CFEngine reference manual


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Summary of contents


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1 CFEngine 3.4.0a1.r4055 – Getting started


CFEngine is a suite of programs for integrated autonomic management of either individual or networked computers. It has existed as as software suite since 1993 and this version published under the GNU Public License (GPL v3) and a Commercial Open Source License (COSL). CFEngine is Copyright by CFEngine AS, a company founded by CFEngine author Mark Burgess.

This document describes major version 3 of CFEngine, which is a significant departure from earlier versions, and represents the newest and most carefully researched technology available for configuration management. It is both simpler and more powerful. CFEngine 3 will exist in four versions, each of which adds to the following

This document is valid for all versions of CFEngine. Whenever a feature is only available in a specific version, that fact will be noted in the documentation for that feature (if there is no note, then that feature is available in all versions).

CFEngine 3 has been changed to be both a more powerful tool and a much simpler tool. CFEngine 3's language interface is not backwards compatible with the CFEngine 2 configuration language, but it interoperates with CFEngine 2 so that it is "run-time compatible". This means that you can change over to version 3 slowly, with low risk and at your own speed.

With CFEngine 3 you can install, configure and maintain computers using powerful hands-free tools. You can also integrate knowledge management and diagnosis into the processes.

CFEngine differs from most management systems in being


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1.1 Software components

CFEngine 3 consists of a number of components. The names of the programs are intentionally different from those in CFEngine 2 to help disambiguate them (and some CFEngine 2 components have been merged and/or eliminated). The starred components are new to CFEngine 3:


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1.1.1 cf-agent

Active agent – responsible for maintaining promises about the state of your system (in CFEngine 2 the agent was called cfagent). You can run cf-agent manually, but if you want to have it run on a regular basis, you should use cf-execd (instead of using cron).

cf-agent keeps the promises made in common and agent bundles, and is affected by common and agent control bodies.


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1.1.2 cf-execd

Scheduler – responsible for running cf-agent on a regular (and user-configurable) basis (in CFEngine 2 the scheduler was called cfexecd).

EXECUTOR cf-execd keeps the promises made in common bundles, and is affected by common and executor control bodies.


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1.1.3 cf-know*

Knowledge modelling agent – responsible for building and analysing a semantic knowledge network.

cf-know keeps the promises made in common and knowledge bundles, and is affected by common and knowledge control bodies.


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1.1.4 cf-monitord

Passive monitoring agent – responsible for collecting information about the status of your system (which can be reported upon or used to enforce promises or influence when promises are enforced). In CFEngine 2 the passive monitoring agent was known as cfenvd.

cf-monitord keeps the promises made in common and monitor bundles, and is affected by common and monitor control bodies.


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1.1.5 cf-promises

Promise validator – used to verify that the promises used by the other components of CFEngine are syntactically valid. cf-promises does not execute any promises, but can syntax-check all of them.


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1.1.6 cf-runagent

Remote run agent – used to execute cf-agent on a remote machine (in CFEngine 2 the remote run agent was called cfrun). cf-runagent does not keep any promises, but instead is used to ask another machine to do so.


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1.1.7 cf-serverd

Server – used to distribute policy and/or data files to clients requesting them and used to respond to requests from cf-runagent (in CFEngine 2 the remote run agent was called cfservd).

cf-serverd keeps the promises made in common and server bundles, and is affected by common and server control bodies.


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1.1.8 cf-report

Self-knowledge extractor – takes data stored in CFEngine's embedded databases and converts them to human readable form

cf-report keeps the promises made in common bundles, and is affected by common and reporter control bodies.


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1.1.9 cf-key

Key generation tool – run once on every host to create public/private key pairs for secure communication (in CFEngine 2 the key generation tool was called cfkey). cf-key does not keep any promises.


Previous: cf-key, Up: Software components

1.1.10 cf-hub

A data aggregator used as part of the commercial product. This stub is not used in the community edition of CFEngine.


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1.2 Core concepts

Unlike previous versions of CFEngine, which had no consistent model For its features, you can recognize everything in CFEngine 3 from just a few concepts.

Promise
A declaration about the state we desire to maintain (e.g., the permissions or contents of a file, the availability or absence of a service, the (de)installation of a package).
Promise bundles
A collection of promises.
Promise bodies
A part of a promise which details and constrains its nature.
Data types
An interpretation of a scalar value: string, integer or real number.
Variables
An association of the form "LVALUE represents RVALUE", where rval may be a scalar value or a list of scalar values.
Functions
Built-in parameterized rvalues.
Classes
CFEngine's boolean classifiers that describe context.

If you have used CFEngine before then the most visible part of CFEngine 3 will be its new language interface. Although it has been clear for a long time that the organically grown language used in CFEngine 1 and 2 developed many problems, it was not immediately clear exactly what would be better. It has taken years of research to simplify the successful features of CFEngine to a single overarching model. To understand the new CFEngine, it is best to set aside any preconceptions about what CFEngine is today. CFEngine 3 is a genuine "next generation" effort, which will be a springboard into the future of system management.


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1.3 A renewed CFEngine

CFEngine 3 is a significant rewrite of underlying CFEngine technology which preserves the core principles and methodology of CFEngine's tried and tested approach. It comes with a new, improved language, with a consistent syntax and powerful pattern expression features that display the intent behind CFEngine code more clearly. The main goal in changing the language is to simplify and improve the robustness and functionality without sacrificing the basic freedoms and self-repairing concepts.

CFEngine 3's new language is a direct implementation of a model developed at Oslo University College over the past four years, known colloquially as "Promise Theory". Promises were originally introduced by Mark Burgess as a way to talk about CFEngine's model of autonomy and have since become a powerful way of modelling cooperative systems – not just computers, but humans too.

“The biggest challenge of implementing CFEngine in our organization
was not technical but political – getting everyone to agree.
Promise theory was a big help in understand this.”

CFEngine 3 is a generic implementation of the language of promises that allows all of the aspects of configuration and change management to be unified under a single umbrella.

Why talk about promises instead of simply talking about changes? After all, the trend in business and IT management today is to talk about Change Management (with capital letters), e.g. in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) terminology. This comes from a long history of process management thinking. But we are not really interested in change – we are interested in avoiding it, i.e. being in a state where we don't need to make any changes. In other words we want to be able to promise that the system is correct, verify this and only make changes if our promises are not kept. If you want to think ITIL, think of this as a service that CFEngine provides.

To put it another way, CFEngine is not really a change management system, it is a maintenance system. Maintenance is the process of making small changes or corrections to a model. A `model' is just another word for a template or a specification of how we want the system to work. CFEngine's model is based on the idea of promises, which means that it focuses on what is stable and lasting about a system – not about what is changing.

This is an important philosophical shift. It means we are focused mainly on what is right and not on what is wrong. By saying what "right" is (the ideal state of our system) we are focused on the actual behaviour. If we focus too much on the changes, i.e. the differences between now and the future, we might forget to verify that what we assume is working now in fact works.

Models that talk about change management tend to forget that after every change there is a litany of incidents during which it is necessary to repair the system or return it to its intended state. But if we know what we have promised, it is easy to verify whether the promise is kept. This means that it is the promises about how the system should be that are most important, not the actual changes that are made in order to keep them.


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1.4 Installation

In order to install CFEngine, you should first ensure that the following packages are installed.

OpenSSL
Open source Secure Sockets Layer for encryption.
URL: http://www.openssl.org
BerkeleyDB (version 3.2 or later)
Light-weight flat-file database system.
URL: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/berkeley-db/index.html
PCRE
Perl Compatible Regular Expression library.
URL: http://www.pcre.org/
On Windows machines, you need to install the basic Cygwin DLL from http://www.cygwin.com in order to run CFEngine.

Additional functionality becomes available if other libraries are present, e.g. OpenLDAP, client libraries for MySQL and PostgreSQL, etc. It is possible to run CFEngine without these, but related functionality will be missing.

Unless you have purchased ready-to-run binaries, or are using a package distribution, you will need to compile CFEngine. For this you will also need a build environment tools: gcc, flex, bison.

The preferred method of installation is then

     tar zxf cfengine-x.x.x.tar.gz
     cd cfengine-x.x.x
     ./configure
     make
     make install

This results in binaries being installed in /usr/local/sbin. Since this is not necessarily a local file system on all hosts, users are encouraged to keep local copies of the binaries on each host, inside the CFEngine trusted work directory.


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1.5 Syntax, identifiers and names

The CFEngine 3 language has a few simple rules:


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1.6 The work directory

In order to achieve the desired simplifications, it was decided to reserve a private work area for the CFEngine tool-set.

In CFEngine 1.x, the administrator could choose the locations of configuration files, locks, and logging data independently. In CFEngine 2.x, this diversity has been simplified to a single directory which defaults to /var/cfengine (similar to /var/cron), and in CFEngine 3.x this is preserved.

     /var/cfengine
     /var/cfengine/bin
     /var/cfengine/inputs
     /var/cfengine/outputs

The installation location /usr/local/sbin is not necessarily a local file system, and cannot therefore be trusted to a) be present, and b) be authentic on an arbitrary system.

Similarly, a trusted cache of the input files must now be maintained in the inputs subdirectory. When CFEngine is invoked by the scheduler, it reads only from this directory. It is up to the user to keep this cache updated, on each host. This simplifies and consolidates the CFEngine resources in a single place.

Unlike CFEngine 2, CFEngine 3 does not recognize the CFINPUTS environment variable.

The outputs directory is now a record of spooled run-reports. These are often mailed to the administrator by cf-execd, or can be copied to another central location and viewed in an alternative browser.


