Chef Provisioning AWS

This README is a work in progress. Please add to it!

Prerequisites

Credentials

There are 3 ways you can provide your AWS Credentials. We will look for credentials in the order from below and use the first one found. This precedence order is taken from http://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdkforruby/api/index.html#Configuration:

1. Through the environment variables ENV["AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"], ENV["AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"] and optionally ENV["AWS_SESSION_TOKEN"]
2. The shared credentials ini file. The default location is ~/.aws/credentials but you can overwrite this by specifying ENV["AWS_CONFIG_FILE"]. You can specify multiple profiles in this file and select one with the ENV["AWS_DEFAULT_PROFILE"] environment variable or via the driver url. For example, a driver url of aws:staging:us-east-1 would use the profile staging. If you do not specify a profile then the default one is used. Read this for more information about profiles.
3. From an instance profile when running on EC2. This accesses the local metadata service to discover the local instance's IAM instance profile.

Configurable Options

aws_retry_limit

When using machine_batch with a large number of machines it is possible to overwhelm the AWS SDK until it starts returning AWS::EC2::Errors::RequestLimitExceeded. You can configure the AWS SDK to retry these errors automatically by specifying

chef_provisioning({:aws_retry_limit => 10})

in your client.rb for the provisioning workstation. The default :aws_retry_limit is 5.

image_max_wait_time and machine_max_wait_time

By default, the time we will wait for a machine to become ready or for the transport to become ready is 120 seconds (each). For a machine_image we wait 300 seconds for the AMI to be created. These timeouts can be configured with

chef_provisioning({:image_max_wait_time => 600, :machine_max_wait_time => 240})

in your client.rb for the provisioning workstation.

Resources

TODO: List out weird/unique things about resources here. We don't need to document every resource because users can look at the resource model.

aws_key_pair

You can specify an existing key pair to upload by specifying the following:

aws_key_pair 'my-aws-key' do
  private_key_path "~boiardi/.ssh/my-aws-key.pem"
  public_key_path "~boiardi/.ssh/my-aws-key.pub"
  allow_overwrite false # Set to true if you want to regenerate this each chef run
end

aws_launch_configuration

In the AWS SDK V1, you must specify key_pair instead of key_name when specifying the key name to use for machines in the auto scaling group. This is fixed in V2 and uses key_name like machines do.

aws_launch_configuration 'example-windows-launch-configuration' do
  image 'example-windows-image'
  instance_type 't2.medium'
  options security_groups: 'example-windows-sg',
    key_pair: 'my-key-name',
    ebs_optimized: false,
    detailed_instance_monitoring: false,
    iam_instance_profile: 'example-windows-role',
    user_data: <<-EOF
<powershell>
# custom powershell code goes here, executed at instance creation time
</powershell>
  EOF
end

aws_vpc

If you specify internet_gateway true the VPC will create and manage its own internet gateway. Specifying internet_gateway false will delete that managed internet gateway.

Specifying main_routes without main_route_table will update the 'default' route table that is created when AWS creates the VPC.

Specifying main_route_table without specifying main_routes will update the main route association to point to the provided route table.

If you specify both main_routes and main_route_table we will update the main_route_table to have the specified main_routes. IE, running

aws_route_table 'ref-main-route-table' do
  vpc 'ref-vpc'
  routes '0.0.0.0/0' => :internet_gateway
end

aws_vpc 'ref-vpc' do
  main_route_table 'ref-main-route-table'
  main_routes '0.0.0.0/1' => :internet_gateway
end

aws_vpc 'ref-vpc' do
  main_routes '0.0.0.0/2' => :internet_gateway
end

will cause resource flapping. The ref-main-route-table resource will set the routes to /0 and then the vpc will set the routes to /1. Then because ref-main-route-table is set to the main route for ref-vpc the third resource will set the routes to /2.

The takeaway from this is that you should either specify main_routes on your VPC and only manage the routes through that, OR only specify main_route_table and manage the routes through the aws_route_table resource.

Purging

If you specify action :purge on the VPC it will attempt to delete ALL resources contained in this VPC before deleting the actual VPC.

A potential danger of this is that it does not delete the data bag entries for tracked AWS objects. If you :purge a VPC and it has aws_route_table[ref-route] in it, the data bag entry for ref-route is not automatically destroyed. Purge is most useful for testing to ensure no objects are left that AWS can charge for.

