# Where to find the most updated node state/attributes on the node?

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/where-to-find-the-most-updated-node-state-attributes-on-the-node/2877>\
**Category:** Chef Infra (archive)\
**Created:** [June 4, 2012, 8:26am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/where-to-find-the-most-updated-node-state-attributes-on-the-node/2877 "2012-06-04T08:26:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![howard\_chen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bbce88/32.png) [@howard\_chen](https://discourse.chef.io/u/howard_chen)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 8:26am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/where-to-find-the-most-updated-node-state-attributes-on-the-node/2877/1 "2012-06-04T08:26:42Z")

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In the Chef-Server Web UI I can easily find the node’s state, but on  
the node itself, where to query if this node lost the connection to  
the Chef Server?

Any local cache?

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Ranjib\_Dey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ranjib\_Dey](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Ranjib_Dey)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 9:02am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/where-to-find-the-most-updated-node-state-attributes-on-the-node/2877/2 "2012-06-04T09:02:36Z")

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chef dashboard, uses a report handler which lets you browser through  
updated elements, etc.  
since the chef client run is pull mechanism, you can used the expected last  
run time and compare it with actual last successful run (available in  
couch in epoch) to raise an alert.

On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 1:56 PM, howard chen [howachen@gmail.com](mailto:howachen@gmail.com) wrote:

> In the Chef-Server Web UI I can easily find the node's state, but on  
> the node itself, where to query if this node lost the connection to  
> the Chef Server?
> 
> Any local cache?
> 
> Thanks.

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**Author:** ![howard\_chen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bbce88/32.png) [@howard\_chen](https://discourse.chef.io/u/howard_chen)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/where-to-find-the-most-updated-node-state-attributes-on-the-node/2877/3 "2012-06-04T18:03:48Z")

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Hello,

On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 5:02 PM, Ranjib Dey [ranjibd@thoughtworks.com](mailto:ranjibd@thoughtworks.com) wrote:

> chef dashboard, uses a report handler which lets you browser through updated  
> elements, etc.  
> since the chef client run is pull mechanism, you can used the expected last  
> run time and compare it with actual last successful run (available in  
> couch in epoch) to raise an alert.

Maybe I am not clear enough, what I mean is if I lost my chef-server,  
would it be possible to find out the node attribute from node itself?

Thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ranjib\_Dey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ranjib\_Dey](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Ranjib_Dey)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/where-to-find-the-most-updated-node-state-attributes-on-the-node/2877/4 "2012-06-04T18:14:36Z")

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you will be able to get the automatic attributes via ohai. rest im not  
sure. you can take periodic backup of couch or enumerate all the nodes and  
dump their attributes as json , `knife node show <name> -Fj`

On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 11:33 PM, howard chen [howachen@gmail.com](mailto:howachen@gmail.com) wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 5:02 PM, Ranjib Dey [ranjibd@thoughtworks.com](mailto:ranjibd@thoughtworks.com)  
> wrote:
> 
> > chef dashboard, uses a report handler which lets you browser through  
> > updated  
> > elements, etc.  
> > since the chef client run is pull mechanism, you can used the expected  
> > last  
> > run time and compare it with actual last successful run (available in  
> > couch in epoch) to raise an alert.
> 
> Maybe I am not clear enough, what I mean is if I lost my chef-server,  
> would it be possible to find out the node attribute from node itself?
> 
> Thanks.