Ridley

A reliable Chef API client with a clean syntax

Installation

Add Ridley to your Gemfile:

“by gem ‘ridley’

“

And run the bundle command to install. Alternatively, you can install the gem directly:

$ gem install ridley

Usage

Before you can use Ridley, you must require it in your application:

“by require ‘ridley’

“

Creating a new Ridley client

“by ridley = Ridley.new( server_url: “https://api.opscode.com/organizations/ridley”, client_name: “reset”, client_key: “/Users/reset/.chef/reset.pem” )

“

Creating a new instance of Ridley requires the following options:

server_url
client_name
client_key

client_key can be either a file path or the client key as a string. You can also optionally supply an encrypted data bag secret for decrypting encrypted data bags. The option is “encrypted_data_bag_secret” This can be a file name or the key itself as a string.

ridley = Ridley.new(
  server_url: "https://api.opscode.com/organizations/ridley",
  client_name: "reset",
  client_key: "some key data",
  encrypted_data_bag_secret: "File path or key as a string"
)

Ridley exposes a number of functions that return resources which you can use to retrieve or create objects on your Chef server. Here is a simple example of getting a list of all the roles on your Chef server.

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) ridley.role.all #=> [#, #]

“

For more information scroll down to the Manipulating Chef Resources section of this README.

You can also tell Ridley to read the values from your Chef config (knife.rb):

“by ridley = Ridley.from_chef_config(‘/path/to/knife.rb’) ridley.role.all #=> [#, #]

“

The mapping between Chef Config values and Ridley values is:

Ridley	Chef
validator_client	validation_client_name
validator_path	validation_key
client_name	node_name
server_url	chef_server_url

Additionally, you can leave the path blank and Ridley will perform a “knife.rb search” the same way Chef does:

“by ridley = Ridley.from_chef_config ridley.role.all #=> [#, #]

“

If you don’t want to instantiate and manage a connection object you can use Ridley.open to open a connection, do some work, and it will be closed for you after the block executes.

“by Ridley.open(server_url: “https://api.opscode.com”, …) do |r| r.node.all end

“

Manipulating Chef Resources

Resources are access by instance functions on a new instance of Ridley::Client.

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) ridley.client #=> Ridley::ClientResource ridley.cookbook #=> Ridley::CookbookResource ridley.data_bag #=> Ridley::DataBagResource ridley.environment #=> Ridley::EnvironmentResource ridley.node #=> Ridley::NodeResource ridley.role #=> Ridley::RoleResource ridley.sandbox #=> Ridley::SandboxResource ridley.search #=> Ridley::SearchResource

“

DataBagItems are the only exception to this rule. The DataBagItem resource is accessed from a DataBagObject

“by data_bag = ridley.data_bag.find(“my_data”) data_bag.item #=> Ridley::DataBagItemResource data_bag.item.find(“my_item”) #=> Ridley::DataBagItemObject

“

CRUD

Most resources can be listed, retrieved, created, updated, and destroyed. These are commonly referred to as CRUD (Create Read Update Delete) operations.

Create

A new Chef Object can be created in a four ways

With the #create function and an attribute hash

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) ridley.role.create(name: “reset”) #=> #Ridley::RoleObject: chef_id:reset

“

With the #create function and an instance of a Chef Object

“by obj = ridley.role.new obj.name = “reset” ridley.role.create(obj) #=> #Ridley::RoleObject: chef_id:reset

“

With the #save function on an instance of a Chef Object

“by obj = ridley.role.new obj.name = “reset” obj.save #=> #Ridley::RoleObject: chef_id:reset

“

With the #save function on an instance of a Chef Object built from serialized json

obj = ridley.role.from_file('/path/to/role.json')
obj.save #=> #<Ridley::RoleObject: chef_id:reset>

Each of these methods produce an identical object on the Chef server. It is up to you on how you’d like to create new resources.

Read

Most resources have two read functions

#all for listing all the Chef Objects
#find for retrieving a specific Chef Object

Listing

If you wanted to get a list of all of the roles on your Chef server

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) ridley.role.all #=> [#, #]

“

Finding

If you want to retrieve a single role from the Chef server

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) ridley.role.find(“motherbrain_srv”) #=> #Ridley::RoleObject: chef_id:motherbrain_srv ...

“

If the role does not exist on the Chef server then nil is returned

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) ridley.role.find(“not_there”) #=> nil

“

Update

Updating a resource can be expressed in three ways

With the #update function, the ID of the Object to update, and an attributes hash

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) ridley.role.update(“motherbrain_srv”, description: “testing updates”) #=> #Ridley::RoleObject chef_id:motherbrain_srv, description="testing updates" ...

“

With the #update function and an instance of a Chef Object

“by obj = ridley.role.find(“motherbrain_srv”) obj.description = “chef object”

ridley.role.update(obj) #=> #Ridley::RoleObject: chef_id:motherbrain_srv, description="chef object" ...

“

With the #save function on an instance of a Chef Object

“by obj = ridley.role.find(“reset”) obj.description = “saving an object” obj.save #=> #Ridley::RoleObject: chef_id:motherbrain_srv, description="saving an object" ...