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1.7 Decisions

CFEngine decisions are made behind the scenes and the results of certain true/false propositions are cached in Booleans referred to as `classes'. There are no if-then-else statements in CFEngine; all decisions are made with classes.

Classes fall into hard (discovered) and soft (user-defined) types. A single hard class can be one of several things:


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1.7.1 CFEngine hard classes

CFEngine runs on every computer individually and each time it wakes up the underlying generic agent platform discovers and classifies properties of the environment or context in which it runs. This information is cached and may be used to make decisions about configuration1.

Classes fall into hard (discovered) and soft (defined) types. A single class can be one of several things:

To see all of the classes defined on a particular host, run

     host# cf-promises -v

as a privileged user. Note that some of the classes are set only if a trusted link can be established with cf-monitord, i.e. if both are running with privilege, and the /var/cfengine/state/env_data file is secure. More information about classes can be found in connection with allclasses.


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1.7.2 Class combination operators and precedence

Classes may be combined with the usual boolean operators, in the usual precedence (AND binds stronger than OR). On addition the dot may be used for AND to improve readability, or imply the interpretation `subset' or `subclass'. In order of precedence:

()
The parenthesis group operator.
!
The NOT operator.
.
The AND operator.
&
The AND operator (alternative).
|
The OR operator.
||
The OR operator (alternative).

So the following expression would be only true on Mondays or Wednesdays from 2:00pm to 2:59pm on Windows XP systems:

     
     (Monday|Wednesday).Hr14.WinXP::
     


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1.7.3 Global and local classes

User defined classes are mostly defined in bundles, but they are used as a signalling mechanism between promises. We'll return to those in a moment.

Classes promises define new classes based on combinations of old ones. This is how to make complex decisions in CFEngine, with readable results. It is like defining aliases for class combinations. Such class `aliases' may be specified in any kind of bundle. Bundles of type common yield classes that are global in scope, whereas in all other bundle types classes are local. Classes are evaluated when the bundle is evaluated (and the bundles are evaluated in the order specified in the bundlesequence). Consider the following example.

body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "g","tryclasses_1", "tryclasses_2" };
}

#################################


bundle common g
{
classes:

  "one" expression => "any";

}

#################################


bundle agent tryclasses_1
{
classes:

  "two" expression => "any";
}

#################################


bundle agent tryclasses_2
{
classes:

  "three" expression => "any";

reports:

  one.three.!two::

    "Success";
}

Here we see that class ‘one’ is global (because it is defined inside the common bundle), while classes ‘two’ and ‘three’ are local (to their respective bundles). The report result `Success' is therefore true because only ‘one’ and ‘three’ are in scope (and ‘two’ is not in scope) inside of the third bundle.

Note that any class promise must have one - and only one - value constraint. That is, you might not leave ‘expression’ in the example above or add both ‘and’ and ‘xor’ constraints to the single promise.

Another type of class definition happens when you define classes based on the outcome of a promise, e.g. to set a class if a promise is repaired, one might write:

 "promiser..."

    ...

    classes => if_repaired("signal_class");

These classes are global in scope. Finally restart_class classes in processes are global.


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1.8 Filenames and paths

Filenames in Unix-like operating systems use the forward slash ‘/’ character for their directory separator . All references to file locations must be absolute pathnames in CFEngine, i.e. they must begin with a complete specification of which directory they are in. For example:

     /etc/passwd
     /usr/local/masterfiles/distfile

The only place where it makes sense to refer to a file without a complete directory specification is when searching through directories for different kinds of file, e.g. in pattern matching

leaf_name => { "tmp_.*", "output_file", "core" };

Here, one can write core without a path, because one is looking for any file of that name in a number of directories.

The Windows operating systems traditionally use a different filename convention. The following are all valid absolute file names under Windows:

      c:\winnt
      "c:\spaced name"
      c:/winnt
      /var/cfengine/inputs
      //fileserver/share2/dir

The `drive' name “C:” in Windows refers to a partition or device. Unlike Unix, Windows does not integrate these seamlessly into a single file-tree. This is not a valid absolute filename:

     \var\cfengine\inputs

Paths beginning with a backslash are assumed to be win32 paths. They must begin with a drive letter or double-slash server name.

Note in recent versions of Cygwin you can decide to use the /cygdrive to specify a path to windows file E.g /cygdrive/c/myfile means c:\myfile or you can do it straight away in CFEngine as c:\myfile.


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1.9 Upgrading from CFEngine 2

CFEngine 3 has a completely new syntax, designed to solve the issues brought up from 15 years of experience with configuration management. Rather than clutter CFEngine 3 with buggy backward-compatability issues, it was decided to make no compromises with CFEngine 3 and instead allow CFEngine 2 and CFEngine 3 to coincide in a cooperative fashion for the foreseeable future. This means that users can upgrade at their own pace, in the classic CFEngine incremental fashion. We expect that CFEngine 2 installations will be around for years to come so this upgrade path seems the most defensible.

The daemons and support services are fully interoperable between CFEngine 2 and CFEngine 3, so it does not matter whether you run cfservd (cf2) together with cf-agent (cf3) or cf-serverd (cf3) together with cfagent (cf2). You can change the servers at your own pace.

CFEngine 3's cf-execd replaces CFEngine 2's cfexecd and it is designed to work optimally with cf-agent (cf3). Running this daemon has no consequences for access control, only for scheduling cf-agent. You can (indeed should) replace cfexecd with cf-execd immediately. You will want to alter your crontab file to run the new component instead of the old. The sample CFEngine 3 input files asks cf-agent to do this automatically, simply replacing the string.

The sample inputs files supplied with CFEngine 3 contain promises to integrate CFEngine 2 as described. What can you do to upgrade? Here is a simple recipe that assumes you have a standardized CFEngine 2 setup, running cfexecd in crontabs and possibly running cfservd and cfenvd as daemons.

  1. Install the CFEngine 3 software on a host.
  2. Go to the inputs/ directory in the source and copy these files to your master update repository, i.e. where you will publish policies for distribution.
  3. Remove any self-healing rules to reinstall CFEngine 2, especially rules to add cfexecd or cfagent to crontabs etc. CFEngine 3 will handle this from now on and encapsulate old CFEngine 2 scripts.
  4. Move to this inputs directory: cd your-path/inputs.
  5. Set the location of this master update directory in the update.cf file to the location of the master directory.
  6. Set the email options for the executor in promises.cf.
  7. Run cf-agent --bootstrap as the root or privileged user. This will install CFEngine 3 in place of CFEngine 2, integrate your old CFEngine 2 configuration, and warn you about any rules that need to be removed from your old CFEngine configuration.
  8. You should now be running CFEngine 3. You can now add new rules to the files in your own time, or convert the old CFEngine 2 rules and gradually comment them out of the CFEngine 2 files.
  9. Make sure there are no rules in your old CFEngine 2 configuration to activate CFEngine 2 components, i.e. rules that will fight against CFEngine 3. Then, when you are ready, convert cfservd.conf into a server bundle e.g. in promises.cf and remove all rules to run cfservd and replace them with rules to run cf-serverd at your own pace.


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1.10 Testing as a non-privilieged user

One of the practical advantages of CFEngine is that you can test it without the need for root or administrator privileges. This is recommended for all new users of CFEngine 3.

CFEngine operates with the notion of a work-directory. The default work directory for the root user is /var/cfengine (except on Debian Linux and various derivatives which prefer /var/lib/cfengine). For any other user, the work directory lies in the user's home directory, named ~/.cfagent. CFEngine prefers you to keep certain files here. You should not resist this too strongly or you will make unnecessary trouble for yourself. The decision to have this `known directory' was made to simplify a lot of configuration.

To test CFEngine as an ordinary user, do the following:

You can test the software and play with configuration files by editing the basic get-started files directly in the ~/.cfagent/inputs directory. For example, try the following:

     host$ ~/.cfagent/bin/cf-promises
     host$ ~/.cfagent/bin/cf-promises --verbose

This is always the way to start checking a configuration in CFEngine 3. If a configuration does not pass this check/test, you will not be allowed to use it, and cf-agent will look for the file failsafe.cf.

Notice that the CFEngine 3 binaries have slightly different names than the CFEngine 2 binaries. They all start with the cf- prefix.

     host$ ~/.cfagent/bin/cf-agent


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1.11 The `bare necessities' of a CFEngine 3

Here is the simplest `Hello world' program in CFEngine 3:

body common control
{
bundlesequence  => { "test" };
}

bundle agent test
{
reports:

 Yr2009::
    "Hello world";
}

If you try to process this using the cf-promises command, you will see something like this:

     atlas$ ~/LapTop/CFEngine3/trunk/src/cf-promises -r -f ./unit_null_config.cf
     Summarizing promises as text to ./unit_null_config.cf.txt
     Summarizing promises as html to ./unit_null_config.cf.html

The ‘-r’ option produces a report. Examine the files produced:

     cat ./unit_null_config.cf.txt
     firefox ./unit_null_config.cf.html

You will see a summary of how CFEngine interprets the files, either in HTML or text. By default, the CFEngine components also dump a debugging file, e.g. promise_output_agent.html, promise_output_agent.txt with an expanded view.


