# Cannot install runner for automate server

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/cannot-install-runner-for-automate-server/10009>\
**Category:** Chef Automate\
**Created:** [December 8, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cannot-install-runner-for-automate-server/10009 "2016-12-08T21:12:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sclarson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/sclarson/32/1464_2.png) [@sclarson](https://discourse.chef.io/u/sclarson)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cannot-install-runner-for-automate-server/10009/1 "2016-12-08T21:12:35Z")

</div>

When running automate-ctl install-runner I get the following error.

```
vdlychef@sfsdlchefa001:~$ sudo automate-ctl install-runner sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local vdlychef --ssh-identity-file .ssh/id_rsa
Preflight check...
  Fetching Chef Server certificates for local use.
  Verifying no legacy runners exist for this name.
Failed to register sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local with Chef Server.

Please check the log files at /var/log/delivery-ctl/runner-install_sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local.log for more information
vdlychef@sfsdlchefa001:~$ sudo cat /var/log/delivery-ctl/runner-install_sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local.log
[2016-12-08T15:08:11.399366 #14944] FATAL -- : Error bootstrapping sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local: /opt/delivery/embedded/bin/knife search node '(name:sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local OR fqdn:sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local OR ipaddress:sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local) AND role:delivery_builders' -a fqdn -u delivery -k /etc/delivery/delivery.pem --server-url https://chef.vandalay.local/organizations/automate returned 1

```

My assumption is that it is ssl verification related, but I’m not sure how to confirm that or get around it if it is. This is a self hosted automate server using self signed certificates created by another part of the organization.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![radler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/radler/32/1372_2.png) [@radler](https://discourse.chef.io/u/radler)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cannot-install-runner-for-automate-server/10009/2 "2016-12-08T22:21:27Z")

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Hi there! Can you please share the full log with us? (Minus any information you need to redact, of course.) Thank you!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sclarson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/sclarson/32/1464_2.png) [@sclarson](https://discourse.chef.io/u/sclarson)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:46am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cannot-install-runner-for-automate-server/10009/3 "2016-12-09T04:46:17Z")

</div>

The runner-install log had:

> [@sclarson](#):
>
> [2016-12-08T15:08:11.399366 #14944] FATAL -- : Error bootstrapping sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local: /opt/delivery/embedded/bin/knife search node '(name:sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local OR fqdn:sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local OR ipaddress:sfsdlbldsvr001.vandalay.local) AND role:delivery\_builders' -a fqdn -u delivery -k /etc/delivery/delivery.pem --server-url [https://chef.vandalay.local/organizations/automate](https://chef.vandalay.local/organizations/automate) returned 1

Are there any other logs that would be useful?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sclarson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/sclarson/32/1464_2.png) [@sclarson](https://discourse.chef.io/u/sclarson)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cannot-install-runner-for-automate-server/10009/4 "2016-12-09T17:26:57Z")

</div>

Running the command from the log gets the following error:

```
WARNING: No knife configuration file found
WARN: Failed to read the private key /etc/chef/client.pem: #<Errno::ENOENT: No such file or directory @rb_sysopen - /etc/chef/client.pem>
ERROR: Your private key could not be loaded from /etc/chef/client.pem
Check your configuration file and ensure that your private key is readable

```

I’m not sure why there isn’t a /etc/chef folder. The automate UI comes up and doesn’t present any errors.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sclarson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/sclarson/32/1464_2.png) [@sclarson](https://discourse.chef.io/u/sclarson)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cannot-install-runner-for-automate-server/10009/5 "2016-12-09T21:04:01Z")

</div>

This was resolved by destroying and recreating the chef server organization for automate and then re-running automate-ctl setup.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![radler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/radler/32/1372_2.png) [@radler](https://discourse.chef.io/u/radler)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cannot-install-runner-for-automate-server/10009/6 "2016-12-09T21:09:43Z")

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Thanks for the logs, and sorry I didn’t reply sooner. Glad you sorted it out! 🎊 If you run into any other issues, please let us know.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bhatiasaurabh2010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@bhatiasaurabh2010](https://discourse.chef.io/u/bhatiasaurabh2010)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 6:23am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/cannot-install-runner-for-automate-server/10009/7 "2018-03-29T06:23:50Z")

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I am facing a similar issue. Could you please guide me through the solution for the same.