Use the chef_handler resource to enable handlers during a chef-client run. The resource allows arguments to be passed to the chef-client, which then applies the conditions defined by the custom handler to the node attribute data collected during the chef-client run, and then processes the handler based on that data.
The chef_handler resource is typically defined early in a node’s run-list (often being the first item). This ensures that all of the handlers will be available for the entire chef-client run.
The chef_handler resource is included with the chef_handler cookbook. This cookbook defines the the resource itself and also provides the location in which the chef-client looks for custom handlers. All custom handlers should be added to the files/default/handlers
directory in the chef_handler cookbook.
There are three types of handlers:
Handler | Description |
---|---|
exception | An exception handler is used to identify situations that have caused a chef-client run to fail. An exception handler can be loaded at the start of a chef-client run by adding a recipe that contains the chef_handler resource to a node’s run-list. An exception handler runs when the failed? property for the run_status object returns true . |
report | A report handler is used when a chef-client run succeeds and reports back on certain details about that chef-client run. A report handler can be loaded at the start of a chef-client run by adding a recipe that contains the chef_handler resource to a node’s run-list. A report handler runs when the success? property for the run_status object returns true . |
start | A start handler is used to run events at the beginning of the chef-client run. A start handler can be loaded at the start of a chef-client run by adding the start handler to the start_handlers setting in the client.rb file or by installing the gem that contains the start handler by using the chef_gem resource in a recipe in the chef-client cookbook. (A start handler may not be loaded using the chef_handler resource.) |
Exception and report handlers are used to trigger certain behaviors in response to specific situations, typically identified during a chef-client run.
Both types of handlers can be used to gather data about a chef-client run and can provide rich levels of data about all types of usage, which can be used later for trending and analysis across the entire organization.
Exception and report handlers are made available to the chef-client run in one of the following ways:
exception_handlers
and/or report_handlers
The chef_handler resource allows exception and report handlers to be enabled from within recipes, which can then added to the run-list for any node on which the exception or report handler should run. The chef_handler resource is available from the chef_handler cookbook.
To use the chef_handler resource in a recipe, add code similar to the following:
chef_handler 'name_of_handler' do source '/path/to/handler/handler_name' action :enable end
For example, a handler for Growl needs to be enabled at the beginning of the chef-client run:
chef_gem 'chef-handler-growl'
and then is activated in a recipe by using the chef_handler resource:
chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::Growl' do source 'chef/handler/growl' action :enable end
A start handler is not loaded into the chef-client run from a recipe, but is instead listed in the client.rb file using the start_handlers
attribute. The start handler must be installed on the node and be available to the chef-client prior to the start of the chef-client run. Use the chef-client cookbook to install the start handler.
Start handlers are made available to the chef-client run in one of the following ways:
start_handlers
The chef-client cookbook can be configured to automatically install and configure gems that are required by a start handler. For example:
node.set['chef_client']['load_gems']['chef-reporting'] = { :require_name => 'chef_reporting', :action => :install } node.set['chef_client']['config']['start_handlers'] = [ { :class => 'Chef::Reporting::StartHandler', :arguments => [] } ] include_recipe 'chef-client::config'
A chef_handler resource block enables handlers during a chef-client run. Two handlers—JsonFile
and ErrorReport
—are built into Chef:
chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::JsonFile' do source 'chef/handler/json_file' arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports' action :enable end
and:
chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::ErrorReport' do source 'chef/handler/error_report' action :enable end
show how to enable those handlers in a recipe.
