Single Chef client for configuring multiple nodes

Chef Infra (archive)
1

Hi,

Found this statement in the Chef client documentation… “A single Chef Client
can run recipes for multiple Nodes”. But I could not find any further
documentation or supporting description which talks about how this is possible.

Any one has tried this? Is there any in-built support for enabling a single
client to configure multiple nodes ?

Any info on this regard will be very helpful.

Thanks,
Saritha

2

Just use --node-name or an alternate configuration file (pointing to
the same client pem, with a different node_name).

Works great! I've never found a use for it; we always thought people
might create a client that was responsible for multiple virtual nodes,
e.g. switches that weren't running Chef or something along those
lines.

--AJ

On 28 February 2013 19:31, sarithavn@gmail.com wrote:

Hi,

Found this statement in the Chef client documentation... "A single Chef Client
can run recipes for multiple Nodes". But I could not find any further
documentation or supporting description which talks about how this is possible.

Any one has tried this? Is there any in-built support for enabling a single
client to configure multiple nodes ?

Any info on this regard will be very helpful.

Thanks,
Saritha

3

I did do some work on a proxy like this a while back, but I no longer work
where it was intended It used the same client to represent many nodes.
Brokered data into faux nodes from snmp endpoints. Still think it would be
a worthwhile tool for the community to have.

On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 10:43 PM, AJ Christensen aj@junglist.gen.nz wrote:

Just use --node-name or an alternate configuration file (pointing to
the same client pem, with a different node_name).

Works great! I've never found a use for it; we always thought people
might create a client that was responsible for multiple virtual nodes,
e.g. switches that weren't running Chef or something along those
lines.

--AJ

On 28 February 2013 19:31, sarithavn@gmail.com wrote:

Hi,

Found this statement in the Chef client documentation... "A single Chef
Client
can run recipes for multiple Nodes". But I could not find any further
documentation or supporting description which talks about how this is
possible.

Any one has tried this? Is there any in-built support for enabling a
single
client to configure multiple nodes ?

Any info on this regard will be very helpful.

Thanks,
Saritha

4

I tried to do something like this recently, and couldn't make it work. In my setup, I am only interested in using chef-client to populate attributes so that the unmanaged nodes show up in searches.

My understanding is that node_name is used to lookup the key it should match against on the server, even if the key being used is for an admin client. Certainly, whenever I change the node_name and use an administrative key I get a 401 back.

At present, I have resorted to a having a script that registers for each of these nodes and runs chef-client for each node to keep the published attributes up-to-date. If it can be done more cleanly, that would be great.

Thanks,
Dan.

-----Original Message-----
From: AJ Christensen [mailto:aj@junglist.gen.nz]
Sent: 28 February 2013 06:43
To: chef
Subject: [chef] Re: Single Chef client for configuring multiple nodes

Just use --node-name or an alternate configuration file (pointing to the same client pem, with a different node_name).

Works great! I've never found a use for it; we always thought people might create a client that was responsible for multiple virtual nodes, e.g. switches that weren't running Chef or something along those lines.

--AJ

On 28 February 2013 19:31, sarithavn@gmail.com wrote:

Hi,

Found this statement in the Chef client documentation... "A single
Chef Client can run recipes for multiple Nodes". But I could not find
any further documentation or supporting description which talks about how this is possible.

Any one has tried this? Is there any in-built support for enabling a
single client to configure multiple nodes ?

Any info on this regard will be very helpful.

Thanks,
Saritha

5

As stated by Dan i.e. "node_name is used to lookup the key it should match against on the server"
Does node_name & node_path make any sence to chef-solo? or its only chef client-server feature?

If I want to use chef-solo to configure multiple virtual nodes, can I control it using node_name & node_path. e.g. keeping different configuration (JSON file) for different virtual nodes at its respective path?

Regards,
Aditya Nitsure

From: Daniel Oliver Daniel.Oliver@contextis.co.uk
To: AJ Christensen aj@junglist.gen.nz; chef chef@lists.opscode.com
Sent: Thursday, 28 February 2013 6:04 PM
Subject: [chef] RE: Re: Single Chef client for configuring multiple nodes

I tried to do something like this recently, and couldn't make it work. In my setup, I am only interested in using chef-client to populate attributes so that the unmanaged nodes show up in searches.

My understanding is that node_name is used to lookup the key it should match against on the server, even if the key being used is for an admin client. Certainly, whenever I change the node_name and use an administrative key I get a 401 back.

At present, I have resorted to a having a script that registers for each of these nodes and runs chef-client for each node to keep the published attributes up-to-date. If it can be done more cleanly, that would be great.

Thanks,
Dan.

-----Original Message-----
From: AJ Christensen [mailto:aj@junglist.gen.nz]
Sent: 28 February 2013 06:43
To: chef
Subject: [chef] Re: Single Chef client for configuring multiple nodes

Just use --node-name or an alternate configuration file (pointing to the same client pem, with a different node_name).

Works great! I've never found a use for it; we always thought people might create a client that was responsible for multiple virtual nodes, e.g. switches that weren't running Chef or something along those lines.

--AJ

On 28 February 2013 19:31, sarithavn@gmail.com wrote:

Hi,

Found this statement in the Chef client documentation... "A single
Chef Client can run recipes for multiple Nodes". But I could not find
any further documentation or supporting description which talks about how this is possible.

Any one has tried this? Is there any in-built support for enabling a
single client to configure multiple nodes ?

Any info on this regard will be very helpful.

Thanks,
Saritha