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1.12 Familiarizing yourself

To familiarize yourself with CFEngine 3, type or paste in the following example text:

########################################################
#

# Simple test execution

#

########################################################


body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "testbundle"  };
}

########################################################


bundle agent testbundle

{
vars:

  "size" int => "46k";
  "rand" int => randomint("33","$(size)");

commands:

  "/bin/echo"
     args => "Hello world - $(size)/$(rand)",
     contain => standard,
     classes => cdefine("followup","alert");

  followup::

     "/bin/ls"
       contain => standard;

reports:

  alert::

     "What happened?";

}

######################################################################


body contain standard

{
exec_owner => "mark";
useshell => "true";
}

######################################################################


body classes cdefine(class,alert)

{
promise_repaired => { "$(class)" };
repair_failed => { "$(alert)" };
}

This example shows all of the main features of CFEngine: bundles, bodies, control, variables, and promises. To the casual eye it might look complex, but that is because it is explicit about all of the details. Fortunately it is easy to hide many of these details to make the example simpler without sacrificing any functionality.

The first thing to try with this example is to verify it – did we make any mistakes? Are there any inconsistencies? To do this we use the new CFEngine program cf-promises. Let's assume that you typed this into a file called test.cf in the current directory.

     cf-promises -f ./test.cf

If all is well, typing this command shows no output. Try now running the command with verbose output.

     cf-promises -f ./test.cf -v

Now you see a lot of information

     Reference time set to Sat Aug  2 11:26:06 2008
     
     cf3 CFEngine - 3.0.0
     Free Software Foundation 1994-
     Donated by Mark Burgess, Oslo University College, Norway
     cf3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
     cf3 Host name is: atlas
     cf3 Operating System Type is linux
     cf3 Operating System Release is 2.6.22.18-0.2-default
     cf3 Architecture = x86_64
     cf3 Using internal soft-class linux for host linux
     cf3 The time is now Sat Aug  2 11:26:06 2008
     cf3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
     cf3 Additional hard class defined as: 64_bit
     cf3 Additional hard class defined as: linux_2_6_22_18_0_2_default
     cf3 Additional hard class defined as: linux_x86_64
     cf3 Additional hard class defined as: linux_x86_64_2_6_22_18_0_2_default
     cf3 GNU autoconf class from compile time: compiled_on_linux_gnu
     cf3 Interface 1: lo
     cf3 Trying to locate my IPv6 address
     cf3 Looking for environment from cf-monitord...
     cf3 Unable to detect environment from cf-monitord
     ---------------------------------------------------------------------
     Loading persistent classes
     ---------------------------------------------------------------------
     
     ---------------------------------------------------------------------
     Loaded persistent memory
     ---------------------------------------------------------------------
     cf3   > Parsing file ./test.cf
     ---------------------------------------------------------------------
     Agent's basic classified context
     ---------------------------------------------------------------------
     
     
     Defined Classes = ( any Saturday Hr11 Min26 Min25_30 Q2 Hr11_Q2 Day2
     August Yr2008 linux atlas 64_bit linux_2_6_22_18_0_2_default x86_64
     linux_x86_64 linux_x86_64_2_6_22_18_0_2_default
     linux_x86_64_2_6_22_18_0_2_default__1_SMP_2008_06_09_13_53_20__0200
     compiled_on_linux_gnu net_iface_lo )
     
     Negated Classes = ( )
     
     Installable classes = ( )
     cf3 Wrote expansion summary to promise_output_common.html
     cf3 Inputs are valid

The last two lines of this are of interest. Each time a component of CFEngine 3 parses a number of promises, it summarizes the information in an HTML file called generically promise_output_component-type.html. In this case the cf-promises command represents all possible promises, by the type "common". You can view this output file in a suitable web browser to see exactly what CFEngine has understood by the configuration.

Now that you have verified it, you can execute it. To run this example you need to change the username `mark' to your own, or obtain root privileges to change to another user. The non-verbose output of the script when run in the CFEngine 3 directory looks something like this:

host$ ./cf-agent -f ../tests/units/unit_exec_in_sequence.cf
Q ".../bin/echo Hello": Hello world - 46k/219
 -> Last 1 QUOTEed lines were generated by "/bin/echo Hello world - 46k/219"
Q ".../bin/ls": agent.c
Q ".../bin/ls": agentdiagnostic.c
Q ".../bin/ls": agentdiagnostic.o
Q ".../bin/ls": agent.o
Q ".../bin/ls": args.c
Q ".../bin/ls": args.lo
Q ".../bin/ls": args.o
...
Q ".../bin/ls": verify_reports.o
Q ".../bin/ls": verify_storage.c
Q ".../bin/ls": verify_storage.o
 -> Last 288 QUOTEed lines were generated by "/bin/ls"
atlas$


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1.13 Remote access troubleshooting


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1.13.1 Server connection

When setting up cf-serverd, you might see the error message

  Unspecified server refusal

This means that cf-serverd is unable or is unwilling to authenticate the connection from your client machine. The message is generic: it is deliberately non-specific so that anyone attempting to attack or exploit the service will not be given information which might be useful to them. There is a simple checklist for curing this problem:

  1. Make sure that the domain variable is set in the configuration files read by both client and server; alternatively use skipidentify and skipverify to decouple DNS from the the authentication.
  2. Make sure that you have granted access to your client in the server body
              
              body server control
              {
              allowconnects         => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" ...etc };
              allowallconnects      => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" ...etc };
              trustkeysfrom         => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" ...etc };
              }
              
    
  3. Make sure you have created valid keys for the hosts using cf-key.
  4. If you are using secure copy, make sure that you have created a key file and that you have distributed and installed it to all participating hosts in your cluster.

Always remember that you can run CFEngine in verbose or debugging modes to see how the authentication takes place:

cf-agent -v
cf-serverd -v

cf-agent reports that access is denied regardless of the nature of the error, to avoid giving away information which might be used by an attacker. To find out the real reason for a denial, use verbose ‘-v’ or even debugging mode ‘-d2’.


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1.13.2 Key exchange

The key exchange model used by CFEngine is based on that used by OpenSSH. It is a peer to peer exchange model, not a central certificate authority model. This means that there are no scalability bottlenecks (at least by design, though you might introduce your own if you go for an overly centralized architecture).

The problem of key distribution is the conundrum of every public key infrastructure. Key exchange is handled automatically by CFEngine and all you need to do is to decide which keys to trust.

When public keys are offered to a server, they could be accepted automatically on trust because no one is available to make a decision about them. This would lead to a race to be the first to submit a key claiming identity.

Even with DNS checks for correct name/IP address correlation (turned off with skipverify), it might be possible to submit a false key to a server.

The server cf-serverd blocks the acceptance of unknown keys by default. In order to accept such a new key, the IP address of the presumed client must be listed in the trustkeysfrom stanza of a server bundle (these bundles can be placed in any file). Once a key has been accepted, it will never be replaced with a new key, thus no more trust is offered or required.

Once you have arranged for the right to connect to the server, you must decide which hosts will have access to which files. This is done with access rules.

bundle server access_rules()

{
access:

  "/path/file"

    admit   => { "127.0.0.1", "127.0.0.2", "127.0.0.3" },
    deny    => { "192\..*" };
}

On the client side, i.e. cf-runagent and cf-agent, there are three issues:

  1. Choosing which server to connect to.
  2. Trusting the identity of any previously unknown servers, i.e. trusting the server's public key to be its and no one else's. (The issues here are the same as for the server.)
  3. Choosing whether data transfers should be encrypted (with encrypt).

Because there are two clients for connecting to cf-serverd (cf-agent and cf-runagent), there are also two ways of managing trust of server keys by a client. One is an automated option, setting the option trustkey in a copy_from stanza, e.g.

body copy_from example
     {
     # .. other settings ..

     trustkey => "true";
     }

Another way is to run cf-runagent in interactive mode. When you run cf-runagent, unknown server keys are offered to you interactively (as with ssh) for you to accept or deny manually:

     
     WARNING - You do not have a public key from host ubik.iu.hio.no = 128.39.74.25
               Do you want to accept one on trust? (yes/no)
     -->
     


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1.13.3 Time windows (races)

Once public keys have been exchanged from client to server and from server to client, the issue of trust is solved according to public key authentication schemes. You only need to worry about trust when one side of a connection has never seen the other side before.

Often you will have a central server and many client satellites. Then the best way to transfer all the keys is to set the trustkey flags on server and clients sides to coincide with a time at which you know that cf-agent will be run, and when a spoofer is unlikely to be able to interfere.

This is a once-only task, and the chance of an attacker being able to spoof a key-transfer is small. It would require skill and inside-information about the exchange procedure, which would tend to imply that the trust model was already broken.

Another approach would be to run cf-runagent against all the hosts in the group from the central server and accept the keys one by one, by hand, though there is little to be gained from this.

Trusting a host for key exchange is unavoidable. There is no clever way to avoid it. Even transferring the files manually by diskette, and examining every serial number of the computers you have, the host has to trust the information you are giving it. It is all based on assertion. You can make it almost impossible for keys to be faked or attacked, but you cannot make it absolutely impossible. Security is about managing reasonable levels of risk, not about magic.

All security is based on a moment of trust, that is granted by a user at some point in time – and is assumed thereafter (once given, hard to rescind). Cryptographic key methods only remove the need for a repeat of the trust decision. After the first exchange, trust is no longer needed, because they keys allow identity to be actually verified.

Even if you leave the trust options switched on, you are not blindly trusting the hosts you know about. The only potential insecurity lies in any new keys that you have not thought about. If you use wildcards or IP prefixes in the trust rules, then other hosts might be able to spoof their way in on trust because you have left open a hole for them to exploit. That is why it is recommended to return the system to the default state of zero trust immediately after key transfer, by commenting out the trust options.

