private-chef cookbook crashing with common-name attribute

[dfduarte]

Good afternoon,

I'm trying to run the chef-server cookbook using chef-provisioning (and chef-solo from Vagrant), and it returning the following error:

                  ================================================================================
                          Recipe Compile Error in /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/default.rb
                          ================================================================================

                          Chef::Exceptions::ValidationFailed
                          ----------------------------------
                          common_name is required

                          Cookbook Trace:
                          ---------------
                            /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/nginx.rb:58:in `block in from_file'
                            /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/nginx.rb:57:in `from_file'
                            /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/default.rb:208:in `block in from_file'
                            /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/default.rb:191:in `each'
                            /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/default.rb:191:in `from_file'

                          Relevant File Content:
                          ----------------------
                          /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/nginx.rb:

                           51:  
                           52:  ssl_keyfile = File.join(nginx_ca_dir, "#{node['private_chef']['nginx']['server_name']}.key")
                           53:  ssl_crtfile = File.join(nginx_ca_dir, "#{node['private_chef']['nginx']['server_name']}.crt")
                           54:  ssl_dhparam = File.join(nginx_ca_dir, 'dhparams.pem')
                           55:  
                           56:  # Generate self-signed SSL certificate
                           57:  openssl_x509 ssl_crtfile do
                           58>>   common_name node['private_chef']['nginx']['server_name']
                           59:    org node['private_chef']['nginx']['ssl_company_name']
                           60:    org_unit node['private_chef']['nginx']['ssl_organizational_unit_name']
                           61:    country node['private_chef']['nginx']['ssl_country_name']
                           62:    key_length node['private_chef']['nginx']['ssl_key_length']
                           63:    expire node['private_chef']['nginx']['ssl_duration']
                           64:    owner 'root'
                           65:    group 'root'
                           66:    mode '0644'
                           67:  end

                          [2015-09-10T17:10:11+00:00] ERROR: Running exception handlers
                          [2015-09-10T17:10:11+00:00] ERROR: Exception handlers complete
                          [2015-09-10T17:10:11+00:00] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/chef-stacktrace.out
                          [2015-09-10T17:10:13+00:00] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::ValidationFailed: common_name is required
                          STDERR: sudo: unable to resolve host ip-10-0-0-151
                          sudo: unable to resolve host ip-10-0-0-151
                          sudo: unable to resolve host ip-10-0-0-151
                          ERROR: CONFIGURATION ERROR:Specified config file /etc/opscode/pivotal.rb does not exist
                          sudo: unable to resolve host ip-10-0-0-151
                          ERROR: CONFIGURATION ERROR:Specified config file /etc/opscode/pivotal.rb does not exist
                          ---- End output of "bash"  "/tmp/chef-script20150910-3220-19gpj5q" ----
                          Ran "bash"  "/tmp/chef-script20150910-3220-19gpj5q" returned 1

These errors started suddenly, and the chef-client cannot run the recipe due this. Note: I've used the wrapper that manages this cookbook (chef-server) before, without problems

The only one attribute passed by wrapper, is:

node.override['chef-server']['api-fqdn'] = node['ipaddress']

[jjasghar]

I was able to repo this too.

[2015-09-23T16:46:46+00:00] WARN: common_name nil currently does not overwrite the value of common_name. This will change in Chef 13, and the value will be set to nil instead. Please change your code to explicitly accept nil using "property :common_name, [MyType, nil]", or stop setting this value to nil.