The full syntax for all of the properties that are available to the chef_handler resource is:
chef_handler 'name' do arguments Array class_name String notifies # see description source String subscribes # see description supports Hash action Symbol end
where
chef_handler
is the resourcename
is the name of the resource block:action
identifies the steps the chef-client will take to bring the node into the desired statearguments
, class_name
, source
, and supports
are properties of this resource, with the Ruby type shown. See “Properties” section below for more information about all of the properties that may be used with this resource.This resource has the following actions:
:disable
:enable
:nothing
This resource has the following properties:
arguments
Ruby Type: Array
An array of arguments that are passed to the initializer for the handler class. Default value: []
. For example:
arguments :key1 => 'val1'
or:
arguments [:key1 => 'val1', :key2 => 'val2']
class_name
Ruby Type: String
The name of the handler class. This can be module name-spaced.
ignore_failure
Ruby Types: TrueClass, FalseClass
Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason. Default value: false
.
notifies
Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’
A resource may notify another resource to take action when its state changes. Specify a 'resource[name]'
, the :action
that resource should take, and then the :timer
for that action. A resource may notifiy more than one resource; use a notifies
statement for each resource to be notified.
A timer specifies the point during the chef-client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:
:before
:delayed
:immediate
, :immediately
The syntax for notifies
is:
notifies :action, 'resource[name]', :timer
retries
Ruby Type: Integer
The number of times to catch exceptions and retry the resource. Default value: 0
.
retry_delay
Ruby Type: Integer
The retry delay (in seconds). Default value: 2
.
source
Ruby Type: String
The full path to the handler file or the path to a gem (if the handler ships as part of a Ruby gem).
subscribes
Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’
A resource may listen to another resource, and then take action if the state of the resource being listened to changes. Specify a 'resource[name]'
, the :action
to be taken, and then the :timer
for that action.
A timer specifies the point during the chef-client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:
:before
:delayed
:immediate
, :immediately
The syntax for subscribes
is:
subscribes :action, 'resource[name]', :timer
supports
Ruby Type: Hash
The type of handler. Possible values: :exception
, :report
, or :start
. Default value: { :report => true, :exception => true }
.
A custom handler can be created to support any situation. The easiest way to build a custom handler:
The syntax for a handler can vary, depending on what the the situations the handler is being asked to track, the type of handler being used, and so on. All custom exception and report handlers are defined using Ruby and must be a subclass of the Chef::Handler
class.
require 'chef/log' module ModuleName class HandlerName < Chef::Handler def report # Ruby code goes here end end end
where:
require
ensures that the logging functionality of the chef-client is available to the handlerModuleName
is the name of the module as it exists within the Chef
libraryHandlerName
is the name of the handler as it is used in a recipereport
is an interface that is used to define the custom handlerFor example, the following shows a custom handler that sends an email that contains the exception data when a chef-client run fails:
require 'net/smtp' module OrgName class SendEmail < Chef::Handler def report if run_status.failed? then message = "From: sender_name <[email protected]>\n" message << "To: recipient_address <[email protected]>\n" message << "Subject: chef-client Run Failed\n" message << "Date: #{Time.now.rfc2822}\n\n" message << "Chef run failed on #{node.name}\n" message << "#{run_status.formatted_exception}\n" message << Array(backtrace).join('\n') Net::SMTP.start('your.smtp.server', 25) do |smtp| smtp.send_message message, 'sender@example', 'recipient@example' end end end end end
and then is used in a recipe like:
send_email 'blah' do # recipe code end
The report
interface is used to define how a handler will behave and is a required part of any custom handler. The syntax for the report
interface is as follows:
def report # Ruby code end
The Ruby code used to define a custom handler will vary significantly from handler to handler. The chef-client includes two default handlers: error_report
and json_file
. Their use of the report
interface is shown below.
