. Includes actions/attributes available to Execute resources: creates, cwd, environment, group, path, timeout, user. Predefined available script interpreters are bash, csh, perl, python and ruby.

The ruby script resource is different than the ruby_block resource described above, as it is created as a temporary file and executed like other script resources, rather than run inline.

By their nature, Script resources are not idempotent, as they are completely up to the user's imagination. Use the not_if or only_if meta parameters to guard the resource for idempotence.

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Providers for Chef::Resource::Script are aliases for different command interpreters.

Examples

Service

---

Manage a service.

Actions

Attributes

Providers

By default, the init provider is used, which runs /etc/init.d/service_name with _command.

Examples

Template

---

Manage File contents with an embedded ruby (erb) template. Includes actions and attributes from File. path is the Name attribute. Read more about templates.

Templates follow the same File Specificity rules as remote_file and file resources.

Actions

Attributes

Source is found in the search path per the templates page

Providers

Examples

User

---

Manage a local user.

Actions

Attributes

Providers

Prerequisites

In order to use the "password" attribute in Chef 0.5.6, you must have "ruby-shadow" installed. You can get this by installing the debian package "libshadow-ruby1.8".

Examples