It is possible, though somewhat laborious to transfer the keys out of band, by copying /var/cfengine/ppkeys/localhost.pub to /var/cfengine/ppkeys/user-aaa.bbb.ccc.mmm (assuming IPv4) on another host. e.g.

     
     localhost.pub -> root-128.39.74.71.pub
     

This would be a silly way to transfer keys between nearby hosts that you control yourself, but if transferring to long distance, remote hosts it might be an easier way to manage trust.


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1.13.4 Other users than root

CFEngine normally runs as user "root" (except on Windows which does not normally have a root user), i.e. a privileged administrator. If other users are to be granted access to the system, they must also generate a key and go through the same process. In addition, the users must be added to the server configuration file.


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1.13.5 Encryption

CFEngine provides encryption for keeping file contents private during transfer. It is assumed that users will use this judiciously. There is nothing to be gained by encrypting the transfer of public files – overt use of encryption just contributes to global warming, burning unnecessary CPU cycles without offering any security.

The main role for encryption in configuration management is for authentication. CFEngine always uses encryption during authentication, so none of the encryption settings affect the security of authentication.


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2 A simple crash course in concepts


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2.1 Rules are promises

Everything in CFEngine 3 can be interpreted as a promise. Promises can be made about all kinds of different subjects, from file attributes, to the execution of commands, to access control decisions and knowledge relationships.

This simple but powerful idea allows a very practical uniformity in CFEngine syntax. There is only one grammatical form for statements in the language that you need to know and it looks generically like this:

     
      type:
     
        classes::
     
         "promiser" -> { "promisee1", "promisee2", ... }
     
            attribute_1 => value_1,
            attribute_2 => value_2,
            ...
            attribute_n => value_n;
     

We speak of a promiser (the abstract object making the promise), the promisee is the abstract object to whom the promise is made, and them there is a list of associations that we call the `body' of the promise, which together with the promiser-type tells us what it is all about.

Not all of these elements are necessary every time. Some promises contain a lot of implicit behaviour. In other cases we might want to be much more explicit. For example, the simplest promise looks like this:

     
     commands:
     
       "/bin/echo hello world";
     

This promise has default attributes for everything except the `promiser', i.e. the command string that promises to execute. A more complex promise contains many attributes:

     
     files:
     
       "/home/mark/tmp/test_plain" -> "system blue team",
     
            comment => "This comment follows the rule for knowledge integration",
            perms   => users("@(usernames)"),
            create  => "true";
     

The list of promisees is not used by CFEngine except for documentation, just as the comment attribute (which can be added to any promise) has no actual function other than to provide more information to the user in error tracing and auditing.

You see several kinds of object in this example. All literal strings (e.g. "true") in CFEngine 3 must be quoted. This provides absolute consistency and makes type-checking easy and error-correction powerful. All function-like objects (e.g. users("..")) are either builtin special functions or parameterized templates which contain the `meat' of the right hand side.

The words commands, and files are built-in promise types. Promise types generally belong each to a particular component of CFEngine, as the components are designed to keep different kinds of promises. A few types, such as vars, classes and reports are common to all the different component bundles. You will find a full list of the promise types that can be made by the different components in the `bundles' chapters that follow.


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2.2 Best practice for writing promises

When writing promises, get into the habit of giving every promise a comment that explains its intention.

Also, give related promises handles, or labels that can be used to refer to them by.

files:

  "/var/cfengine/inputs"

    handle => "update_policy",
    comment => "Update the configuration from a master server",

    perms => system("600"),
    copy_from => mycopy("$(master_location)","$(policy_server)"),
    depth_search => recurse("inf"),
    file_select => input_files,
    action => immediate;

If a promise affects another promise in some way, you can make the affected promise one of the promisees, like this:
access:

  "/master/cfengine/inputs" -> { "update_policy", "other_promisee" },

    comment => "Grant access to policy to our clients",
    handle  => "serve_updates",

    admit   => { "217.77.34.*" };

Conversely, if a promise might depend on another in some (even indirect) way, document this too.

files:

  "/var/cfengine/inputs"

    comment => "Update the configuration from a master server",
    handle     => "update_policy",

    depends_on => "serve_updates",

    perms => system("600"),
    copy_from => mycopy("$(master_location)","$(policy_server)"),
    depth_search => recurse("inf"),
    file_select => input_files,
    action => immediate;


Get into the habit of adding the cause-effect lines of influence. Enterprise editions of CFEngine will track the dependencies between these promises and map out impact analyses.


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2.3 Containers

CFEngine allows you to group multiple promise statements into containers called bundles.

     
     bundle agent identifier
     
     {
     commands:
     
       "/bin/echo These commands are a silly way to use CFEngine";
       "/bin/ls -l";
       "/bin/echo But they illustrate a point";
     
     }
     

Bundles serve two purposes: they allow us to collect related promises under a single heading, like a subroutine, and they allow us to mix configuration for different parts of CFEngine in the same file. The type of a bundle is the name of the component of CFEngine for which it is intended.

For instance, we can make a self-contained example agent-server configuration by labelling the bundles:

     
     #
     # Not a complete example
     #
     
     bundle agent testbundle
     
     {
     files:
     
       "/home/mark/tmp/testcopy"
     
         comment      => "Throwaway example...",
         copy_from    => mycopy("/home/mark/LapTop/words","127.0.0.1"),
         perms        => system,
         depth_search => recurse("inf");
     
     }
     
     #
     
     bundle server access_rules
     
     {
     access:
     
       "/home/mark/LapTop"
     
         admit   => { "127.0.0.1" };
     }
     

Another type of container in CFEngine 3 is a `body' part. Body parts exist to hide complex parameter information in reusable containers. The right hand side of some attribute assignments use body containers to reduce the amount of in-line information and preserve readability. You cannot choose where to use bodies: either they are used or they are not used for a particular kind of attribute. What you can choose, however, is the name and number of parameters for the body; and you can make as many of them as you like: For example:

     
     body copy_from mycopy(from,server)
     
     {
     source      => "$(from)";
     servers     => { "$(server)" };
     copy_backup => "true";
     
     special_class::
     
       purge       => "true";
     }
     

Notice also that classes can be used in bodies as well as parameters so that you can hide environmental adaptations in these bodies also. The classes used here are effectively ANDed with the classes under which the calling promise is defined.


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2.4 When and where are promises made?

When you type a promise into a CFEngine bundle, the promise will be read by every cf-agent that reads the file, each time it is called into being. For some promises this is okay, but for others you only want to verify the promise once in a while, e.g. once per day or once per hour. There are two ways to say when and where a promise applies in CFEngine:

Classes
Classes are the double-colon decision syntax in CFEngine. They determine in what context a promise is made, i.e. when and where. Recall the basic syntax of a promise:
          
           promise-type:
          
              class-expression::
          
                 promiser -> promisee
          
                    attribute => body,
                         ifvarclass => other-class-expression;
          

The class expression may contain words like ‘Hr12’, meaning from 12:00 p.m - 13:00 p.m., or ‘Hr12&Min05_10’, meaning between 12:05 and 12:10. Classes may also have spatial descriptors like ‘myhost’ or ‘solaris’, which decide which hosts in the namespace, or ‘ipv4_192_168_1_101’ which decides the location in IPv4 address space.

If the class expression is true, the promise can be considered made for the duration of the current execution.

CFEngine 3 has a new class predicate ifvarclass which is ANDed with the normal class expression, and which is evaluated together with the promise. It may contain variables as long as the resulting expansion is a legal class expression.

Locks
Locks determine how often a promise is verified.

CFEngine is controlled by a series of locks which prevent it from checking promises too often, and which prevent it from spending too long trying to verify promises it already verified recently. The locks work in such a way that you can start several CFEngine processes simultaneously without them interfering with each other. You can control two things about each kind of action in the action sequence:

ifelapsed
The minimum time (in minutes) which should have passed since the last time that promise was verified. It will not be executed again until this amount of time has elapsed. (Default time is 1 minute.)
expireafter
The maximum amount (in minutes) of time cf-agent should wait for an old instantiation to finish before killing it and starting again. (Default time is 120 minutes.)

You can set these values either globally (for all actions) or for each action separately. If you set global and local values, the local values override the global ones. All times are written in units of minutes. Global setting is in the control body:

body agent control
{
ifelapsed => "60";	# one hour
}

or locally in the transaction bodies:

body action example
{
ifelapsed => "90";	# 1.5 hours
}

These locks do not prevent the whole of cf-agent from running, only atomic promise checks. Several different atoms can be run concurrently by different cf-agents. The locks ensure that atoms will never be started by two cf-agents at the same time, or too soon after a verification, causing contention and wasting CPU cycles.


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2.5 Types in CFEngine 3

A key difference in CFEngine 3 compared to earlier versions is the presence of data types. Data types are a mechanism for associating values and checking consistency in a language. Once again, there is a simple pattern to types in CFEngine.

The principle is very simple: types exist in order to match like a plug-socket relationship. In the examples above, you can see two places where types are used to match templates:

Check these by identifying the words ‘agent’ and ‘copy_from’ in the examples above. Types are there to make configuration more robust.


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2.6 Datatypes in CFEngine 3

CFEngine variables have two meta-types: scalars and lists. A scalar is a single value, a list is a collection of scalars. Each scalar may have one of three types: string, int or real. Typing is dynamic, so these are interchangable in many instances. However arguments to special functions check legal type for consistency.

Integer constants may use suffixes to represent large numbers.


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2.7 Variable expansion in CFEngine 3

CFEngine 3 has some simple rules for variable expansion. These make a couple of restrictions that enforce discipline of clarity and allow automatic dependency tracking in enterprise versions of CFEngine.


