system Cookbook

Build Status

	Travis CI
Master
Latest Release (0.12.0)

Overview

This cookbook is designed to provide a set of recipes and LWRPs for managing the core properties of a host's system.

Currently the main features (from a high level) include:

• setting the hostname/domain name
• setting the default NetBIOS name and Workgroup (OS X only)
• setting the timezone
• configuring the system-wide profile (/etc/profile)
• managing packages (install, uninstall & upgrade)

Ad-hoc style operational tasks such as reboot and shutdown are also implemented by recipes.

Get it now from your (local) supermarket!

Requirements

• Chef >= 12.x
• Ruby >= 2.2.x

Older versions may work, but are not supported. See Platforms and Supported Versions.

Platforms Supported

• Debian, Ubuntu
• CentOS, RHEL, Fedora
• Arch Linux
• FreeBSD
• Mac OS X

Cookbooks

• apt
• cron
• hostsfile

Attributes

See attributes/default.rb for default values.

• node['system']['timezone'] - the system timezone to set, default Etc/UTC
• node['system']['short_hostname'] - the short hostname to set on the node, default is node['hostname']
• node['system']['domain_name'] - the domain name to set on the node, default localdomain
• node['system']['netbios_name'] - the NetBIOS name to set on the node, default is node['system']['short_hostname'] upper-cased (OS X only)
• node['system']['workgroup'] - the NetBIOS workgroup name to set on the node, default is WORKGROUP (OS X only)
• node['system']['static_hosts'] - a hash of static hosts to add to /etc/hosts
• node['system']['upgrade_packages'] - whether to upgrade the system's packages, default true
• node['system']['upgrade_packages_at_compile'] - whether upgrade of the system's packages in Chef's compilation phase, default true
• node['system']['enable_cron'] - whether to include the cron recipe, default true
• node['system']['packages']['install'] - an array of packages to install (also supports remote package URLs)
• node['system']['packages']['install_compile_time'] - an array of packages to install in Chef's compilation phase (also supports remote package URLs)
• node['system']['manage_hostsfile'] - whether or not to manage /etc/hostsfile (in any way)
• node['system']['permanent_ip'] - whether the system has a permenent IP address (http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch05.en.html#_the_hostname_resolution)
• node['system']['primary_interface'] - Specify primary network interface, used by hostname to set the correct address in hostsfile, default is node['network']['default_interface']
• node['system']['delay_network_restart'] - whether to trigger restart event as delayed. false causes an immediate restart instead. default true

Attributes (all arrays) to manipulate the system-wide profile (usually for /etc/profile):

• node['system']['profile']['path'] - override the default PATH for the system
• node['system']['profile']['path_append'] - append more paths to the base path
• node['system']['profile']['path_prepend'] - prepend more paths to the base path
• node['system']['profile']['append_scripts'] - an array of shell scripts to be appended to the system profile (include raw scripts without shebangs)

Usage

Recipes

system::default

Includes the system::update_package_list, system::timezone and system::hostname recipes only.

NOTE: if applicable, the system's package manager's package list will be updated, but installed packages won't be upgraded. To upgrade the system's packages, include the system::upgrade_packages recipe in your run_list or role.

system::hostname

When using resources that reference node['fqdn'] in variables or attribute values, note that you will need to lazy load to get the new hostname that is being set.

Use with variables:

template '/tmp/foobar.txt' do
  source 'use_fqdn_in_variable.erb'
  variables lazy {
    {
      fqdn: node['fqdn'],
      foo: bar
    }
  }
end

Use with a resource attribute:

log 'lazy_log_fqdn' do
  message lazy { node['fqdn'] }
  level :debug
end

system::profile

Manages /etc/profile with optional shell scripts to append from node['system']['profile']['append_scripts'], configure PATH requirements per attributes documented above.

system::install_packages

Installs a list of system packages as specified in the node['system']['packages']['install'] attribute. Will also install packages provided at compile time from within node['system']['packages']['install_compile_time'].

system::uninstall_packages

Uninstalls a list of system packages as specified in the node['system']['packages']['uninstall'] attribute. Will also uninstall packages provided at compile time from within node['system']['packages']['uninstall_compile_time'].

system::reboot

Attempts to gracefully reboot the operating system.

system::shutdown

Attempts to gracefully shutdown the operating system.

system::timezone

Sets the timezone of the system.

system::update_package_list

Updates the local package manager's package list.

system::upgrade_packages

Upgrades all installed packages of the local package manager.

LWRPs

The cookbook currently provides 3 Lightweight Resource Providers that can be used in your own recipes by depending on this cookbook. Recipes are provided interfacing each of these for convenience but you may find them useful in your own cookbook usage.

system_hostname

Attribute	Description	Example	Default
short_hostname	The short hostname for the system	starbug	nil
domain_name	The domain name for the system	reddwarf.space	nil
static_hosts	An array of static hosts to add to /etc/hosts	[{ '95.211.29.66' => 'supermarket.io' }, { '184.106.28.82' => 'chef.io' }]	nil

Examples

Set the hostname providing the desired FQDN:

system_hostname 'starbug.reddwarf.space'

Providing the short hostname as the resource name and explicitly defining the domain name (alas this is a bit verbose), as well as some static hosts:

system_hostname 'starbug' do
  short_hostname 'starbug'
  domain_name 'reddwarf.space'
  static_hosts(({ '95.211.29.66' => 'supermarket.io',
                  '184.106.28.82' => 'chef.io' }))
end

The system::hostname recipe implements it this way as short_hostname and domain_name are the exposed cookbook attributes.

system_timezone

Attribute	Description	Example	Default
timezone	The timezone to set the system to	Australia/Sydney	Etc/UTC

Example

system_timezone 'Australia/Sydney'

system_packages

Attribute	Description	Example	Default
packages	The timezone to set the system to	%w(wget curl)	[]
phase	The Chef phase to download the packages in	:compile	:converge

Example

system_packages %w(wget curl).join(',') do
  packages %w(wget curl)
  phase :compile
end

system_profile

Attribute	Description	Example	Default
filename	The system profile file to manage	/etc/profile	/etc/profile
template	The cookbook erb template for the profile file	custom_profile.erb	profile.erb
path	An environment search path to prepend to the default	/opt/local/bin	[]
append_scripts	Arbitrary scripts to append to the profile	['export FOO=bar']	nil

Example

system_profile '/etc/profile' do
  path ['/opt/local/bin', '/opt/foo/bin']
  append_scripts ['export FOO=bar']
end

Publish to Chef Supermarket

$ cd ..
$ knife cookbook site share system "Operating Systems & Virtualization" -o . -u xhost -k ~/.chef/xhost.pem

License and Authors

• Author: Chris Fordham (chris@fordham-nagy.id.au)

Copyright 2011-2016, Chris Fordham

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.