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Use the windows_defender resource to enable or disable the Microsoft Windows Defender service.

New in Chef Infra Client 17.3.

Syntax

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

windows_defender 'name' do
  intrusion_protection_system      true, false # default value: true
  lock_ui                          true, false # default value: false
  realtime_protection              true, false # default value: true
  scan_archives                    true, false # default value: true
  scan_email                       true, false # default value: false
  scan_mapped_drives               true, false # default value: true
  scan_network_files               true, false # default value: false
  scan_removable_drives            true, false # default value: false
  scan_scripts                     true, false # default value: false
  action                           Symbol # defaults to :enable if not specified
end

where:

• windows_defender is the resource.
• name is the name given to the resource block.
• action identifies which steps Chef Infra Client will take to bring the node into the desired state.
• intrusion_protection_system, lock_ui, realtime_protection, scan_archives, scan_email, scan_mapped_drives, scan_network_files, scan_removable_drives, and scan_scripts are the properties available to this resource.

Actions

The windows_defender resource has the following actions:

:disable

Disable Windows Defender.

:enable

Enable and configure Windows Defender. (default)

:nothing

This resource block does not act unless notified by another resource to take action. Once notified, this resource block either runs immediately or is queued up to run at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.

Properties

The windows_defender resource has the following properties:

intrusion_protection_system

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: true

Enable network protection against exploitation of known vulnerabilities.

lock_ui

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Lock the UI to prevent users from changing Windows Defender settings.

realtime_protection

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: true

Enable realtime scanning of downloaded files and attachments.

scan_archives

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: true

Scan file archives such as .zip or .gz archives.

scan_email

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Scan e-mails for malware.

scan_mapped_drives

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: true

Scan files on mapped network drives.

scan_network_files

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Scan files on a network.

scan_removable_drives

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Scan content of removable drives.

scan_scripts

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Scan scripts in malware scans.

Common Resource Functionality

Chef resources include common properties, notifications, and resource guards.

Common Properties

The following properties are common to every resource:

compile_time

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Control the phase during which the resource is run on the node. Set to true to run while the resource collection is being built (the compile phase). Set to false to run while Chef Infra Client is configuring the node (the converge phase).

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false, :quiet | Default Value: false

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason. :quiet will not display the full stack trace and the recipe will continue to run if a resource fails.

retries

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 0

The number of attempts to catch exceptions and retry the resource.

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2

The delay in seconds between retry attempts.

sensitive

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Ensure that sensitive resource data is not logged by Chef Infra Client.

Notifications

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 notify more than one resource; use a notifies statement for each resource to be notified.

If the referenced resource does not exist, an error is raised. In contrast, subscribes will not fail if the source resource is not found.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra 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 end of a Chef Infra 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

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.

Note that subscribes does not apply the specified action to the resource that it listens to - for example:

file '/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt' do
  mode '0600'
  owner 'root'
end

service 'nginx' do
  subscribes :reload, 'file[/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt]', :immediately
end

In this case the subscribes property reloads the nginx service whenever its certificate file, located under /etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt, is updated. subscribes does not make any changes to the certificate file itself, it merely listens for a change to the file, and executes the :reload action for its resource (in this example nginx) when a change is detected.

If the other resource does not exist, the subscription will not raise an error. Contrast this with the stricter semantics of notifies, which will raise an error if the other resource does not exist.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra 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 end of a Chef Infra 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

Guards

A guard property can be used to evaluate the state of a node during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run. Based on the results of this evaluation, a guard property is then used to tell Chef Infra Client if it should continue executing a resource. A guard property accepts either a string value or a Ruby block value:

• A string is executed as a shell command. If the command returns 0, the guard is applied. If the command returns any other value, then the guard property is not applied. String guards in a powershell_script run Windows PowerShell commands and may return true in addition to 0.
• A block is executed as Ruby code that must return either true or false. If the block returns true, the guard property is applied. If the block returns false, the guard property is not applied.

A guard property is useful for ensuring that a resource is idempotent by allowing that resource to test for the desired state as it is being executed, and then if the desired state is present, for Chef Infra Client to do nothing.

The following properties can be used to define a guard that is evaluated during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run:

not_if

Prevent a resource from executing when the condition returns true.

only_if

Allow a resource to execute only if the condition returns true.

Examples

The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using the windows_defender resource in recipes:

Configure Windows Defender AV settings:

windows_defender 'Configure Defender' do
  realtime_protection true
  intrusion_protection_system true
  lock_ui true
  scan_archives true
  scan_scripts true
  scan_email true
  scan_removable_drives true
  scan_network_files false
  scan_mapped_drives false
  action :enable
end

Disable Windows Defender AV:

windows_defender 'Disable Defender' do
  action :disable
end