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2.7.1 Scalar variable expansion

Scalar variables are written ‘$(name)’ and they represent a single value at a time.


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2.7.2 List variable substitution and expansion

During list expansion, only local lists can be expanded, thus global list references have to be mapped into a local context if you want to use them for iteration. Instead of doing this in some arbitrary way, with possibility of name collisions, CFEngine asks you to make this explicit. There are two possible approaches.

The first uses parameterization to map a global list into a local context.

#

# Show access of external lists.

#

# - to pass lists globally, use a parameter to dereference them

#


body common control
{
bundlesequence => { hardening(@(va.tmpdirs)) };
}

#########################################################


bundle common va
{
vars:

 "tmpdirs"  slist => { "/tmp", "/var/tmp", "/usr/tmp"  };

}

##########################################################


bundle agent hardening(x)
{
classes:

  "ok" expression => "any";

vars:

 "other"    slist => { "/tmp", "/var/tmp" };

reports:

  ok::

    "Do $(x)";
    "Other: $(other)";
}

This alternative uses a direct `short-circuit' approach to map the global list into the local context.

#
# Show access of external lists.

#


body common control
{
bundlesequence => { hardening };
}

#########################################################


bundle common va
{
vars:

 "tmpdirs"  slist => { "/tmp", "/var/tmp", "/usr/tmp"  };

}

##########################################################


bundle agent hardening
{
classes:

  "ok" expression => "any";

vars:

 "other"    slist => { "/tmp", "/var/tmp" };
 "x"        slist => { @(va.tmpdirs) };

reports:

  ok::

    "Do $(x)";
    "Other: $(other)";
}


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2.7.3 Special list value cf_null

As of CFEngine core version 3.1.0, the value ‘cf_null’ may be used as a NULL value within lists. This value is ignored in list variable expansion.

vars:

  "empty_list" slist => { "cf_null" };


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2.7.4 Arrays in CFEngine 3

Array variables are written with ‘[’ and ‘]’ brackets, e.g.

bundle agent example

{
vars:

  "component" slist => { "cf-monitord", "cf-serverd", "cf-execd" };

  "array[cf-monitord]" string => "The monitor";
  "array[cf-serverd]" string => "The server";
  "array[cf-execd]" string => "The executor, not executioner";

commands:

   "/bin/echo $(component) is"

            args => "$(array[$(component)])";

}

Arrays are associative and may be of type scalar or list. Enumerated arrays are simply treated as a special case of associative arrays, since there are no numerical loops in CFEngine. Special functions exist to extract lists of keys from array variables for iteration purposes.

Thus one could have written the example above in the form of the following example. Note, too, that the use of getindices avoids the earlier poor practice of repeating the enumeration of key names, and instead uses the better strategy of automatically deriving them.

bundle agent example

{
vars:

  "array[cf-monitord]" string => "The monitor";
  "array[cf-serverd]" string => "The server";
  "array[cf-exced]" string => "The executor, not executioner";

  "component" slist => getindices("array");

commands:

  "/bin/echo $(component) is"

           args => "$(array[$(component)])";
}


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2.8 Normal ordering

CFEngine takes a pragmatic point of view to ordering. When promising `scalar' attributes and properties, ordering is irrelevant and need not be considered. More complex patterned data structures require ordering to be preserved, e.g. editing in files. CFEngine solves this in a two-part strategy:


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2.8.1 Agent normal ordering

  1. CFEngine tries to keep variable and class promises before starting to consider any other kind of promise. In this way, global variable and classes can be set, as well as creating classes promises, upon which later agent-bundle vars promises may depend. Place these at the start of your configuration (see next item).
  2. If you set variables based on classes that are determined by variables, in a complex dependency chain, then you introduce an order dependence to the resolution that might be non-unique. Since CFEngine starts trying to converge values as soon as possible, it is best to define variables in bundles before using them, i.e. as early as possible in your configuration. In general it is wise to avoid class-variable dependency as much as possible.
  3. CFEngine executes agent promise bundles in the strict order defined by the bundlesequence (possibly overridden by the -b or --bundlesequence command line option).
  4. Within a bundle, the promise types are executed in a round-robin fashion according to so-called `normal ordering' (essentially deletion first, followed by creation). The actual sequence continues for up to three iterations of the following, converging towards a final state:
            vars
            classes
            outputs
            interfaces
            files
            packages
            environments
            methods
            processes
            services
            commands
            storage
            databases
            reports
    

    Within edit_line bundles in files promises (See `File editing in CFEngine 3' for important details), the normal ordering is:

            vars
            classes
            delete_lines
            field_edits
            insert_lines
            replace_patterns
            reports
    
  5. The order of promises within one of the above types follows their top-down ordering within the bundle itself
  6. The order may be overridden by making a promise depend on a class that is set by another promise.


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2.8.2 Server normal ordering

As with the agent, common bundles are executed before any server bundles; following this all server bundles are executed (the bundlesequence is only used for cf-agent). Within a server bundle, the promise types are unamgibuous. Variables and classes are resolved in the same way as the agent. On connection, access control must be handled first, then a role request might be made once access has been granted. Thus ordering is fully constrained by process with no additional freedoms.

Within a server bundle, the normal ordering is:

   vars
   classes
   access
   roles


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2.8.3 Monitor normal ordering

As with the agent, common bundles are executed before any monitor bundles; following this all monitor bundles are executed (the bundlesequence is only used for cf-agent). Variables and classes are resolved in the same way as the agent.

Within a monitor bundle, the normal ordering is:

   vars
   classes
   measurements
   reports


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2.8.4 Knowledge normal ordering

As with the agent, common bundles are executed before any knowledge bundles; following this all knowledge bundles are executed (the bundlesequence is only used for cf-agent). Variables and classes are resolved in the same way as the agent.

Within a knowledge bundle, the normal ordering is:

   vars
   classes
   topics
   occurrences
   inferences
   reports


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2.9 Loops and lists in CFEngine 3

There are no explicit loops in CFEngine, instead there are lists. To make a loop, you simply refer to a list as a scalar and CFEngine will assume a loop over all items in the list.

For example, in the examples below the list component has three elements. The list as a whole may be referred to as @(component), in order to pass the whole list to a promise where a list is expected. However, if we write $(component), i.e. the scalar variable, then CFEngine assumes that it should substitute each scalar from the list in turn, and thus iterate over the list elements using a loop.

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{
vars:

  "component" slist => { "cf-monitord", "cf-serverd", "cf-execd" };

  "new_list" slist => { "cf-know", @(component) };

processes:

  "$(component)" restart_class => canonify("start_$(component)");

commands:

   "/bin/echo /var/cfengine/bin/$(component)"

       ifvarclass => canonify("start_$(component)");
}

If a variable is repeated, its value is tied throughout the expression; so the output of:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{
vars:

  "component" slist => { "cf-monitord", "cf-serverd", "cf-execd" };

  "array[cf-monitord]" string => "The monitor";
  "array[cf-serverd]" string => "The server";
  "array[cf-execd]" string => "The executor, not executioner";

commands:

   "/bin/echo $(component) is"

            args => "$(array[$(component)])";
}

is as follows:

Q ".../bin/echo cf-mo": cf-monitord is The monitor
 -> Last 1 QUOTEed lines were generated by "/bin/echo cf-monitord is The monitor"
Q ".../bin/echo cf-se": cf-serverd is The server
 -> Last 1 QUOTEed lines were generated by "/bin/echo cf-serverd is The server"
Q ".../bin/echo cf-ex": cf-execd is The executor, not executioner
 -> Last 1 QUOTEed lines were generated by "/bin/echo cf-execd is The executor, not executioner"


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2.10 Pattern matching and referencing

One of the strengths of CFEngine 3 is the ability to recognize and exploit patterns. All string patterns in CFEngine 3 are matched using PCRE regular expressions.

CFEngine has the ability to extract back-references from pattern matches. This makes sense in two cases. Back references are fragments of a string that match parenethetic expressions. For instance, suppose we have the string:

     
      Mary had a little lamb ...
     

and apply the regular expression

     
      "Mary ([^l]+)little (.*)"
     

The pattern matches the entire string, and it contains two parenthesized subexpressions, which respectively match the fragments `had a ' and `lamb ...'. The regular expression libraries assign three matches to this result, labelled 0, 1 and 2.

The zeroth value is the entire string matched by the total expression. The first value is the fragment matched by the first parenthesis, and so on.

Each time CFEngine matches a string, these values are assigned to a special variable context $(match.n). The fragments can be referred to in the remainder of the promise. There are two places where this makes sense. One is in pattern replacement during file editing, and the other is in searching for files.