Machine Options

You can pass machine options that will be used by machine, machine_batch and machine_image to configure the machine.

These options are an extension of the base options. Please see that for a list of the machine_options shared between drivers.

The full syntax available in the bootstrap_options hash is the hash expected by the AWS create_instances method. The options seen below in the example are the default options.

with_machine_options({
  # See https://github.com/chef/chef-provisioning#machine-options for options shared between drivers
  bootstrap_options: {
    # http://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdkforruby/api/Aws/EC2/Resource.html#create_instances-instance_method
    # lists the available options.  The below options are the default
    image_id: "ami-5915e11d", # default for us-west-1
    instance_type: "t2.micro",
    key_name: "chef_default", # If not specified, this will be used and generated
    key_path: "~/.chef/keys/chef_default", # only necessary if storing keys some other location
    user_data: "...", # Only defaulted on Windows instances to start winrm
  },
  use_private_ip_for_ssh: false, # DEPRECATED, use `transport_address_location`
  transport_address_location: :public_ip, # `:public_ip` (default), `:private_ip` or `:dns`.  Defines how SSH or WinRM should find an address to communicate with the instance.
  is_windows: true, # false by default
})

This options hash can be supplied to either with_machine_options at the recipe level or directly into the machine_options attribute.

Load Balancer Options

You can configure the ELB options by setting with_load_balancer_options or specifying them on each load_balancer resource.

machine 'test1'
m2 = machine 'test2'
load_balancer "my_elb" do
  machines ['test1', m2]
  load_balancer_options({
    subnets: subnets,
    security_groups: [load_balancer_sg],
    listeners: [
      {
          instance_port: 8080,
          protocol: 'HTTP',
          instance_protocol: 'HTTP',
          port: 80
      },
      {
          instance_port: 8080,
          protocol: 'HTTPS',
          instance_protocol: 'HTTP',
          port: 443,
          ssl_certificate_id: "arn:aws:iam::360965486607:server-certificate/cloudfront/foreflight-2015-07-09"
      }
    ]
  })

The available parameters for load_balancer_options can be viewed in the aws docs.

NOTES:

1. You can specify either ssl_certificate_id or server_certificate in a listener but the value to both parameters should be the ARN of an existing IAM::ServerCertificate object.

RDS Instance Options

Additional Options

RDS instances have many options. Some of them live as first class attributes. Any valid RDS option that is not a first class attribute can still be set via a hash in additional_options. If you set an attribute and also specify it in additional_options, the resource will chose the attribute and not what is specified in additional_options.

To illustrate, note that the following example defines multi_az as both an attribute and in the additional_options hash:

aws_rds_instance "test-rds-instance2" do
  engine "postgres"
  publicly_accessible false
  db_instance_class "db.t1.micro"
  master_username "thechief"
  master_user_password "securesecure"
  multi_az false
  additional_options(multi_az: true)
end

The above would result in a new aws_rds_instance with multi_az being false.

Additional values for additional_options can view viewed in the aws docs.

Specifying a DB Subnet Group for your RDS Instance

See this example for how to set up a DB Subnet Group and pass it to your RDS Instance.

Specifying a Chef Server

See Pointing Boxes at Chef Servers

Tagging Resources

For Recipe authors

All resources (incuding base resources like machine) that are taggable support an aws_tags attribute which accepts a single layer hash. To set just the key of an AWS tag specify the value as nil. EG, aws_tags {my_tag_key: nil}. Some AWS objects cannot accept nil values and will automatically convert it to an empty string.

Some AWS objects (may EC2) view the Name tag as unique - it shows up in a Name column in the AWS console. By default we specify the Name tag as the resource name. This can be overridden by specifying aws_tags {Name: 'some other name'}.

You can remove all the tags except the Name tag by specifying aws_tags {}.

Tag keys and values can be specified as symbols or strings but will be converted to strings before sending to AWS.

Examples:

aws_ebs_volume 'ref-volume' do
  aws_tags company: 'my_company', 'key_as_string' => :value_as_symbol
end

aws_vpc 'ref-vpc' do
  aws_tags 'Name' => 'custom-vpc-name'
end

For Resource Authors

To enable tagging support you must make specific changes to the Resource and Attribute. For the Resource it needs to include the attribute aws_tags. This should be done by include Chef::Provisioning::AWSDriver::AWSTaggable on the Resource.

