cron_d Resource

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Use the cron_d resource to manage cron job files in the /etc/cron.d directory.

New in Chef Infra Client 14.4.

Syntax

A cron_d resource block manages cron.d files. For example, to get a weekly cookbook report from the Chef Supermarket:

cron_d 'cookbooks_report' do
  action :create
  minute '0'
  hour '0'
  weekday '1'
  user 'getchef'
  mailto 'sysadmin@example.com'
  home '/srv/supermarket/shared/system'
  command %W{
    cd /srv/supermarket/current &&
    env RUBYLIB='/srv/supermarket/current/lib'
    RAILS_ASSET_ID=`git rev-parse HEAD` RAILS_ENV=\"#{rails_env}\"
    bundle exec rake cookbooks_report
  }.join(' ')
end

The full syntax for all of the properties that are available to the cron_d resource is:

cron_d 'name' do
  command               String
  comment               String
  cron_name             String # default value: 'name' unless specified
  day                   Integer, String # default value: "*"
  environment           Hash # default value: {}
  home                  String
  hour                  Integer, String # default value: "*"
  mailto                String
  minute                Integer, String # default value: "*"
  mode                  String, Integer # default value: "0600"
  month                 Integer, String # default value: "*"
  path                  String
  predefined_value      String
  random_delay          Integer
  shell                 String
  time_out              Hash # default value: {}
  user                  String # default value: "root"
  weekday               Integer, String, Symbol # default value: "*"
  action                Symbol # defaults to :create if not specified
end

where:

• cron_d is the resource.
• name is the name given to the resource block.
• action identifies which steps Chef Infra Client will take to bring the node into the desired state.
• command, comment, cron_name, day, environment, home, hour, mailto, minute, mode, month, path, predefined_value, random_delay, shell, time_out, user, and weekday are the properties available to this resource.

Actions

The cron_d resource has the following actions:

:create

(default)

:create_if_missing

Add a cron definition file to /etc/cron.d, but do not update an existing file.

:delete

Remove a cron definition file from /etc/cron.d if it exists.

:nothing

This resource block does not act unless notified by another resource to take action. Once notified, this resource block either runs immediately or is queued up to run at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.

Properties

The cron_d resource has the following properties:

command

Ruby Type: String | REQUIRED

The command to be run, or the path to a file that contains the command to be run.

comment

Ruby Type: String

A comment to place in the cron.d file.

cron_name

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: The resource block's name

An optional property to set the cron name if it differs from the resource block’s name.

day

Ruby Type: Integer, String | Default Value: *

The day of month at which the cron entry should run (1 - 31).

environment

Ruby Type: Hash | Default Value: {}

A Hash containing additional arbitrary environment variables under which the cron job will be run in the form of ({'ENV_VARIABLE' => 'VALUE'}). Note: These variables must exist for a command to be run successfully.

home

Ruby Type: String

Set the HOME environment variable.

hour

Ruby Type: Integer, String | Default Value: *

The hour at which the cron entry is to run (0 - 23).

mailto

Ruby Type: String

Set the MAILTO environment variable.

minute

Ruby Type: Integer, String | Default Value: *

The minute at which the cron entry should run (0 - 59).

mode

Ruby Type: String, Integer | Default Value: 0600

The octal mode of the generated crontab file.

month

Ruby Type: Integer, String | Default Value: *

The month in the year on which a cron entry is to run (1 - 12, jan-dec, or *).

path

Ruby Type: String

Set the PATH environment variable.

predefined_value

Ruby Type: String
Allowed Values: "@annually", "@daily", "@hourly", "@midnight", "@monthly", "@reboot", "@weekly", "@yearly"

Schedule your cron job with one of the special predefined value instead of ** * pattern.

random_delay

Ruby Type: Integer

Set the RANDOM_DELAY environment variable in the cron.d file.

shell

Ruby Type: String

Set the SHELL environment variable.

time_out

Ruby Type: Hash | Default Value: {}

A Hash of timeouts in the form of ({'OPTION' => 'VALUE'}). Accepted valid options are:

• preserve-status (BOOL, default: ‘false’),
• foreground (BOOL, default: ‘false’),
• kill-after (in seconds),
• signal (a name like ‘HUP’ or a number)

New in Chef Infra Client 15.7

user

Ruby Type: String | Default Value: root

The name of the user that runs the command.

weekday

Ruby Type: Integer, String, Symbol | Default Value: *

The day of the week on which this entry is to run (0-7, mon-sun, monday-sunday, or *), where Sunday is both 0 and 7.