Consider the examples below:

bundle agent testbundle

{
files:

  # This might be a dangerous pattern - see explanation in the next section

  # on "Runaway change warning"


  "/home/mark/tmp/cf([23])?_(.*)"
       edit_line => myedit("second backref: $(match.2)");
}

There are other filenames that could match this pattern, but if, for example, there were to exist a file /home/mark/tmp/cf3_test, then we would have:
$(match.0)
equal to `/home/mark/tmp/cf3_test'
$(match.1)
equal to `3'
$(match.2)
equal to `test'

Note that because the pattern allows for an optional '2' or '3' to follow the letters 'cf', it is possible that $(match.1) would contain the empty string. For example, if there was a file named /home/mark/tmp/cf_widgets, then we would have

$(match.0)
equal to `/home/mark/tmp/cf_widgets'
$(match.1)
equal to `'
$(match.2)
equal to `widgets'

Now look at the edit bundle. This takes a parameter (which is the back-reference from the filename match), but it also uses back references to replace shell comment lines with C comment lines (the same approach is used to hash-comment lines in files). The back-reference variables $(match.n) refer to the most recent pattern match, and so in the ‘C_comment’ body, they do not refer to the filename components, but instead to the hash-commented line in the ‘replace_patterns’ promise.

bundle edit_line myedit(parameter)
  {
  vars:

   "edit_variable" string => "private edit variable is $(parameter)";

  insert_lines:

     "$(edit_variable)";

  replace_patterns:

  # replace shell comments with C comments


   "#(.*)"

      replace_with => C_comment,
     select_region => MySection("New section");

  }

########################################

# Bodies

########################################


body replace_with C_comment

{
replace_value => "/* $(match.1) */"; # backreference from replace_patterns
occurrences => "all";  # first, last, or all
}

########################################################


body select_region MySection(x)

{
select_start => "\[$(x)\]";
select_end => "\[.*\]";
}

Try this example on the file

[First section]

one
two
three

[New section]

four
#five

six

[final]

seven
eleven

The resulting file is edited like this:

[First section]

one
two
three

[New section]

four
/* five */
six

[final]

seven
eleven

private edit variable is second backref: test


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2.10.1 Runaway change warning

Be careful when using patterns to search for files that are altered by CFEngine if you are not using a file repository. Each time CFEngine makes a change it saves an old file into a copy like cf3_test.cf-before-edit. These new files then get matched by the same expression above – because it ends in the generic.*), or does not specify a tail for the expression. Thus CFEngine will happily edit backups of the edit file too, and generate a recursive process, resulting in something like the following:

     cf3_test                  cf3_test.cf-before-edit
     cf3_test~                 cf3_test~.cf-before-edit.cf-before-edit
     cf3_test~.cf-before-edit  cf3_test~.cf-before-edit.cf-before-edit.cf-before-edit

Always try to be as specific as possible when specifying patterns. A lazy approach will often come back to haunt you.


Next: , Previous: Runaway change warning, Up: Pattern matching and referencing

2.10.2 Commenting lines

The following example shows how you would hash-comment lines in a file using CFEngine 3.

######################################################################
#

# HashCommentLines implemented in CFEngine 3

#

######################################################################


body common control

{
version => "1.2.3";
bundlesequence  => { "testbundle"  };
}

########################################################


bundle agent testbundle

{
files:

  "/home/mark/tmp/comment_test"

       create    => "true",
       edit_line => comment_lines_matching;
}

########################################################


bundle edit_line comment_lines_matching
  {
  vars:

    "regexes" slist => { "one.*", "two.*", "four.*" };

  replace_patterns:

   "^($(regexes))$"
      replace_with => comment("# ");
  }

########################################

# Bodies

########################################


body replace_with comment(c)

{
replace_value => "$(c) $(match.1)";
occurrences => "all";
}


Next: , Previous: Commenting lines, Up: Pattern matching and referencing

2.10.3 Regular expressions in paths

When applying regular expressions in paths, the path will first be split at the path separators, and each element matched independently. For example, this makes it possible to write expressions like "/home/.*/file" to match a single file inside a lot of directories — the .* does not eat the whole string.

Note that whenever regular expressions are used in paths, the / is always used as the path separator, even on Windows. However, on Windows, if the pathname is interpreted literally (no regular expressions), then the backslash is also recognized as the path separator. This is because the backslash has a special (and potentially ambiguous) meaning in regular expressions (a \d means the same as [0-9], but on Windows it could also be a path separator and a directory named d).

The pathtype attribute allows you to force a specific behavior when interpreting pathnames. By default, CFEngine looks at your pathname and makes an educated guess as to whether your pathname contains a regular expression. The values "literal" and "regex" explicitly force CFEngine to interpret the pathname either one way or another.

(see the pathtype attribute).

body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "wintest" };
}

########################################


bundle agent wintest
{
files:
  "c:/tmp/file/f.*"		# "best guess" interpretation
    delete => nodir;


  "c:\tmp\file"
    delete => nodir,
    pathtype => "literal";	# force literal string interpretation


  "C:/windows/tmp/f\d"
    delete => nodir,
    pathtype => "regex";	# force regular expression interpretation
}

########################################


body delete nodir
{
rmdirs => "false";
}

Note that the path ‘/tmp/gar.*’ will only match filenames like /tmp/gar, /tmp/garbage and /tmp/garden. It will not match filename like /tmp/gar/baz (because even though the ‘.*’ in a regular expression means "zero or more of any character", CFEngine restricts that to mean "zero or more of any character in a path component"). Correspondingly, CFEngine also restricts where you can use the ‘/’ character (you can't use it in a character class like ‘[^/]’ or in a parenthesized or repeated regular expression component.

This means that regular expressions which include "optional directory components" won't work. You can't have a files promise to tidy the directory ‘(/usr)?/tmp’. Instead, you need to be more verbose and specify ‘/usr/tmp|/tmp’, or even better, think declaratively and create an slist that contains both the strings ‘/tmp’ and ‘/usr/tmp’, and then allow CFEngine to iterate over the list!

This also means that the path ‘/tmp/.*/something’ will match files like /tmp/abc/something or /tmp/xyzzy/something. However, even though the pattern ‘.*’ means "zero or more of any character (except ‘/’)", CFEngine matches files bounded by directory separators. So even though the pathname /tmp//something is technically the same as the pathname /tmp/something, the regular expression ‘/tmp/.*/something’ will not match on the degenerate case of /tmp//something (or /tmp/something).


Next: , Previous: Regular expressions in paths, Up: Pattern matching and referencing

2.10.4 Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions

CFEngine uses the full power of regular expressions, but there are two “flavors” of regex. Because they behave somewhat differently (while still utilizing the same syntax), it is important to know which one is used for a particular component of CFEngine:

For example, the comment parameter in readstringarray is an unanchored regex (see Function readstringarray). If you specify the regular expression as "#.*", then on any line which contains a pound sign, everything from there until the end of the line will be removed as a comment. However, if you specify the regular expression as "^#.*" (note the ‘^’ anchor at the start of the regex), then only lines which start with a ‘#’ will be removed as a comment! If you want to ignore C-style comment in a multi-line string, then you have to a bit more clever, and use this regex: "(?s)/\*.*?\*/"

Conversely, delete_lines promises use anchored regular expressions to delete lines. If our promise uses "bob:\d* as a line-matching regex, then only the second line of this file will be deleted (because only the second line starts with ‘bob:’ and is then followed exclusively by digits, all the way to the end of the string).

bobs:your:uncle
bob:111770
thingamabob:1234
robert:bob:xyz
i:am:not:bob

If CFEngine expects an unanchored regular expression, then finding every line that contains the letters ‘bob’ is easy. You just use the regex "bob". But if CFEngine expects an anchored regular expression, then you must use ".*bob.*".

If you want to find every line that has a field which is exactly ‘bob’ with no characters before or after, then it is only a little more complicated if CFEngine expects an unanchored regex: "(^|:)bob(:|$)". But if CFEngine expects an anchored regular expression, then it starts getting ugly, and you'd need to use "bob:.*|.*:bob:.*|.*:bob".


Previous: Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions, Up: Pattern matching and referencing

2.10.5 Special topics on Regular Expressions

Regular expressions are a complicated subject, and really are beyond the scope of this document. However, it is worth mentioning a couple of special topics that you might want to know of when using regular expressions.

The first is how to not get a backreference. If you want to have a parenthesized expression that does not generate a back reference, there is a special PCRE syntax to use. Instead of using () to bracket the piece of a regular expression, use (?:) instead. For example, this will match the filenames foolish, foolishly, bearish, bearishly, garish, and garishly in the /tmp directory. The variable $match.0 will contain the full filename, and $match.1 will either contain the string ‘ly’ or the empty string. But the (?:expression) which matches foo, bear, or gar does not create a back-reference:

files:
    "/tmp/(?:foo|bear|gar)ish(ly)?"

Note that sometimes multi-line strings are subject to be matched by regular expressions. CFEngine internally matches all regular expressions using PCRE_DOTALL option, so . matches newlines. If you want to match any character except newline you could use \N escape sequence.

Another thing you might want to do is ignore capitalization. CFEngine is case-sensitive (in all things), so the files promise /tmp/foolish will not match the files /tmp/Foolish or /tmp/fOoLish, etc. There are two ways to acheive case-insensitivity. The first is to use character classes:

files:
    "/tmp/[Ff][Oo][Oo][Ll][Ii][Ss][Hh]"

While this is certainly correct, it can also lead to unreadability. The PCRE patterns in CFEngine have another way of introducing case-insensitvity into a pattern:

files:
    "/tmp/(?i:foolish)"

The (?i:) brackets impose case-insensitive matching on the text that it surrounds, without creating a sub-expression. You could also write the regular expression like this (but be aware that the two expressions are different, and work slightly differently, so check the documentation for the specifics):

files:
    "/tmp/(?i)foolish"

The /s, /m, and /x switches from PCRE are also available, but use them with great care!


Previous: Pattern matching and referencing, Up: A simple crash course

2.11 Distributed discovery

CFEngine's philosophy and modus operandi is to make machines as self-reliant as possible. This is the path to scalability. Sometimes we want machines to be able to detect one another and sample each others' behaviour. This can be accomplished using probes and server functions.

For example, testing whether services are up and running can be a useful probe even from a local host. CFEngine has in-built functions for generically probing the environment; these are designed to encourage decentralized monitoring.

