Manual execution

Table of contents

Frequently asked questions on manual execution.

How do I run a standalone policy file?

The --file or -f option to cf-agent specifys the policy file. The -K or --no-lock flag and the -I or --inform options are commonly used in combination with the -f option to ensure that all promises are skipped because of locking and for the agent to produce informational output like successful repairs.

 code
[root@hub ~]# cf-agent -KIf ./my_standalone_policy.cf

A standalone policy file may choose not to specify a bundlesequence. In that case, the bundlesequence defaults to main so you'll need a bundle called main, or will need to specify the bundlesequence.

How do I run a specific bundle?

A specific bundle can be activated by passing the -b or --bundlesequence options to cf-agent. This may be used to activate a specific bundle within a large policy set or to run a standalone policy that does not include a body common control.

 code
[root@hub ~]# cf-agent -b my_bundle

If you want to activate multiple bundles in a sequence simply separate them with commas (no spaces between).

 code
[root@hub ~]# cf-agent --bundlesequence bundle1,bundle2

How do I define a class for a single run?

You can use the --define or -D options of cf-agent.

 code
[root@hub ~]# cf-agent -D my_class

And if you want to define multiple, simply separate them with commas (no spaces between).

 code
[root@hub ~]# cf-agent --define my_class,my_other_class

Run via cf-execd

Sometimes it's convenient to run cf-execd with --once. It will execute exec_command as defined in body executor control. In the Masterfiles Policy Framework this defaults to update policy ( update.cf ) followed by the default policy ( promises.cf ). Output from cf-execd executions is logged to $(sys.workdir)/outputs.

Request a remote agent run

cf-runagent can be used to request remote agent runs. It cannot execute arbitrary commands, but it can be useful for triggering out of turn policy runs. cf-runagent is most commonly run by a privledged user on the hub as trust must be establsed between the hosts and there is already trust established between a hub and the agents bootstrapped to it.

 code
# cf-runagent --hail 203.0.113.5 --inform

The --hail and -H options take a comma separated list of hosts that will be contacted.

 code
# cf-runagent --hail 203.0.113.5,203.0.113.6,203.0.113.7,host001.cfengine.example --inform

The --select-class option defines a list of comma separated classes that must be defined on the remote host before execution is allowed to proceed.

This command will run cf-agent with the additional class patch_and_reboot on all hosts seen recently that have the class under_maintanance defined.

 code
# cf-runagent --hail $(cf-key --show-hosts --numeric | awk -vORS=, '/Incoming/ { print $2 }' | sed 's/,$/\n/')  --define patch_and_reboot --select-class under_maintanance

This command will run cf-agent with the additional class patch_and_reboot on all hosts present in hostlist.txt that have the class under_maintanance defined.

 code
# cf-runagent --hail "$(tr '\n' , < hostlist.txt )" -I --define patch_and_reboot --select-class under_maintanance

Note: In order for the --select-class` option to function as expected the classes it is using must be resolvable during pre-evaluation as the full evaluation is only allowed when the classes are found to be defined.