“

Destroy

Destroying a resource can be express in three ways

With the #delete function and the ID of the Object to destroy

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) ridley.role.delete(“motherbrain_srv”) => #Ridley::RoleObject: chef_id:motherbrain_srv ...

“

With the #delete function and a Chef Object

“by obj = ridley.role.find(“motherbrain_srv”) ridley.role.delete(obj) => #Ridley::RoleObject: chef_id:motherbrain_srv ...

“

With the #destroy function on an instance of a Chef Object

“by obj = conn.role.find(“motherbrain_srv”) obj.destroy #=> true

“

Client Resource

Regenerating a client’s private key

With the #regnerate_key function and the ID of the Client to regenerate

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) ridley.client.regenerate_key(“jamie”) #=> #Ridley::ClientObject: chef_id:"jamie", private_key="**HIDDEN***" ...

“

With the #regenerate_key function on an instance of a Client Object

“by obj = ridley.client.find(“jamie”) obj.regenerate_key #=> #Ridley::ClientObject: chef_id:"jamie", private_key="**HIDDEN***" ...

“

Cookbook Resource

Data Bag Resource

A data bag is managed exactly the same as any other Chef resource

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) ridley.data_bag.create(name: “ridley-test”)

“

You can create, delete, update, or retrieve a data bag exactly how you would expect if you read through the Manipulating Chef Resources portion of this document.

Unlike a role, node, client, or environment, a data bag is a container for other resources. These other resources are Data Bag Items. Data Bag Items behave slightly different than other resources. Data Bag Items can have an abritrary attribute hash filled with any key values that you would like. The one exception is that every Data Bag Item requires an ‘id’ key and value. This identifier is the name of the Data Bag Item.

Creating a Data Bag Item

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) data_bag = ridley.data_bag.create(name: “ridley-test”)

data_bag.item.create(id: “appconfig”, host: “reset.local”, user: “jamie”) #=> #Ridley::DataBagItemObject: chef_id:appconfig, host="reset.local", user="jamie"

“

Environment Resource

Setting Attributes

Setting a default environment attribute is just like setting a node level default attribute

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) production_env = ridley.environment.find(“production”) production_env.set_default_attribute(“my_app.proxy.enabled”, false) production_env.save #=> true

“

And the same goes for setting an environment level override attribute

“by production_env.set_override_attribute(“my_app.proxy.enabled”, false) production_env.save #=> true

“

Node Resource

Bootstrapping Unix nodes

“by ridley = Ridley.new( server_url: “https://api.opscode.com”, organization: “vialstudios”, validator_client: “vialstudios-validator”, validator_path: “/Users/reset/.chef/vialstudios-validator.pem”, ssh: { user: “vagrant”, password: “vagrant” } )

ridley.node.bootstrap(“33.33.33.10”, “33.33.33.11”)

“

Bootstrapping Windows Nodes

Windows Nodes are bootstrapped using a combination of WinRM, Batch, and PowerShell. You will probably need to tweak some settings on your Windows servers to ensure the commands are successful.

WinRM Settings

Enable WinRM: winrm quickconfig and say Yes.
Set some WinRM settings to ensure that you don’t get 401 Unauthorized responses and 500 Responses because of timeouts.

“inrm set winrm/config/service/auth @Basic=“true” winrm set winrm/config/service @AllowUnencrypted=“true” winrm set winrm/config/service @EnumerationTimeoutms=“600000” winrm set winrm/config @MaxTimeoutms=“600000” winrm set winrm/config/client @TrustedHosts=“<em>“

“

PowerShell Settings

You should also configure your PowerShell profile, so that PowerShell commands have a more lenient timeout period.

“kdir C:\Users\my_user\Documents\WindowsPowerShell echo “$PSSessionOption = New-PSSessionOption -OpenTimeout 0 -CancelTimeout 0 -IdleTimeout 0 -OperationTimeout 0” > C:\Users\my_user\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

“

Verify the PowerShell settings by opening up the PowerShell Console and entering $PSSessionOption and ensure those values are set, and that there are no errors output.

The following links offer some information about configuring a machine’s PowerShell settings: - PowerShell Profiles - The $PSSessionOptions Preference Variable - Creating a new PSSessionOption

You may also want to tweak your Windows boxes a bit more ex: turning UAC off, turning off the Windows Firewall.

Role Resource

Role Attributes

Setting role attributes is just like setting node and environment attributes

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) my_app_role = ridley.role.find(“my_app”) my_app_role.set_default_attribute(“my_app.proxy.enabled”, false) my_app_role.save #=> true

“

And the same goes for setting an environment level override attribute

“by my_app_role.set_override_attribute(“my_app.proxy.enabled”, false) my_app_role.save #=> true

“

Sandbox Resource

Search Resource

“by ridley = Ridley.new(…) ridley.search(:node) ridley.search(:node, “name:ridley-test.local”)

“

Search will return an array of the appropriate Chef Objects if one of the default indices is specified. The indices are

node
role
client
environment

Authors and Contributors

Jamie Winsor (jamie@vialstudios.com)
Kyle Allan (kallan@riotgames.com)

Thank you to all of our Contributors, testers, and users.