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "test"  };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent test

{
vars:

 "hosts" slist => { "server1.example.org", "server2", "server3" };

 "up_servers" int =>  selectservers("@(hosts)","80","","","100","alive_servers");

classes:

  "someone_alive" expression => isgreaterthan("$(up_servers)","0");

  "i_am_a_server" expression => regarray("up_servers","$(host)|$(fqhost)");

reports:

  someone_alive::

    "Number of active servers $(up_servers)" action => always;

    "First server $(alive_servers[0]) fails over to $(alive_servers[1])";


}


Next: , Previous: A simple crash course, Up: Top

3 How to run CFEngine 3 examples

The CFEngine tests directory contains a multitude of examples of CFEngine 3 code. These instructions assume that you have all of your configuration in a single test file, such as the example in the distribution directory tests/units.

  1. Test the file as a non-privileged user first, if you can.
  2. Always verify syntax first with cf-promises. This requires no privileges. An cf-agent will not execute a configuration that has not passed this test.
              
              host$ cf-promises -f ./inputfile.cf
              
    
  3. Run the examples like this, e.g.
              
              host$ src/cf-promises -f ./tests/units/unit_server_copy_localhost.cf
              host$ src/cf-serverd -f ./tests/units/unit_server_copy_localhost.cf
              host$ src/cf-agent -f ./tests/units/unit_server_copy_localhost.cf
              
    

Running cf-agent in verbose mode provides detailed information about the state of the systems promises.

     Outcome of version 1.2.3: Promises observed to be kept 99%,
     Promises repaired 1%, Promises not repaired 0%

The log-file WORKDIR/promise.log contains the summary of these reports with timestamps. This is the simplest kind of high level audit record of the system.


Next: , Previous: How to run CFEngine 3 examples, Up: Top

4 A complete configuration

To illustrate a complete configuration for agents and daemons, consider the following example code, supplied in the inputs/ directory of the distribution. Comments indicate the thinking behind this starting point.


Next: , Previous: A complete configuration, Up: A complete configuration

4.1 promises.cf

This file is the first file that cf-agent with no arguments will try to look for. It should contain all of the basic configuration settings, including a list of other files to include. In normal operation, it must have a bundlesequence.

This file can stay fixed, except for extending the bundlesequence. The bundlesequence acts like the `genetic makeup' of the configuration. In a large configuration, you might want to have a different bundlesequence for different classes of host, so that you can build a complete system like a check-list from different combinations of building blocks. You can construct different lists by composing them from other lists, or you can use methods promises as an alternative for composing bundles for different classes.

#######################################################
#

# promises.cf

#

#######################################################


body common control

{
# List the `genes' for this system..


bundlesequence  => {
                   "update",
                   "garbage_collection",
                   "main",
                   "cfengine"
                   };


inputs          => {
                   "update.cf",
                   "site.cf",
                   "library.cf"
                   };
}

#######################################################

# Now set defaults for all components' hard-promises

#######################################################


body agent control
{
# if default runtime is 5 mins, we need more for long jobs

ifelapsed => "15";
}

#######################################################


body monitor control
{
forgetrate => "0.7";
}

###########si###########################################


body executor control

{
splaytime => "1";
mailto => "cfengine_mail@example.org";
smtpserver => "localhost";
mailmaxlines => "30";

# Instead of a separate update script, now do this


exec_command => "$(sys.workdir)/bin/cf-agent -f failsafe.cf && $(sys.workdir)/bin/cf-agent";
}

#######################################################


body reporter control

{
reports => { "performance", "last_seen", "monitor_history" };
build_directory => "/tmp/nerves";
report_output => "html";
}

#######################################################


body runagent control
{
hosts => {
          "127.0.0.1"
          # , "myhost.example.com:5308", ...

         };

}

#######################################################


body server control

{
allowconnects         => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" };
allowallconnects      => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" };
trustkeysfrom         => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" };

# Make updates and runs happen in one


cfruncommand => "$(sys.workdir)/bin/cf-agent";

allowusers   => { "root" };
}


Next: , Previous: promises.cf, Up: A complete configuration

4.2 site.cf

Use this file to add your site-specific configuration. Common bundles can be used to define global variables. Otherwise, unqualified variables are local to the bundle in which they are defined – however they can be access by writing $(bundle_name.variable_name).

#######################################################
#

# site.cf

#

#######################################################


bundle common g
{
vars:

  SuSE::

   "crontab" string => "/var/spool/cron/tabs/root";

 !SuSE::

   "crontab" string => "/var/spool/cron/crontabs/root";
}

The CFEngine bundle below detects whether CFEngine 2 is already running on the host or not, and if so attempts to kill off old daemon processes and encapsulate the agent. It also looks for rules in the old CFEngine configuration that would potentially spoil CFEngine 3's control of the system: the last thing we want is for CFEngine 2 and CFEngine 3 to fight each other for control of the system. CFEngine 3 tries to edit an existing crontab entry to replace any references to cfexecd with cf-execd; if none are found it will add a 5 minute run schedule. You should never put cf-agentor cf-agent directly inside cron without the cf-execd wrapper.

#######################################################
# Start with CFEngine itself

#######################################################


bundle agent cfengine

{
classes:

  "integrate_cfengine2"

      and => {
             fileexists("$(sys.workdir)/inputs/cfagent.conf"),
             fileexists("$(sys.workdir)/bin/cfagent")
             };

vars:

   "cf2bits" slist => { "cfenvd", "cfservd", "cfexecd" };

commands:

 integrate_cfengine2::

   "$(sys.workdir)/bin/cfagent"

        action => longjob;

files:

  # Warn about rules relating to CFEngine 2 in inputs - could conflict


  "$(sys.workdir)/inputs/.*"

       comment     => "Check if there are still promises about CFEngine 2 that need removing",
       edit_line   => DeleteLinesMatching(".*$(cf2bits).*"),
       file_select => OldCf2Files,
       action      => WarnOnly;

  # Check cf-execd and schedule is in crontab


  "$(g.crontab)"
       edit_line => upgrade_cfexecd,
         classes => define("exec_fix");

processes:

  exec_fix::

    "cron" signals => { "hup" };


}

#######################################################

# General site issues can be in bundles like this one

#######################################################


bundle agent main

{
vars:

  "component" slist => { "cf-monitord", "cf-serverd" };

 # - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


files:

  "$(sys.resolv)"  # test on "/tmp/resolv.conf" #

     create        => "true",
     edit_line     => resolver,
     edit_defaults => def;

 # Uncomment this to perform a change-detection scan


 #  "/usr"

 #     changes      => lay_trip_wire,

 #     depth_search => recurse("inf"),

 #     action       => measure;


processes:

  "cfenvd"             signals => { "term" };

 # Uncomment this when you are ready to upgrade the server

 #

 #  "cfservd"             signals => { "term" };

 #


 # Now make sure the new parts are running, cf-serverd will fail if

 # the old server is still running


  "$(component)" restart_class => canonify("start_$(component)");

 # - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


commands:

   "$(sys.workdir)/bin/$(component)"

       ifvarclass => canonify("start_$(component)");

}

This section takes a backup of a user home directory. This is especially useful for a single laptop or personal workstation that does not have a regular external backup. If a user deletes a file by accident, this shadow backup might contain the file even while travelling offline.

#######################################################

# Backup

#######################################################


bundle agent backup
{
files:

  "/home/backup"

     copy_from => cp("/home/mark"),
  depth_search => recurse("inf"),
   file_select => exclude_files,
        action => longjob;

}

#######################################################

# Garbage collection issues

#######################################################


bundle agent garbage_collection
{
files:

  "$(sys.workdir)/outputs"

    delete => tidy,
    file_select => days_old("3"),
    depth_search => recurse("inf");


}

###########################################################


body file_select OldCf2Files
{
leaf_name => {
             "promises\.cf",
             "site\.cf",
             "library\.cf",
             "failsafe\.cf",
             ".*\.txt",
             ".*\.html",
             ".*~",
             "#.*"
             };

file_result => "!leaf_name";
}

###########################################################


body action measure
{
measurement_class => "Detect Changes in /usr";
ifelapsed => "240";	# 4 hours
expireafter => "240";	# 4 hours
}

Some basic anomaly detection: we respond with simple warnings if resource anomalies are detected.