Common Resource Functionality

Chef resources include common properties, notifications, and resource guards.

Common Properties

The following properties are common to every resource:

compile_time

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Control the phase during which the resource is run on the node. Set to true to run while the resource collection is being built (the compile phase). Set to false to run while Chef Infra Client is configuring the node (the converge phase).

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false, :quiet | Default Value: false

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason. :quiet will not display the full stack trace and the recipe will continue to run if a resource fails.

retries

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 0

The number of attempts to catch exceptions and retry the resource.

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2

The delay in seconds between retry attempts.

sensitive

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Ensure that sensitive resource data is not logged by Chef Infra Client.

Notifications

notifies

Ruby Type: Symbol, 'Chef::Resource[String]'

A resource may notify another resource to take action when its state changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action that resource should take, and then the :timer for that action. A resource may notify more than one resource; use a notifies statement for each resource to be notified.

If the referenced resource does not exist, an error is raised. In contrast, subscribes will not fail if the source resource is not found.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra Client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before

Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, for each resource notified.

The syntax for notifies is:

notifies :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

subscribes

Ruby Type: Symbol, 'Chef::Resource[String]'

A resource may listen to another resource, and then take action if the state of the resource being listened to changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action to be taken, and then the :timer for that action.

Note that subscribes does not apply the specified action to the resource that it listens to - for example:

file '/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt' do
  mode '0600'
  owner 'root'
end

service 'nginx' do
  subscribes :reload, 'file[/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt]', :immediately
end

In this case the subscribes property reloads the nginx service whenever its certificate file, located under /etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt, is updated. subscribes does not make any changes to the certificate file itself, it merely listens for a change to the file, and executes the :reload action for its resource (in this example nginx) when a change is detected.

If the other resource does not exist, the subscription will not raise an error. Contrast this with the stricter semantics of notifies, which will raise an error if the other resource does not exist.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra Client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before

Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, for each resource notified.

The syntax for subscribes is:

subscribes :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

Guards

A guard property can be used to evaluate the state of a node during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run. Based on the results of this evaluation, a guard property is then used to tell Chef Infra Client if it should continue executing a resource. A guard property accepts either a string value or a Ruby block value:

• A string is executed as a shell command. If the command returns 0, the guard is applied. If the command returns any other value, then the guard property is not applied. String guards in a powershell_script run Windows PowerShell commands and may return true in addition to 0.
• A block is executed as Ruby code that must return either true or false. If the block returns true, the guard property is applied. If the block returns false, the guard property is not applied.

A guard property is useful for ensuring that a resource is idempotent by allowing that resource to test for the desired state as it is being executed, and then if the desired state is present, for Chef Infra Client to do nothing.

The following properties can be used to define a guard that is evaluated during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run:

not_if

Prevent a resource from executing when the condition returns true.

only_if

Allow a resource to execute only if the condition returns true.

Examples

The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using the cron_d resource in recipes:

Run a program on the fifth hour of the day

cron_d 'noop' do
  hour '5'
  minute '0'
  command '/bin/true'
end

Run an entry if a folder exists

cron_d 'ganglia_tomcat_thread_max' do
  command "/usr/bin/gmetric
    -n 'tomcat threads max'
    -t uint32
    -v '/usr/local/bin/tomcat-stat
    --thread-max'"
  only_if { ::File.exist?('/home/jboss') }
end

Run an entry every Saturday, 8:00 AM

cron_d 'name_of_cron_entry' do
  minute '0'
  hour '8'
  weekday '6'
  mailto 'admin@example.com'
  command '/bin/true'
  action :create
end

Run an entry at 8:00 PM, every weekday (Monday through Friday), but only in November

cron_d 'name_of_cron_entry' do
  minute '0'
  hour '20'
  day '*'
  month '11'
  weekday '1-5'
  command '/bin/true'
  action :create
end

Remove a cron job by name:

cron_d 'job_to_remove' do
  action :delete
end