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Microsoft Azure CLI

The Azure Chef Extension is an extension for Microsoft Azure to enable Chef on virtual machine instances. The extension makes available two Windows PowerShell cmdlets and two Microsoft Azure CLI commands.

Azure CLI

If the Microsoft Azure cross-platform command line tool (Xplat-CLI) is installed on the workstation along with the Azure Chef Extension, you can use the get-chef and set-chef extensions to manage Chef running on virtual machines in Microsoft Azure.

get-chef

Use the get-chef command to get the details for the Azure Chef Extension that’s running on the named virtual machine.

Syntax

This command has the following syntax:

azure vm extension get-chef VM_NAME

set-chef

Use the set-chef command to enable Chef on any virtual machine running on Microsoft Azure.

Syntax

This command has the following syntax:

azure vm extension set-chef VM_NAME (options)

Options

This command has the following options:

-a, --auto-update-client

Automatically update Chef Infra Client. Set to true to automatically update the version of the Azure Chef Extension when the virtual machine is restarted. For example, if this option is enabled, a virtual machine that has version 1205.12.2.0 will be updated automatically to 1205.12.2.1 when it’s published. Default value: false.

-b, --disable

Disable the Azure Chef Extension extension.

-c PATH_TO_CONFIG, --client-config PATH_TO_CONFIG

The path to the client.rb file.

-C CLIENT_PEM, --client-pem CLIENT_PEM

The location of the file that contains the client key. Default value: /etc/chef/client.pem.

-D, --delete-chef-config

Disable the Azure Chef Extension extension.

-j JSON, --bootstrap-options JSON

A JSON string that’s added to the first run of a Chef Infra Client. For example:

-j '{"chef_node_name":"test_node"}'

Supported options: "chef_node_name", "chef_server_url"(required), "environment", "secret", and "validation_client_name" (required).

-O VALIDATOR_PEM, --validation-pem VALIDATOR_PEM

The location of the file that contains the key used when a Chef Infra Client is registered with a Chef Infra Server. A validation key is signed using the validation_client_name for authentication. Default value: /etc/chef/validation.pem.

-R RUN_LIST, --run-list RUN_LIST

A comma-separated list of roles and/or recipes to be applied.

-u, --uninstall

Uninstall the Azure Chef Extension.

-V NUMBER, --version NUMBER

Specify the version number for the Azure Chef Extension extension. Default is to use the latest extension’s version number.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Create a virtual machine
azure vm create your-vm-name MSFT__Windows-Server-2012 yourusername yourpassword --location "West US" -r
Set the Chef extension without a run-list
azure vm extension set-chef your-vm-name --validation-pem ~/chef-repo/.chef/testorg-validator.pem --client-config ~/chef-repo/.chef/client.rb --version "1201.12"
Set the Chef extension with a run-list
azure vm extension set-chef your-vm-name --validation-pem ~/chef-repo/.chef/testorg-validator.pem --client-config ~/chef-repo/.chef/client.rb --version "1201.12" -R 'recipe[your_cookbook_name::your_recipe_name]'
Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates

If you are using Azure Resource Manager templates to create your infrastructure you can use the Chef extension to have Azure handle the bootstrapping/configuration of your node to your Chef Infra Server.

Options

The extension has the following options that can be provided in the settings hash.

runlist

A comma-separated list of roles and/or recipes to be applied.

client_rb

A JSON escaped string containing the content of your client.rb file.

validation_key_format

Tells the extension whether the supplied validation key is plaintext or base64encoded.

Note

If using the Chef extension in an ARM template, it’s recommended that you base64 encode your validation key and set this option to base64encoded
bootstrap_version

The version of Chef Infra Client that will be installed on the system. Linux only

Note

Due to constraints in Azure, the bootstrap_version option is only available on the LinuxChefClient extension.
bootstrap_channel

Specify the channel for installing the Chef Infra Client version. Options are stable, current or unstable release channels.

chef_package_path

Specifies a local path to install Chef Infra Client from. This feature is mainly used for cases where there are restrictions on internet access.

Note

Azure extensions have network access limitations. See the Azure documentation for more information.
CHEF_LICENSE

Chef Infra Client 15+ requires accepting the CHEF EULA license. Set CHEF_LICENSE to one of these values accept, accept-silent or accept-no-persist. Refer to CHEF EULA license

hints

Specifies the Ohai Hints to be set in the Ohai configuration of the target node.

chef_package_url

Specifies a URL to download and install the Chef Infra Client package (.msi .rpm .deb) from.

bootstrap_options

A hash of the following options: chef_node_name, chef_server_url, environment, secret, and validation_client_name.

