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Use the windows_service resource to create, delete, or 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
  binary_path_name      String
  delayed_start         true, false # default value: false
  dependencies          String, Array
  description           String
  desired_access        Integer # default value: 983551
  display_name          String
  error_control         Integer # default value: 1
  init_command          String
  load_order_group      String
  pattern               String
  reload_command        String, false
  restart_command       String, false
  run_as_password       String
  run_as_user           String # default value: "LocalSystem"
  service_name          String # default value: 'name' unless specified
  service_type          Integer # default value: "SERVICE_WIN32_OWN_PROCESS"
  start_command         String, false
  startup_type          Symbol # default value: :automatic
  status_command        String, false
  stop_command          String, false
  supports              Hash # default value: {"restart"=>nil, "reload"=>nil, "status"=>nil}
  timeout               Integer
  action                Symbol # defaults to :nothing if not specified
end

where:

• windows_service 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.
• binary_path_name, display_name, desired_access, delayed_start, dependencies, description, error_control, init_command, load_order_group, pattern, reload_command, restart_command, run_as_password, run_as_user, service_name, service_type, 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

The windows_service resource has the following actions:

:configure

Configure a pre-existing service. New in Chef Client 14.0.

:configure_startup

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

:create

Create the service based on the value of the binary_path_name, service_name and/or display_name property. New in Chef Client 14.0.

:delete

Delete the service based on the value of the service_name property. New in Chef Client 14.0.

: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. This action is not supported on the Windows platform and will raise an error if used.

:restart

Restart a service.

:start

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

:stop

Stop a service.

Properties

The windows_service resource has the following properties:

binary_path_name

Ruby Type: String

The fully qualified path to the service binary file. The path can also include arguments for an auto-start service. This is required for :create and :configure actions

New in Chef Client 14.0

delayed_start

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Set the startup type to delayed start. This only applies if startup_type is :automatic

New in Chef Client 14.0

dependencies

Ruby Type: String, Array

A pointer to a double null-terminated array of null-separated names of services or load ordering groups that the system must start before this service. Specify nil or an empty string if the service has no dependencies. Dependency on a group means that this service can run if at least one member of the group is running after an attempt to start all members of the group.

New in Chef Client 14.0

description

Ruby Type: String

Description of the service.

New in Chef Client 14.0

desired_access

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 983551

New in Chef Client 14.0

display_name

Ruby Type: String

The display name to be used by user interface programs to identify the service. This string has a maximum length of 256 characters.

New in Chef Client 14.0

error_control

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 1

New in Chef Client 14.0

load_order_group

Ruby Type: String

The name of the service’s load ordering group(s).

New in Chef Client 14.0

pattern

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: The value provided to 'service_name' or the resource block's name

The pattern to look for in the process table.

reload_command

Ruby Type: String, false

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

restart_command

Ruby Type: String, false

The command used to restart a service.

run_as_password

Ruby Type: String

The password for the user specified by run_as_user.

run_as_user

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: localsystem

The user under which a Microsoft Windows service runs.

service_name

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: The resource block's name

An optional property to set the service name if it differs from the resource block’s name.

service_type

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 16

New in Chef Client 14.0

start_command

Ruby Type: String, false

The command used to start a service.

startup_type

Ruby Type: Symbol | Default Value: :automatic Allowed Values: :automatic, :disabled, :manual

Use to specify the startup type of the service.

status_command

Ruby Type: String, false

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

stop_command

Ruby Type: String, false

The command used to stop a service.

supports

Ruby Type: Hash | Default Value: {"restart"=>nil, "reload"=>nil, "status"=>nil}

A list of properties that controls how Chef Infra 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, Chef Infra 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, Chef Infra 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 | Default Value: 60

The amount of time (in seconds) to wait before timing out.

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_service resource in recipes:

Starting Services

Start a service with a manual startup type:

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

Creating Services

Create a service named chef-client:

windows_service 'chef-client' do
  action :create
  binary_path_name "C:\opscode\chef\bin"
end

Create a service with service_name and display_name:

windows_service 'Setup chef-client as a service' do
  action :create
  display_name 'CHEF-CLIENT'
  service_name 'chef-client'
  binary_path_name "C:\opscode\chef\bin"
end

Create a service with the manual startup type:

windows_service 'chef-client' do
  action :create
  binary_path_name "C:\opscode\chef\bin"
  startup_type :manual
end

Create a service with the disabled startup type:

windows_service 'chef-client' do
  action :create
  binary_path_name "C:\opscode\chef\bin"
  startup_type :disabled
end

Create a service with the automatic startup type and delayed start enabled:

windows_service 'chef-client' do
  action :create
  binary_path_name "C:\opscode\chef\bin"
  startup_type :automatic
  delayed_start true
end

Create a service with a description:

windows_service 'chef-client' do
  action :create
  binary_path_name "C:\opscode\chef\bin"
  startup_type :automatic
  description "Chef client as service"
end

Deleting Services

Delete a service named chef-client:

windows_service 'chef-client' do
  action :delete
end

Delete a service with the service_name property:

windows_service 'Delete chef client' do
  action :delete
  service_name 'chef-client'
end

Configuring Services

Change an existing service from automatic to manual startup:

windows_service 'chef-client' do
  action :configure
  binary_path_name "C:\opscode\chef\bin"
  startup_type :manual
end