knife environment

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An environment is a way to map an organization’s real-life workflow to what can be configured and managed when using Chef Infra. This mapping is accomplished by setting attributes and pinning cookbooks at the environment level. With environments, you can change cookbook configurations depending on the system’s designation. For example, by designating different staging and production environments, you can then define the correct URL of a database server for each environment. Environments also allow organizations to move new cookbook releases from staging to production with confidence by stepping releases through testing environments before entering production.

Use the knife environment subcommand to manage environments within a single organization on the Chef Infra Server.

Note

Review the list of common options available to this (and all) knife subcommands and plugins.

compare

Use the compare argument to compare the cookbook version constraints that are set on one (or more) environments.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

knife environment compare [ENVIRONMENT_NAME...] (options)

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a, --all: Upload all environments found at the specified path.
-m, --mismatch: Show only matching versions.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Compare cookbook versions in a single environment

To compare cookbook versions for a single environment:

knife environment compare development

to return something similar to:

        development
apache  2.3.1
windows 4.1.2

Compare cookbook versions for multiple environments

To compare cookbook versions for multiple environments:

knife environment compare development staging

to return something similar to:

            development     staging
apache      2.3.1           1.2.2
windows     4.1.2           1.0.0
postgresql  1.0.0           1.0.0

Compare cookbook versions for all environments

To compare all cookbook versions for all environments:

knife environment compare --all

to return something similar to:

                staging   development
ulimit          latest    latest
redisio         latest    latest
journly         latest    latest
aws             latest    latest
test            latest    latest
unicorn         latest    latest
sensu           latest    latest
runit           latest    latest
templater       latest    latest
powershell      latest    latest
openssl         latest    latest
rbenv           latest    latest
rabbitmq        latest    latest
postgresql      latest    latest
mysql           latest    latest
ohai            latest    latest
git             latest    latest
erlang          latest    latest
ssh_known_hosts latest    latest
nginx           latest    latest
database        latest    latest
yum             latest    latest
xfs             latest    latest
apt             latest    latest
dmg             latest    latest
chef_handler    latest    latest
windows         1.0.0     4.1.2

create

Use the create argument to add an environment object to the Chef Infra Server. When this argument is run, knife will open $EDITOR to enable editing of the ENVIRONMENT description field (unless a description is specified as part of the command). When finished, knife will add the environment to the Chef Infra Server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

knife environment create ENVIRONMENT_NAME -d --description ENVIRONMENT_DESCRIPTION

Options

This argument has the following options:

--description DESCRIPTION: The description of the environment. This value populates the description field for the environment on the Chef Infra Server.

Note

See config.rb for more information about how to add certain knife options as settings in the config.rb file.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Create an environment

To create an environment named dev with a description of The development environment.:

knife environment create dev -d --description "The development environment."

delete

Use the delete argument to delete an environment from a Chef Infra Server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

knife environment delete ENVIRONMENT_NAME

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Delete an environment

To delete an environment named dev, enter:

knife environment delete dev

Type Y to confirm a deletion.

edit

Use the edit argument to edit the attributes of an environment. When this argument is run, knife will open $EDITOR to enable editing of ENVIRONMENT attributes. When finished, knife will update the Chef Infra Server with those changes.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

knife environment edit ENVIRONMENT_NAME

Options

This command does not have any specific options.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Edit an environment

To edit an environment named devops, enter:

knife environment edit devops

from file

Use the from file argument to add or update an environment using a JSON or Ruby DSL description.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

knife environment from file FILE (options)

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a, --all: Upload all environments found at the specified path.

Note

See config.rb for more information about how to add certain knife options as settings in the config.rb file.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Create an environment from a JSON file

To add an environment using data contained in a JSON file:

knife environment from file "path to JSON file"

list

Use the list argument to list all of the environments that are currently available on the Chef Infra Server.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

knife environment list -w

Options

This argument has the following options:

-w, --with-uri: Show the corresponding URIs.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

View a list of environments

To view a list of environments:

knife environment list -w

show

Use the show argument to display information about the specified environment.

Syntax

This argument has the following syntax:

knife environment show ENVIRONMENT_NAME

Options

This argument has the following options:

-a ATTR, --attribute ATTR: The attribute (or attributes) to show.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this knife subcommand:

Show environments

To view information about the dev environment enter:

knife environment show dev

to return:

% knife environment show dev
chef_type:          environment
cookbook_versions:
default_attributes:
description:
json_class:         Chef::Environment
name:               dev
override_attributes:

\\
\\
\\
\\

Show environments as JSON

To view information in JSON format, use the -F common option as part of the command like this:

knife environment show devops -F json

Other formats available include text, yaml, and pp.