Note

Options that are supplied in the bootstrap items will take precedence over any conflicts found in the client.rb file.
chef_node_name

Determines which configuration should be applied and sets the client_name, which is the name used when authenticating to a Chef Infra Server. The default value is the Chef Infra Client FQDN, as detected by Ohai. In general, Chef recommends that you leave this setting blank and let Ohai assign the FQDN of the node as the node_name during each Chef Infra Client run.

chef_server_url

The URL for the Chef Infra Server.

environment

The environment this machine will be placed in on your Chef Infra Server.

secret

The encryption key that’s used for values contained within a data bag item.

validation_client_name

The name of the chef-validator key that Chef Infra Client uses to access the Chef Infra Server during the initial Chef Infra Client run.

node_ssl_verify_mode

Set the verify mode for HTTPS requests.

node_verify_api_cert

Verify the SSL certificate on the Chef Infra Server. When true, Chef Infra Client always verifies the SSL certificate. When false, Chef Infra Client uses the value of ssl_verify_mode to determine if the SSL certificate requires verification.

Protected settings

The following options can be provided to the extension through the protectedSettings hash:

validation_key

The contents of your organization validator key, the format is dependent on validation_key_format.

chef_server_crt

The SSL certificate of your Chef Infra Server that will be added to the trusted certificates.

client_pem

A client key that will be used to communication with the Chef Infra Server.

Examples

The following examples show how you can install and configure Chef Infra Client from an ARM template.

Install the Azure Chef extension on a Linux system

{
   "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions",
   "name": "myVirtualMachine/LinuxChefClient",
   "apiVersion": "2015-05-01-preview",
   "location": "westus",
   "properties": {
     "publisher": "Chef.Bootstrap.WindowsAzure",
     "type": "LinuxChefClient",
     "typeHandlerVersion": "1210.12",
     "settings": {
       "bootstrap_options": {
         "chef_node_name": "node1",
         "chef_server_url": "https://api.chef.io/organizations/my-chef-organization",
         "validation_client_name": "my-chef-organization-validator"
       },
       "runlist": "recipe[awesome_customers_rhel],recipe[yum],role[base]",
       "validation_key_format": "plaintext"
     },
     "protectedSettings": {
       "validation_key": "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\nMIIEpQIB..\n67VT3Dg=\n-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
     }
   }
 }

Install the Azure Chef extension on a Windows system

{
  "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions",
  "name": "myVirtualMachine/ChefClient",
  "apiVersion": "2015-05-01-preview",
  "location": "westus",
  "properties": {
    "publisher": "Chef.Bootstrap.WindowsAzure",
    "type": "ChefClient",
    "typeHandlerVersion": "1210.12",
    "settings": {
      "bootstrap_options": {
        "chef_node_name": "node12",
        "chef_server_url": "https://api.chef.io/organizations/my-chef-organization",
        "validation_client_name": "my-chef-organization-validator"
      },
      "runlist": "recipe[awesome_customers_windows],recipe[iis],role[windows_base]",
      "chef_package_url" : "https://download.example.com/chef-client-15.11.8-1-x64.msi",
      "validation_key_format": "plaintext"
    },
    "protectedSettings": {
      "validation_key": "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\nMIIEpQIB..\n67VT3Dg=\n-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
    }
  }
}

Install the Azure Chef extension on a Linux system with SSL peer verification turned off and given a data bag secret

{
   "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions",
   "name": "myVirtualMachine/LinuxChefClient",
   "apiVersion": "2015-05-01-preview",
   "location": "westus",
   "properties": {
     "publisher": "Chef.Bootstrap.WindowsAzure",
     "type": "LinuxChefClient",
     "typeHandlerVersion": "1210.12",
     "settings": {
       "bootstrap_options": {
         "chef_node_name": "node1",
         "chef_server_url": "https://api.chef.io/organizations/my-chef-organization",
         "validation_client_name": "my-chef-organization-validator",
         "node_ssl_verify_mode": "none",
         "secret": "KCYWGXxSrkgR..."
       },
       "runlist": "recipe[awesome_customers_rhel],recipe[yum],role[base]",
       "validation_key_format": "base64encoded"
     },
     "protectedSettings": {
       "validation_key": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0EgUFJ...FIEtFWS0tLS0t"
     }
   }
 }

Note

In this example the validator key is base64 encoded, which is a recommended approach when using the Azure Chef extension in an ARM template.
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