The error_report handler:
require 'chef/handler' require 'chef/resource/directory' class Chef class Handler class ErrorReport < ::Chef::Handler def report Chef::FileCache.store('failed-run-data.json', Chef::JSONCompat.to_json_pretty(data), 0640) Chef::Log.fatal("Saving node information to #{Chef::FileCache.load('failed-run-data.json', false)}") end end end end
The json_file handler:
require 'chef/handler' require 'chef/resource/directory' class Chef class Handler class JsonFile < ::Chef::Handler attr_reader :config def initialize(config={}) @config = config @config[:path] ||= '/var/chef/reports' @config end def report if exception Chef::Log.error('Creating JSON exception report') else Chef::Log.info('Creating JSON run report') end build_report_dir savetime = Time.now.strftime('%Y%m%d%H%M%S') File.open(File.join(config[:path], 'chef-run-report-#{savetime}.json'), 'w') do |file| run_data = data run_data[:start_time] = run_data[:start_time].to_s run_data[:end_time] = run_data[:end_time].to_s file.puts Chef::JSONCompat.to_json_pretty(run_data) end end def build_report_dir unless File.exist?(config[:path]) FileUtils.mkdir_p(config[:path]) File.chmod(00700, config[:path]) end end end end end
The following interfaces may be used in a handler in the same way as the report
interface to override the default handler behavior in the chef-client. That said, the following interfaces are not typically used in a handler and, for the most part, are completely unnecessary for a handler to work properly and/or as desired.
The data
method is used to return the Hash representation of the run_status
object. For example:
def data @run_status.to_hash end
The run_report_safely
method is used to run the report handler, rescuing and logging errors that may arise as the handler runs and ensuring that all handlers get a chance to run during the chef-client run (even if some handlers fail during that run). In general, this method should never be used as an interface in a custom handler unless this default behavior simply must be overridden.
def run_report_safely(run_status) run_report_unsafe(run_status) rescue Exception => e Chef::Log.error('Report handler #{self.class.name} raised #{e.inspect}') Array(e.backtrace).each { |line| Chef::Log.error(line) } ensure @run_status = nil end
The run_report_unsafe
method is used to run the report handler without any error handling. This method should never be used directly in any handler, except during testing of that handler. For example:
def run_report_unsafe(run_status) @run_status = run_status report end
The run_status
object is initialized by the chef-client before the report
interface is run for any handler. The run_status
object keeps track of the status of the chef-client run and will contain some (or all) of the following properties:
Property | Description |
---|---|
all_resources | A list of all resources that are included in the resource_collection property for the current chef-client run. |
backtrace | A backtrace associated with the uncaught exception data that caused a chef-client run to fail, if present; nil for a successful chef-client run. |
elapsed_time | The amount of time between the start (start_time ) and end (end_time ) of a chef-client run. |
end_time | The time at which a chef-client run ended. |
exception | The uncaught exception data which caused a chef-client run to fail; nil for a successful chef-client run. |
failed? | Show that a chef-client run has failed when uncaught exceptions were raised during a chef-client run. An exception handler runs when the failed? indicator is true . |
node | The node on which the chef-client run occurred. |
run_context | An instance of the Chef::RunContext object; used by the chef-client to track the context of the run; provides access to the cookbook_collection , resource_collection , and definitions properties. |
start_time | The time at which a chef-client run started. |
success? | Show that a chef-client run succeeded when uncaught exceptions were not raised during a chef-client run. A report handler runs when the success? indicator is true . |
updated_resources | A list of resources that were marked as updated as a result of the chef-client run. |
Note
These properties are not always available. For example, a start handler runs at the beginning of the chef-client run, which means that properties like end_time
and elapsed_time
are still unknown and will be unavailable to the run_status
object.
The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using resources in recipes. If you want to see examples of how Chef uses resources in recipes, take a closer look at the cookbooks that Chef authors and maintains: https://github.com/chef-cookbooks.
