Chef action pack

Dispatch Preprocess

• Checks for the existence of the cookbook for the particular dispatcher.
  • If yes, verify that it exists on the dispatcher workstation. If it exists, but does not exist on the dispatcher workstation, then it locally copies it to the dispatcher workstation
  • If no, creates the cookbook and copies it on the dispatcher workstation
• Creates a file that stores the role information for the deployment process, that must be performed on the target server

Dispatch Fileput

• Copies files to the cookbook/RLM_COOKBOOK/files/default directory on the Chef server where the dispatcher is running
• Creates recipes to add files on the correct Chef nodes (targets)
• Adds environment variables to the recipe to be run
• Adds the success completion tag logic to the recipe
• Adds recipe to the Chef run_list for the role

Dispatch Fileget

• Not supported, exits with an error if invoked
• Other than the Puppet or Chef dispatcher, this action can be executed through any other dispatcher (for example, NSH dispatcher)

Dispatch Srun

• Looks for special cases, as follows:
  • Config Get:  Runs the knife recipe list command that is parsed by the Chef config filter, to list recipes available to the dispatcher and then exits
  • Execute_Chef_Recipe:  Adds this recipe argument to the Chef run_list on the role for the deployment task and then exits
• Copies action to the cookbook/RLM_COOKBOOK/files/default or cookbook/RLM_COOKBOOK/files/windows directory depending on the target host platform
• Creates a recipe to copy the relevant action file and then executes it
• Looks for the required data files (VL_INPUT_DATA) to send as a file. If the data files exist, then it adds them to the recipe
• Adds environment variables to the recipe to be run
• Adds recipe to the Chef run_list for the role

Dispatch Prun

• Not supported, exits with an error if invoked
• Other than the Puppet or Chef dispatcher, this action can be executed through any other dispatcher (for example, NSH dispatcher)

Dispatch Postprocess

• Uploads cookbook to the Chef server with the latest recipes and files
• Creates a role from the role file updated with information until the current time
• Assigns a role to the target node run_list
• Verifies if all recipes are run and performs the following tasks:
  
  • Waits for the recipe tags to appear on the node of the server to signify that the recipe was completed
  • If a tag does not appear, adds an error in the log which must be troubleshooted and resolved before restarting the deployment
• If all tags are found, a cleanup process starts, that:
  
  • Removes the role assigned to the target node
  • Deletes the role from the Chef server
  • Removes the recipe completion tags from the node
  • Removes the VL_INPUT_DATA files from the cookbook
  • Removes the recipes from the cookbook
  • Uploads the cookbook to the Chef server

Execute Chef Recipe

Execute any Chef module as a part of the BMC VaraLogix Q Deployment Automation process by using the Invoke Action activity library.

Config Get

Pulls the configuration data from the Chef workstation hosting the dispatcher and returns a list of recipes available to the dispatcher.