The AWSProvider class will automatically try to call converge_tags when running the action_create method. You should instantiate an instance of the AWSTagger and provide it a strategy depending on the client used to perform the tagging. For example, an RDS Provider should define

def aws_tagger
  @aws_tagger ||= begin
    rds_strategy = Chef::Provisioning::AWSDriver::TaggingStrategy::RDS.new(
      new_resource.driver.rds.client,
      construct_arn(new_resource),
      new_resource.aws_tags
    )
    Chef::Provisioning::AWSDriver::AWSTagger.new(rds_strategy, action_handler)
  end
end
def converge_tags
  aws_tagger.converge_tags
end

The aws_tagger method is used by the tests to assert that the object tags are correct. These methods can be encapsulated in an module for DRY purposes, as the EC2 strategy shows.

Finally, you should add 3 standard tests for taggable objects - 1) Tags can be created on a new object, 2) Tags can be updated on an existing object with tags and 3) Tags can be cleared by setting aws_tags {}. Copy the tests from an existing spec file and modify them to support your resource. TODO make a module that copies these tests for us. Right now it is complicated by the fact that some resources have required attributes that others don't.

Looking up AWS objects

#aws_object

All chef-provisioning-aws resources have a aws_object method that will return the AWS object. The base resources machine, machine_image and load_balancer are monkeypatched to also include the aws_object method and should respond to it like all other resources.

The AWS object won't exist until the resource converges, however. An example of how to do this looks like:

my_vpc = aws_vpc 'my_vpc' do
  cidr_block '10.0.0.0/24'
  main_routes '0.0.0.0/0' => :internet_gateway
  internet_gateway true
end

my_sg = aws_security_group 'my_sg' do
  vpc lazy { my_vpc.aws_object.id }
  inbound_rules '0.0.0.0/0' => [ 22, 80 ]
end

my_subnet = aws_subnet 'my_subnet' do
  vpc lazy { my_vpc.aws_object.id }
  cidr_block '10.0.0.0/24'
  availability_zone 'eu-west-1a'
  map_public_ip_on_launch true
end

machine 'my_machine' do
  machine_options(
    lazy do
      {
        bootstrap_options: {
          subnet_id: my_subnet.aws_object.id,
          security_group_ids: [my_sg.aws_object.id]
        }
      }
    end
  )
end

Note the use of the lazy attribute modifier. This is necessary because when the resources are compiled the aws_objects do not exist yet, so we must wait to reference them until the converge phase.

#lookup_options

You have access to the aws object when necessary, but often it isn't needed. The above example is better written as:

aws_vpc 'my_vpc' do
  cidr_block '10.0.0.0/24'
  main_routes '0.0.0.0/0' => :internet_gateway
  internet_gateway true
end

aws_security_group 'my_sg' do
  vpc 'my_vpc'
  inbound_rules '0.0.0.0/0' => [ 22, 80 ]
end

aws_subnet 'my_subnet' do
  vpc 'my_vpc'
  cidr_block '10.0.0.0/24'
  availability_zone 'eu-west-1a'
  map_public_ip_on_launch true
end

machine 'my_machine' do
  machine_options bootstrap_options: {
    subnet_id: 'my_subnet',
    security_group_ids: ['my_sg']
  }
end

When specifying bootstrap_options and any attributes which reference another aws resource, we perform lookup_options. This tries to turn elements with names like vpc, security_group_ids, machines, launch_configurations, load_balancers, etc. to the correct AWS object.

Running Integration Tests

To run the integration tests execute bundle exec rspec. If you have not set it up, you should see an error message about a missing environment variable AWS_TEST_DRIVER. You can add this as a normal environment variable or set it for a single run with AWS_TEST_DRIVER=aws::eu-west-1 bundle exec rspec. The format should match what with_driver expects.

You will also need to have configured your ~/.aws/config or environment variables with your AWS credentials.

This creates real objects within AWS. The tests make their best effort to delete these objects after each test finishes but errors can happen which prevent this. Be aware that this may charge you!

If you find the tests leaving behind resources during normal conditions (IE, not when there is an unexpected exception) please file a bug. Most objects can be cleaned up by deleting the test_vpc from within the AWS browser console.