Enable the CloudkickHandler handler
The following example shows how to enable the CloudkickHandler
handler, which adds it to the default handler path and passes the oauth
key/secret to the handler’s initializer:
chef_handler "CloudkickHandler" do source "#{node['chef_handler']['handler_path']}/cloudkick_handler.rb" arguments [node['cloudkick']['oauth_key'], node['cloudkick']['oauth_secret']] action :enable end
Enable handlers during the compile phase
chef_handler "Chef::Handler::JsonFile" do source "chef/handler/json_file" arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports' action :nothing end.run_action(:enable)
Handle only exceptions
chef_handler "Chef::Handler::JsonFile" do source "chef/handler/json_file" arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports' supports :exception => true action :enable end
Cookbook Versions (a custom handler)
Community member juliandunn
created a custom report handler that logs all of the cookbooks and cookbook versions that were used during the chef-client run, and then reports after the run is complete. This handler requires the chef_handler resource (which is available from the chef_handler cookbook).
cookbook_versions.rb:
The following custom handler defines how cookbooks and cookbook versions that are used during the chef-client run will be compiled into a report using the Chef::Log
class in the chef-client:
require 'chef/log' module Opscode class CookbookVersionsHandler < Chef::Handler def report cookbooks = run_context.cookbook_collection Chef::Log.info('Cookbooks and versions run: #{cookbooks.keys.map {|x| cookbooks[x].name.to_s + ' ' + cookbooks[x].version} }') end end end
default.rb:
The following recipe is added to the run-list for every node on which a list of cookbooks and versions will be generated as report output after every chef-client run.
include_recipe 'chef_handler' cookbook_file "#{node['chef_handler']['handler_path']}/cookbook_versions.rb" do source 'cookbook_versions.rb' owner 'root' group 'root' mode '0755' action :create end chef_handler 'Opscode::CookbookVersionsHandler' do source "#{node['chef_handler']['handler_path']}/cookbook_versions.rb" supports :report => true action :enable end
This recipe will generate report output similar to the following:
[2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Chef Run complete in 0.300029878 seconds [2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Running report handlers [2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Cookbooks and versions run: ["chef_handler 1.1.4", "cookbook_versions_handler 1.0.0"] [2013-11-26T03:11:06+00:00] INFO: Report handlers complete
JsonFile Handler
The json_file handler is available from the chef_handler cookbook and can be used with exceptions and reports. It serializes run status data to a JSON file. This handler may be enabled in one of the following ways.
By adding the following lines of Ruby code to either the client.rb file or the solo.rb file, depending on how the chef-client is being run:
require 'chef/handler/json_file' report_handlers << Chef::Handler::JsonFile.new(:path => '/var/chef/reports') exception_handlers << Chef::Handler::JsonFile.new(:path => '/var/chef/reports')
By using the chef_handler resource in a recipe, similar to the following:
chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::JsonFile' do source 'chef/handler/json_file' arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports' action :enable end
After it has run, the run status data can be loaded and inspected via Interactive Ruby (IRb):
irb(main):001:0> require 'rubygems' => true irb(main):002:0> require 'json' => true irb(main):003:0> require 'chef' => true irb(main):004:0> r = JSON.parse(IO.read('/var/chef/reports/chef-run-report-20110322060731.json')) => ... output truncated irb(main):005:0> r.keys => ['end_time', 'node', 'updated_resources', 'exception', 'all_resources', 'success', 'elapsed_time', 'start_time', 'backtrace'] irb(main):006:0> r['elapsed_time'] => 0.00246
Register the JsonFile handler
chef_handler "Chef::Handler::JsonFile" do source "chef/handler/json_file" arguments :path => '/var/chef/reports' action :enable end
ErrorReport Handler
The error_report handler is built into the chef-client and can be used for both exceptions and reports. It serializes error report data to a JSON file. This handler may be enabled in one of the following ways.
By adding the following lines of Ruby code to either the client.rb file or the solo.rb file, depending on how the chef-client is being run:
require 'chef/handler/error_report' report_handlers << Chef::Handler::ErrorReport.new() exception_handlers << Chef::Handler::ErrorReport.new()
By using the chef_handler resource in a recipe, similar to the following:
chef_handler 'Chef::Handler::ErrorReport' do source 'chef/handler/error_report' action :enable end
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https://docs-archive.chef.io/release/12-13/resource_chef_handler.html