windows_service

Use the windows_service resource to manage a service on the Microsoft Windows platform.

Syntax

A windows_service resource block manages the state of a service on a machine that is running Microsoft Windows. For example:

windows_service 'BITS' do
  action :configure_startup
  startup_type :manual
end

The full syntax for all of the properties that are available to the windows_service resource is:

windows_service 'name' do
  init_command               String
  notifies                   # see description
  pattern                    String
  provider                   Chef::Provider::Service::Windows
  reload_command             String
  restart_command            String
  run_as_password            String
  run_as_user                String
  service_name               String # defaults to 'name' if not specified
  start_command              String
  startup_type               Symbol
  status_command             String
  stop_command               String
  subscribes                 # see description
  supports                   Hash
  timeout                    Integer
  action                     Symbol # defaults to :nothing if not specified
end

where

• windows_service is the resource
• name is the name of the resource block
• :action identifies the steps the chef-client will take to bring the node into the desired state
• init_command, pattern, provider, reload_command, restart_command, run_as_password, run_as_user, service_name, start_command, startup_type, status_command, stop_command, supports, and timeout 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.

Actions

This resource has the following actions:

:configure_startup

Configure a service based on the value of the startup_type property.

:disable

Disable a service. This action is equivalent to a Disabled startup type on the Microsoft Windows platform.

:enable

Enable a service at boot. This action is equivalent to an Automatic startup type on the Microsoft Windows platform.

:nothing

Default. Do nothing with a service.

:reload

Reload the configuration for this service.

:restart

Restart a service.

:start

Start a service, and keep it running until stopped or disabled.

:stop

Stop a service.

Properties

This resource has the following properties:

ignore_failure

Ruby Types: TrueClass, FalseClass

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason. Default value: false.

init_command

Ruby Type: String

The path to the init script that is associated with the service. This is typically /etc/init.d/SERVICE_NAME. The init_command property can be used to prevent the need to specify overrides for the start_command, stop_command, and restart_command attributes. Default value: nil.

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

Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the very end of the chef-client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for notifies is:

notifies :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

pattern

Ruby Type: String

The pattern to look for in the process table. Default value: service_name.

provider

Ruby Type: Chef Class

Optional. Explicitly specifies a provider.

reload_command

Ruby Type: String

The command used to tell a service to reload its configuration.

restart_command

Ruby Type: String

The command used to restart a service.

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.

run_as_password

Ruby Type: String

The password for the user specified by run_as_user.

run_as_user

Ruby Type: String

The user under which a Microsoft Windows service runs.

service_name

Ruby Type: String

The name of the service. Default value: the name of the resource block See “Syntax” section above for more information.

start_command

Ruby Type: String

The command used to start a service.

startup_type

Ruby Type: Symbol

Use to specify the startup type for a Microsoft Windows service. Possible values: :automatic, :disabled, or :manual. Default value: :automatic.

status_command

Ruby Type: String

The command used to check the run status for a service.

stop_command

Ruby Type: String

The command used to stop a service.

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

Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the very end of the chef-client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for subscribes is:

subscribes :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

supports

Ruby Type: Hash

A list of properties that controls how the chef-client is to attempt to manage a service: :restart, :reload, :status. For :restart, the init script or other service provider can use a restart command; if :restart is not specified, the chef-client attempts to stop and then start a service. For :reload, the init script or other service provider can use a reload command. For :status, the init script or other service provider can use a status command to determine if the service is running; if :status is not specified, the chef-client attempts to match the service_name against the process table as a regular expression, unless a pattern is specified as a parameter property. Default value: { :restart => false, :reload => false, :status => false } for all platforms (except for the Red Hat platform family, which defaults to { :restart => false, :reload => false, :status => true }.)

timeout

Ruby Type: Integer

The amount of time (in seconds) to wait before timing out. Default value: 60.

Examples

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.

Start a service manually

windows_service 'BITS' do
  action :configure_startup
  startup_type :manual
end