etc_hosts resource

Use the etc_hosts Chef InSpec audit resource to test rules set to match IP addresses with hostnames.

Availability

Install

This resource is distributed with Chef InSpec and is automatically available for use.

Version

This resource first became available in v1.37.6 of InSpec.

Syntax

An etc/hosts rule specifies an IP address and what its hostname is along with optional aliases it can have.

Syntax

Use the .where clause to match a property to one or more rules in the hosts file:

describe etc_hosts.where { ip_address == 'value' } do
  its('primary_name') { should cmp 'hostname' }
  its('all_host_names') { should cmp 'list' }
end

Use the optional resource parameter to give an alternative path to the hosts file:

describe etc_hosts('path/to/hosts').where { ip_address == 'value' } do
  its('primary_name') { should cmp 'hostname' }
  its('all_host_names') { should cmp 'list' }
end

where

• ip_address is the IP address of the hostname in either ipv4 or ipv6 format.
• primary_name is the name associated with the IP address.
• all_host_names is a list including the primary_name as the first entry followed by any alias names the host has.

Properties

ip_address

The ip_address property returns a string array of ip addresses specified in the etc/hosts file.

its('ip_address') { should cmp '127.0.1.154' }

primary_name

The primary_name property returns a string array of primary_names specified in the etc/hosts file.

its('primary_name') { should cmp 'localhost' }

all_host_names

The all_host_names property returns a two-dimensional string array where each entry has the primary_name first followed by any aliases.

its('all_host_names') { should cmp 'list' }

Examples

Test the IP address of the given primary name ’localhost'.

describe etc_hosts.where { primary_name == 'localhost' } do
  its('ip_address') { should cmp '127.0.1.154' }
end

Test the primary name for where IP address is ‘::1’

describe etc_hosts.where { ip_address == '::1' } do
  its('primary_name') { should cmp 'localhost' }
end

Test the list of primary names and their aliases for the given IP address.

describe etc_hosts.where { ip_address == '127.0.1.154' } do
  its('all_host_names') { should eq [['localhost', 'localhost.localdomain', 'localhost4', 'localhost4.localdomain4'],  ['localhost', 'localhost.localdomain', 'localhost6', 'localhost6.localdomain6']] }
end

Matchers

For a full list of available matchers, see our Universal Matchers page.