Knife bootstrap on linux failing with error in /etc/chef/validation.pem

Chef Infra (archive)
1

Hello All,
I am a chef begineer and trying to bootstrap a linux workstation (node) but its failing due to incorrect format (The key file should begin with ‘-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----’ and end with ‘-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----’)

I checked this file on chef server and this file is auto generated. I tried renaming it but on next attempt its creating same file with same error(see below). Please guide me in fixing this error.

ls -la /etc/chef/validation.pem*
-rw------- 1 root root 1676 Jun 10 16:03 /etc/chef/validation.pem
-rw------- 1 root root 1676 Jun 10 15:58 /etc/chef/validation.pem_old

install details-
chef server running on chef-server-core-12.6.0-1.el6.x86_64 --> centos 6
chef workstation running on chefdk-0.14.25-1.el7.x86_64 --> centos 7

below is the exact command I ran on workstation and knife client list is working fine.

[abc123@gacdtl021t186b4 chef-repo]$ knife bootstrap gacdtl02abc123 -x abc123 -A --sudo -N chefwkstn
Doing old-style registration with the validation key at /home/abc123/chef-repo/.chef/ccr-ldap-validator.pem…
Delete your validation key in order to use your user credentials instead

Connecting to gacdtl02abc123
abc123@gacdtl02abc123’s password:
gacdtl02abc123 knife sudo password:
Enter your password:
gacdtl02abc123
gacdtl02abc123 -----> Installing Chef Omnibus (-v 12)
gacdtl02abc123 downloading https://omnitruck-direct.chef.io/chef/install.sh
gacdtl02abc123 to file /tmp/install.sh.6429/install.sh
gacdtl02abc123 trying wget…
gacdtl02abc123 el 6 x86_64
gacdtl02abc123 Getting information for chef stable 12 for el…
gacdtl02abc123 downloading https://omnitruck-direct.chef.io/stable/chef/metadata?v=12&p=el&pv=6&m=x86_64
gacdtl02abc123 to file /tmp/install.sh.6434/metadata.txt
gacdtl02abc123 trying wget…
gacdtl02abc123 sha1 44e71beed0cc0db2481c3e3d2108ad218c32dade
gacdtl02abc123 sha256 e51559dc7747c03b446f9d1a3cdbb122f274352ba0ed7dd8fdac41e10514b9e2
gacdtl02abc123 to file /tmp/install.sh.6434/chef-12.11.18-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
gacdtl02abc123 trying wget…
gacdtl02abc123 Comparing checksum with sha256sum…
gacdtl02abc123 Installing chef 12
gacdtl02abc123 installing with rpm…
gacdtl02abc123 Preparing… ########################################### [100%]
gacdtl02abc123 1:chef ########################################### [100%]
gacdtl02abc123 Thank you for installing Chef!
gacdtl02abc123 Starting the first Chef Client run…
gacdtl02abc123 Starting Chef Client, version 12.11.18
gacdtl02abc123 Creating a new client identity for chefwkstn using the validator key.
gacdtl02abc123
gacdtl02abc123 ================================================================================
gacdtl02abc123 Chef encountered an error attempting to create the client "chefwkstn"
gacdtl02abc123 ================================================================================
gacdtl02abc123
gacdtl02abc123 Platform:
gacdtl02abc123 ---------
gacdtl02abc123 x86_64-linux
gacdtl02abc123
gacdtl02abc123
gacdtl02abc123 Running handlers:
gacdtl02abc123 [2016-06-10T15:15:49-04:00] ERROR: Running exception handlers
gacdtl02abc123 Running handlers complete
gacdtl02abc123 [2016-06-10T15:15:49-04:00] ERROR: Exception handlers complete
gacdtl02abc123 [2016-06-10T15:15:49-04:00] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /var/chef/cache/chef-stacktrace.out
gacdtl02abc123 Chef Client failed. 0 resources updated in 04 seconds
gacdtl02abc123 [2016-06-10T15:15:49-04:00] FATAL: Please provide the contents of the stacktrace.out file if you file a bug report
gacdtl02abc123 [2016-06-10T15:15:49-04:00] ERROR: The file /etc/chef/validation.pem or :raw_key option does not contain a correctly formatted private key.
gacdtl02abc123 The key file should begin with ‘-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----’ and end with '-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----'
gacdtl02abc123 [2016-06-10T15:15:49-04:00] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::ChildConvergeError: Chef run process exited unsuccessfully (exit code 1)
[abc123@gacdtl021t186b4 chef-repo]$

Thanks and regards
Abhijit

2

Do mv /etc/chef /etc/chef.old and try again.

3

Do **mv /etc/chef /etc/chef.old** in gacdtl02abc123 and try again.



4

Thanks Arunv707 for reply.
I tried that today but got same results :frowning:

[2016-06-15T09:18:15-04:00] ERROR: The file /etc/chef/validation.pem or :raw_key option does not contain a correctly formatted private key.
gacdtl02abc123 The key file should begin with ‘-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----’ and end with '-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----'
gacdtl02abc123 [2016-06-15T09:18:15-04:00] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::ChildConvergeError: Chef run process exited unsuccessfully (exit code 1)

listing on chef server is below-

/etc/chef:
total 16
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 200 Jun 15 09:18 client.rb
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 16 Jun 15 09:18 first-boot.json
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:18 trusted_certs
-rw------- 1 root root 1676 Jun 15 09:18 validation.pem

/etc/chef-manage:
total 4
-rw------- 1 root root 116 Jun 7 11:57 secrets.rb

/etc/chef_old:
total 20
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 200 Jun 10 16:03 client.rb
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 16 Jun 10 16:03 first-boot.json
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 10 15:15 trusted_certs
-rw------- 1 root root 1676 Jun 10 16:03 validation.pem
-rw------- 1 root root 1676 Jun 10 15:58 validation.pem_old

Did I missed any step here?

Regards
Abhijit

5

Could you please post the knife.rb?

6

if you open the validation.pem file on the server using vim do you see any extra characters before the -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- or after the -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

I ran into a similar issue when the validation.pem that I was uploading was invalid due to some silliness with download in windows.