knife-node (1)

The following options may be used with any of the arguments available to the knife node subcommand:

--chef-zero-port PORT

The port on which chef-zero will listen.

-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE

The configuration file to use.

-d, --disable-editing

Indicates that $EDITOR will not be opened; data will be accepted as-is.

--defaults

Indicates that Knife will use the default value, instead of asking a user to provide one.

-e EDITOR, --editor EDITOR

The $EDITOR that is used for all interactive commands.

-E ENVIRONMENT, --environment ENVIRONMENT

The name of the environment. When this option is added to a command, the command will run only against the named environment.

-F FORMAT, --format FORMAT

The output format: summary (default), text, json, yaml, and pp.

-h, --help

Shows help for the command.

-k KEY, --key KEY

The private key that Knife will use to sign requests made by the API client to the server.

--[no-]color

Indicates whether colored output will be used.

--print-after

Indicates that data will be shown after a destructive operation.

-s URL, --server-url URL

The URL for the server.

-u USER, --user USER

The user name used by Knife to sign requests made by the API client to the server. Authentication will fail if the user name does not match the private key.

-V, --verbose

Set for more verbose outputs. Use -VV for maximum verbosity.

-v, --version

The version of the chef-client.

-y, --yes

Indicates that the response to all confirmation prompts will be "Yes" (and that Knife will not ask for confirmation).

-z, --local-mode

Indicates that the chef-client will be run in local mode, which allows all commands that work against the server to also work against the local chef-repo.

The bulk delete argument is used to delete one or more nodes that match a pattern defined by a regular expression. The regular expression must be within quotes and not be surrounded by forward slashes (/).

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node bulk delete REGEX

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

Use a regular expression to define the pattern used to bulk delete nodes:

$ knife node bulk delete "^[0-9]{3}$"

Type Y to confirm a deletion.

The create argument is used to add a node to the server. Node data is stored as JSON on the server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node create NODE_NAME

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

To add a node, enter:

$ knife node create node1

In the $EDITOR enter the node data in JSON:

## sample:
{
   "normal": {
   },
   "name": "foobar",
   "override": {
   },
   "default": {
   },
   "json_class": "Chef::Node",
   "automatic": {
   },
   "run_list": [
      "recipe[zsh]",
      "role[webserver]"
   ],
   "chef_type": "node"
}

When finished, save it.

The delete argument is used to delete a node from the server.

Note

Deleting a node will not delete any corresponding API clients.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node delete NODE_NAME

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

$ knife node delete node_name

The edit argument is used to edit the details of a node on a server. Node data is stored as JSON on the server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node edit NODE_NAME (options)

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a, --all

Displays a node in the $EDITOR. By default, attributes that are default, override, or automatic are not shown.

Examples

To edit the data for a node named "node1", enter:

$ knife node edit node1 -a

Update the role data in JSON:

## sample:
{
   "normal": {
   },
   "name": "node1",
   "override": {
   },
   "default": {
   },
   "json_class": "Chef::Node",
   "automatic": {
   },
   "run_list": [
      "recipe[devops]",
      "role[webserver]"
   ],
   "chef_type": "node"
}

When finished, save it.

The from file argument is used to create a node using existing node data as a template.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node from file FILE

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

To add a node using data contained in a JSON file:

$ knife node from file "path to JSON file"

The list argument is used to view all of the nodes that exist on a server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node list (options)

Options

This argument has the following options:

-w, --with-uri

Indicates that the corresponding URIs will be shown.

Examples

To verify the list of nodes that are registered with the server, enter:

$ knife node list

to return something similar to:

i-12345678
rs-123456

The run_list add argument is used to add run list items (roles or recipes) to a node.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node run_list add NODE_NAME RUN_LIST_ITEM (options)

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a ITEM, --after ITEM

Use this to add the run list item after the specified run list item.

Examples

To add a role to a run list, enter:

$ knife node run_list add node 'role[ROLE_NAME]'

To add roles and recipes to a run list, enter:

$ knife node run_list add node 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME],recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME],role[ROLE_NAME]'

To add a recipe to a run list using the fully qualified format, enter:

$ knife node run_list add node 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME]'

To add a recipe to a run list using the cookbook format, enter:

$ knife node run_list add node 'COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME'

To add the default recipe of a cookbook to a run list, enter:

$ knife node run_list add node 'COOKBOOK'

The run_list remove argument is used to remove run list items (roles or recipes) from a node. A recipe must be in one of the following formats: fully qualified, cookbook, or default. Both roles and recipes must be in quotes, for example: 'role[ROLE_NAME]' or 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME]'. Use a comma to separate roles and recipes when removing more than one, like this: 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME],COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME,role[ROLE_NAME]'.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node run_list remove NODE_NAME RUN_LIST_ITEM

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

To remove a role from a run list, enter:

$ knife node run_list remove node 'role[ROLE_NAME]'

To remove a recipe from a run list using the fully qualified format, enter:

$ knife node run_list remove node 'recipe[COOKBOOK::RECIPE_NAME]'

The show argument is used to display information about a node.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

$ knife node show NODE_NAME (options)

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a ATTR, --attribute ATTR

The attribute (or attributes) to show.

-l, --long

Display long output when searching nodes while using the default summary format.

-m, --medium

Display more, but not all, of a node's data when searching using the default summary format.

-r, --run-list

Indicates that only the run-list will be shown.

Examples

To view all data for a node named "build", enter:

$ knife node show build

to return:

Node Name:   build
Environment: _default
FQDN:
IP:
Run List:
Roles:
Recipes:
Platform:

To show basic information about a node, truncated and nicely formatted:

knife node show <node_name>

To show all information about a node, nicely formatted:

knife node show -l <node_name>

To list a single node attribute:

knife node show <node_name> -a <attribute_name>

where <attribute_name> is something like kernel or platform. (This doesn't work for nested attributes like node[kernel][machine] because knife node show doesn't understand nested attributes.)

To view the FQDN for a node named "i-12345678", enter:

$ knife node show i-12345678 -a fqdn

to return:

fqdn: ip-10-251-75-20.ec2.internal

To view the run list for a node named "dev", enter:

$ knife node show dev -r

To view information in JSON format, use the -F common option as part of the command like this:

$ knife role show devops -F json

Other formats available include text, yaml, and pp.

To view node information in raw JSON, use the -l or --long option:

knife node show -l -F json <node_name>

and/or:

knife node show -l --format=json <node_name>

Chef