  ================================================================================
  Recipe Compile Error in /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/default.rb
  ================================================================================

  Chef::Exceptions::ValidationFailed
  ----------------------------------
  common_name is required

  Cookbook Trace:
  ---------------
    /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/nginx.rb:58:in `block in from_file'
    /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/nginx.rb:57:in `from_file'
    /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/default.rb:208:in `block in from_file'
    /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/default.rb:191:in `each'
    /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/default.rb:191:in `from_file'

  Relevant File Content:
  ----------------------
  /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/cookbooks/private-chef/recipes/nginx.rb:

   51:
   52:  ssl_keyfile = File.join(nginx_ca_dir, "#{node['private_chef']['nginx']['server_name']}.key")
   53:  ssl_crtfile = File.join(nginx_ca_dir, "#{node['private_chef']['nginx']['server_name']}.crt")
   54:  ssl_dhparam = File.join(nginx_ca_dir, 'dhparams.pem')
   55:
   56:  # Generate self-signed SSL certificate
   57:  openssl_x509 ssl_crtfile do
   58>>   common_name node['private_chef']['nginx']['server_name']
   59:    org node['private_chef']['nginx']['ssl_company_name']
   60:    org_unit node['private_chef']['nginx']['ssl_organizational_unit_name']
   61:    country node['private_chef']['nginx']['ssl_country_name']
   62:    key_length node['private_chef']['nginx']['ssl_key_length']
   63:    expire node['private_chef']['nginx']['ssl_duration']
   64:    owner 'root'
   65:    group 'root'
   66:    mode '0644'
   67:  end


  Running handlers:
[2015-09-23T16:46:46+00:00] ERROR: Running exception handlers
  Running handlers complete
[2015-09-23T16:46:46+00:00] ERROR: Exception handlers complete
  Chef Client failed. 1 resources updated in 10.379691033 seconds
[2015-09-23T16:46:46+00:00] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /opt/opscode/embedded/cookbooks/cache/chef-stacktrace.out
[2015-09-23T16:46:47+00:00] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::ValidationFailed: common_name is required

/cc @ryancragun

[dfduarte]

Hello jjasghar.

I figured out that this problem is related to a known bug with the Nginx cookbook (that Chef-server cookbook uses, also). The bug is a cookbook crash, when the machine to be configured, don't have a resolvable hostname and a VALID hostname (at least), and don't have a hostname set within OHAI.

At least here, I solved this setting a valid and correct hostname for my instance.

I don't know if this is related to your problem, as my issue here (besides the both problem are the same), but it's a good way to look for the solution.

[jjasghar]

Ah yep! I just sudo echo "127.0.0.1 <HOSTNAME> <HOSTNAME>" >> /etc/hosts and it worked. Thanks!

[lbornov2]

Facing this as well when installing on EC2.
[ec2-user@ip-XYZ ~]$ cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain chef.orgname.com

[djdefi]

Confirmed on ec2 default ubuntu 14.04

[cixelsyd]

This just bit me today also. I too am attempting to use the 'official' ubuntu image on EC2.

[cwidhelm]

Make an entry in /etc/hosts using the name provided by executing the 'hostname' command.

127.0.0.1 ip-172-28-0-156.ec2.internal

[Doormouse2House]

Any suggestions on how to work around this if you want to host the chef-server on a different sub-domain? I've changed the following, for example:

default['private_chef']['nginx']['server_name'] = "chef.#{node['fqdn']}"

That appears to work for the hosting, but the cert generated is based on the hostname only - I want the common_name for the server cert to be chef.hostname

[obazoud]

Confirmed on ec2 default ubuntu 14.04
Fixed with:

hostname `curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/public-hostname`

[cheeseplus]

This should largely be resolved by setting the api_fqdn as appropriate or leaving unset to use IP addresses. Feel free to open new issues if this is manifesting presently.

[ghost]

just updating that this is still relevant as of today, fixing using sudo echo "127.0.0.1 <HOSTNAME> <HOSTNAME>" >> /etc/hosts

[maksimu]

I used this command to avoid looking up for hostname:

eval "sudo echo \"127.0.0.1 $(hostname) $(hostname)\" >> /etc/hosts"

[karthiupnr]

i got the same error and tried to install/ un-install the chef. no luck

then, i tried the above step. and then "reconfigured" it is working. thanks.

echo "127.0.0.1 chef_server chef_server.com">> /etc/hosts