+++ title = "knife client" draft = false
gh_repo = "chef-workstation"
aliases = ["/knife_client.html", "/knife_client/"]
[menu] [menu.workstation] title = "knife client" identifier = "chef_workstation/chef_workstation_tools/knife/knife_client.md knife client" parent = "chef_workstation/chef_workstation_tools/knife" +++
{{< readfile file="content/workstation/reusable/md/knife_client_summary.md" >}}
{{< note >}}
{{< readfile file="content/workstation/reusable/md/knife_common_see_common_options_link.md" >}}
{{< /note >}}
Use the bulk delete
argument to delete any API client that matches a
pattern defined by a regular expression. The regular expression must be
within quotes and not be surrounded by forward slashes (/
).
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client bulk delete REGEX
This argument has the following options:
-D
, --delete-validators
: Force the deletion of the client when it is also a chef-validator.
None.
Use the create
argument to create a new API client. This process will
generate an RSA key pair for the named API client. The public key will
be stored on the Chef Infra Server and the private key will be displayed
on STDOUT
or written to a named file.
For Chef Infra Client, the private key should be copied to the system as /etc/chef/client.pem
.
For knife, the private key is typically copied to ~/.chef/client_name.pem
and referenced in the config.rb configuration file.
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client create CLIENT_NAME (options)
This argument has the following options:
-f FILE
, --file FILE
: Save a private key to the specified file name.
-k
, --prevent-keygen
: Create a client without a keypair. This key may be managed later by using the knife client key create
subcommand.
{{< note spaces=4 >}}
This option is valid only with Chef Infra Server API version 1.0, which was released with Chef Server 12.1. It cannot be passed with the `--public-key` option.
{{< /note >}}
-p FILE
, --public-key FILE
: The path to a file that contains the public key. This option may not be passed in the same command with --prevent-keygen
. When using Chef a default key is generated if this option is not passed in the command. For Chef Server version 12.x, see the --prevent-keygen
option.
--validator
: Create the client as the chef-validator. Default value: true
.
{{< note >}}
{{< readfile file="content/workstation/reusable/md/knife_common_see_all_config_options.md" >}}
{{< /note >}}
The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:
Create an admin client
To create a Chef Infra Client that can access the Chef Infra Server API as an administrator---sometimes referred to as an "API Chef Infra Client"---with the name "exampleorg" and save its private key to a file, enter:
knife client create exampleorg -a -f "/etc/chef/client.pem"
Use the delete
argument to delete a registered API client. If using
Chef Client 12.17 or later, you can delete multiple clients using this
subcommand.
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client delete CLIENT_NAME
This argument has the following options:
-D
, --delete-validators
: Force the deletion of the client when it is also a chef-validator.
The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:
Delete a client
To delete a client with the name "client_foo", enter:
knife client delete client_foo
Type Y
to confirm a deletion.
Use the edit
argument to edit the details of a registered API client.
When this argument is run, knife will open $EDITOR to enable editing of
the admin
attribute. (None of the other attributes should be changed
using this argument.) When finished, knife will update the Chef Infra
Server with those changes.
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client edit CLIENT_NAME
This command does not have any specific options.
The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:
Edit a client
To edit a client with the name "exampleorg", enter:
knife client edit exampleorg
Use the key create
argument to create a public key.
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client key create CLIENT_NAME (options)
This argument has the following options:
-e DATE
, --expiration-date DATE
: The expiration date for the public key, specified as an ISO 8601 formatted string: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ
. If this option is not specified, the public key will not have an expiration date. For example: 2013-12-24T21:00:00Z
.
-f FILE
, --file FILE
: Save a private key to the specified file name. If the --public-key
option is not specified the Chef Infra Server will generate a private key.
-k NAME
, --key-name NAME
: The name of the public key.
-p FILE_NAME
, --public-key FILE_NAME
: The path to a file that contains the public key. If this option is not specified, and only if --key-name
is specified, the Chef Infra Server will generate a public/private key pair.
None.
Use the key delete
argument to delete a public key.
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client key delete CLIENT_NAME KEY_NAME
None.
Use the key edit
argument to modify or rename a public key.
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client key edit CLIENT_NAME KEY_NAME (options)
This argument has the following options:
-c
, --create-key
: Generate a new public/private key pair and replace an existing public key with the newly-generated public key. To replace the public key with an existing public key, use --public-key
instead.
-e DATE
, --expiration-date DATE
: The expiration date for the public key, specified as an ISO 8601 formatted string: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ
. If this option is not specified, the public key will not have an expiration date. For example: 2013-12-24T21:00:00Z
.
-f FILE
, --file FILE
: Save a private key to the specified file name. If the --public-key
option is not specified the Chef Infra Server will generate a private key.
-k NAME
, --key-name NAME
: The name of the public key.
-p FILE_NAME
, --public-key FILE_NAME
: The path to a file that contains the public key. If this option is not specified, and only if --key-name
is specified, the Chef Infra Server will generate a public/private key pair.
None.
Use the key list
argument to view a list of public keys for the named
client.
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client key list CLIENT_NAME (options)
This argument has the following options:
-e
, --only-expired
: Show a list of public keys that have expired.
-n
, --only-non-expired
: Show a list of public keys that have not expired.
-w
, --with-details
: Show a list of public keys, including URIs and expiration status.
None.
Use the key show
argument to view details for a specific public key.
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client key show CLIENT_NAME KEY_NAME
None.
Use the list
argument to view a list of registered API client.
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client list (options)
This argument has the following options:
-w
, --with-uri
: Show the corresponding URIs.
The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:
View a list of clients
To verify the API client list for the Chef Infra Server, enter:
knife client list
to return something similar to:
exampleorg
i-12345678
rs-123456
To verify that an API client can authenticate to the Chef Infra Server
correctly, try getting a list of clients using -u
and -k
options to
specify its name and private key:
knife client list -u ORGNAME -k .chef/ORGNAME.pem
Use the reregister
argument to regenerate an RSA key pair for an API
client. The public key will be stored on the Chef Infra Server and the
private key will be displayed on STDOUT
or written to a named file.
{{< note >}}
Running this argument will invalidate the previous RSA key pair, making it unusable during authentication to the Chef Infra Server.
{{< /note >}}
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client reregister CLIENT_NAME (options)
This argument has the following options:
-f FILE_NAME
, --file FILE_NAME
: Save a private key to the specified file name.
{{< note >}}
{{< readfile file="content/workstation/reusable/md/knife_common_see_all_config_options.md" >}}
{{< /note >}}
The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:
Re-register a client
To re-register the RSA key pair for a client named "testclient" and save it to a file named "rsa_key", enter:
knife client reregister testclient -f rsa_key
Use the show
argument to show the details of an API client.
This argument has the following syntax:
knife client show CLIENT_NAME (options)
This argument has the following options:
-a ATTR
, --attribute ATTR
: The attribute (or attributes) to show.
The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:
Show clients
To view a client named "testclient", enter:
knife client show testclient
to return something like:
admin: false
chef_type: client
json_class: Chef::ApiClient
name: testclient
public_key:
To view information in JSON format, use the -F
common option as part
of the command like this:
knife client show devops -F json
Other formats available include text
, yaml
, and pp
.