#######################################################
# Anomaly monitoring

#######################################################


bundle agent anomalies
{
reports:

rootprocs_high_dev2::

   "RootProc anomaly high 2 dev on $(mon.host) at $(mon.env_time)
    measured value $(mon.value_rootprocs) av $(mon.av_rootprocs)
    pm $(mon.dev_rootprocs)"

      showstate => { "rootprocs" };

entropy_www_in_high&anomaly_hosts.www_in_high_anomaly::

   "HIGH ENTROPY Incoming www anomaly high anomaly dev!!
    on $(mon.host) at $(mon.env_time)
    - measured value $(mon.value_www_in)
    av $(mon.av_www_in) pm $(mon.dev_www_in)"

      showstate => { "incoming.www" };

 entropy_www_in_low.anomaly_hosts.www_in_high_anomaly::

   "LOW ENTROPY Incoming www anomaly high anomaly dev!!
    on $(mon.host) at $(mon.env_time)
     - measured value $(svalue_www_in)
    av $(av_www_in) pm $(dev_www_in)"

     showstate => { "incoming.www" };

entropy_tcpsyn_in_low.anomaly_hosts.tcpsyn_in_high_dev2::

   "Anomalous number of new TCP connections on $(mon.host)
    at $(mon.env_time)
    - measured value $(mon.value_tcpsyn_in)
    av $(mon.av_tcpsyn_in) pm $(mon.dev_tcpsyn_in)"

     showstate => { "incoming.tcpsyn" };

 entropy_dns_in_low.anomaly_hosts.dns_in_high_anomaly::

   "Anomalous (3dev) incoming DNS packets on $(mon.host)
    at $(mon.env_time) - measured value $(mon.value_dns_in)
    av $(av_dns_in) pm $(mon.dev_dns_in)"

     showstate => { "incoming.dns" };

 entropy_dns_in_low.anomaly_hosts.udp_in_high_dev2::

   "Anomalous (2dev) incoming (non-DNS) UDP traffic
    on $(mon.host) at $(mon.env_time) - measured value
    $(mon.value_udp_in) av $(mon.av_udp_in) pm $(mon.dev_udp_in)"

     showstate => { "incoming.udp" };

 anomaly_hosts.icmp_in_high_anomaly.!entropy_icmp_in_high::

   "Anomalous low entropy (3dev) incoming ICMP traffic
    on $(mon.host) at $(mon.env_time) - measured value $(mon.value_icmp_in)
    av $(mon.av_icmp_in) pm $(mon.dev_icmp_in)"

     showstate => { "incoming.icmp" };
}

Server access rules are a touchy business. In an enterprise setting you generally want every host to allow a monitoring host to be able to download data, and a backup host to be able to access important data on every host. On a laptop or personal workstation, there might not be any reason to run a server for external use; however you might configure it as below to allow localhost access for testing.

#######################################################

# Server configuration

#######################################################


bundle server access_rules()
{
access:

  "/home/mark/test_area"

    admit   => { "127.0.0.1" };

  # Rule for cf-runagent


  "/home/mark/.cfagent/bin/cf-agent"

    admit   => { "127.0.0.1" };

# New in cf3 - RBAC with cf-runagent


roles:

  ".*"  authorize => { "mark" };
}


Next: , Previous: site.cf, Up: A complete configuration

4.3 update.cf

This file should rarely if ever change. Should you ever change it (or when you upgrade CFEngine), take special care to ensure the old and the new CFEngine can parse and execute this file successfully. If not, you risk losing control of your system (that is, if CFEngine cannot successfully execute this set of promises, it has no mechanism for distributing new policy files).

By default, the policy defined in update.cf is executed from two sets of promise bodies. The “usual” one (defined in the bundlesequence in promises.cf) and another in the backup/failsafe bundlesequence (defined in failsafe.cf).

#########################################################
#

# update.cf

#

#########################################################


bundle agent update
{
vars:

 "master_location" string => "/your/master/cfengine-inputs";

files:

  # Update the configuration


  "/var/cfengine/inputs"

    perms => system("600"),
    copy_from => mycopy("$(master_location)","localhost"),
    depth_search => recurse("inf"),
    action => immediate;

  # Update the software cache


  "/var/cfengine/bin"

    perms => system("700"),
    copy_from => mycopy("/usr/local/sbin","localhost"),
    depth_search => recurse("inf"),
    action => immediate;
}

############################################


body perms system(p)

{
mode  => "$(p)";
}

############################################


body file_select cf3_files

{
leaf_name => { "cf-.*" };

file_result => "leaf_name";
}

#########################################################


body copy_from mycopy(from,server)

{
source      => "$(from)";
compare     => "digest";
}

#########################################################


body action immediate
{
ifelapsed => "1";
}


Next: , Previous: update.cf, Up: A complete configuration

4.4 failsafe.cf

This file should probably never change. The only job of failsafe.cf is to execute the update bundle in a “standalone” context should there be a syntax error somewhere in the main set of promises. In this way, if a client machine's policies are ever corrupted after downloading erroneous policy from a server, that client will have a failsafe method for downloading a corrected policy once it becomes available on the server. Note that by “corrupted” and “erroneous” we typically mean “broken via administrator error” - mistakes happen, and the failsafe.cf file is CFEngine's way of being prepared for that eventuality.

If you ever change failsafe.cf (or when you upgrade CFEngine), make sure the old and the new CFEngine can successfully parse and execute this file. If not, you risk losing control of your system (that is, if CFEngine cannot successfully execute this policy file, it has no failsafe/fallback mechanism for distributing new policy files).

#########################################################
#

# Failsafe file

#

#########################################################


body common control

{
bundlesequence => { "update" };

inputs => { "update.cf" };
}

############################################


body depth_search recurse(d)

{
depth => "$(d)";
}


Next: , Previous: failsafe.cf, Up: A complete configuration

4.5 What should a failsafe and update file contain?

The failsafe.cf file is to make sure that your system can upgrade gracefully to new versions even when mistakes are made.

As a general rule:

A CFEngine configuration will fail-over to the failsafe.cf configuration if it is unable to read or parse the contents successfully. That means that any syntax errors you introduce (or any new features you utilize in a configuration) will cause a fail-over, because the parser will not be able to interpret the policy. If the failover is due to the use of new features, they will not parse until the software itself has been updated (so we recommend that you always update CFEngine before updating policy to use new features). If you accidentally cause a bad (i.e., unparseable) policy to be distributed to client machines, the failsafe.cf policy on those machines will run (and will eventually download a working policy, once you fix it on the policy host).


Next: , Previous: What should a failsafe or update file contain, Up: A complete configuration

4.6 Recovery from errors in the configuration

The failsafe.cf file should be able to download the latest master configuration from source always.

#######################################################

#

# failsafe.cf

#

#######################################################


body common control

{
bundlesequence => { "update" };
}

#########################################################


bundle agent update
{
files:

  "/var/cfengine/inputs"

    perms => system,
    copy_from => mycopy("/home/mark/cfengine-inputs","localhost"),
    file_select => cf3_files,
    depth_search => recurse("inf");

  "/var/cfengine/bin"

    perms => system,
    copy_from => mycopy("/usr/local/sbin","localhost"),
    file_select => cf3_files,
    depth_search => recurse("inf");

}

#########################################################


body perms system

{
mode  => "0700";
}

#########################################################


body depth_search recurse(d)

{
depth => "$(d)";
}

############################################


body file_select cf3_files

{
leaf_name => { "cf-.*" };

file_result => "leaf_name";
}

#########################################################


body copy_from mycopy(from,server)

{
source       => "$(from)";
servers      => { "$(server)" , "failover.domain.tld" };
#copy_backup => "true";

#trustkey    => "true";

encrypt      => "true";
}

If the copy_backup option is true, CFEngine will keep a single previous version of the file before copy, if the value is ‘timestamp’ CFEngine keeps time-stamped versions either in the location of the file, or in the file repository if one is defined. The trustkey option should normally be commented out so that public keys are only exchanged under controlled conditions.


Previous: Recovery from errors in the configuration, Up: A complete configuration

4.7 Recovery from errors in the software

The update should optionally include an update of software so that a single failover from a configuration that is `too new' for the software will still correct itself once the new software is available.

#######################################################

#

# update.cf

#

#######################################################


bundle agent update

{
files:

  "/var/cfengine/inputs"

    perms => system("600"),
    copy_from => mycopy("/home/mark/cfengine-inputs","localhost"),
    depth_search => recurse("inf");

  "/var/cfengine/bin"

    perms => system("700"),
    copy_from => mycopy("/usr/local/sbin","localhost"),
    file_select => cf3_files,
    depth_search => recurse("inf");

}

############################################


body perms system(p)

{
mode  => "$(p)";
}

############################################


body file_select cf3_files

{
leaf_name => { "cf-.*" };

file_result => "leaf_name";
}

#########################################################


body copy_from mycopy(from,server)

{
source      => "$(from)";
compare     => "digest";
}


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5 Control promises


While promises to configure your system are entirley user-defined, the details of the operational behaviour of the CFEngine software is of course hard-coded. You can still configure the details of this behaviour using the control promise bodies. Control behaviour is defined in bodies because the actual promises are fixed and you only change their details within sensible limits.

Note that in CFEngine's previous versions, the control part of the configuration contained a mixture of internal control parameters and user definitions. There is now a cleaner separation in CFEngine 3. User defined behaviour requires a promise, and must therefore be defined in a bundle.

Below is a list of the control parameters for the different components (Agents and Daemons2) of the CFEngine software.


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5.1 common control promises


     
     body common control
     
     {
     inputs  => {
                "update.cf",
                "library.cf"
                };
     
     bundlesequence  => {
                        update("policy_host.domain.tld"),
                        "main",
                        "cfengine2"
                        };
     
     output_prefix => "cfengine>";
     version => "1.2.3";
     }
     


The common control body refers to those promises that are hard-coded into all the components of CFEngine, and therefore affect the behaviour of all the components.


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5.1.1 bundlesequence

Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: List of promise bundles to verify in order

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => {
                   update("policy_host.domain.tld"),
                   "main",
                   "cfengine2"
                   };
}

Notes:

The bundlesequence determines which of the compiled bundles will be executed and in what order they will be executed. The list refers to the names of bundles (which might be parameterized function-like objects).

The order in which you execute bundles can affect the outcome of your promises. In general you should always define variables before you use them.

The bundlesequence is like a genetic makeup of a machine. The bundles act like characteristics of the systems. If you want different systems to have different bundlesequences, distinguish them with classes:

webservers::

  bundlesequence => { "main", "web" };

others::

  bundlesequence => { "main", "otherstuff" };

If you want to add a basic common sequence to all sequences, then use global variable lists to do this:

body common control
{
webservers::

  bundlesequence => { @(g.bs), "web" };

others::

  bundlesequence => { @(g.bs), "otherstuff" };

}

bundle common g
{
vars:

  "bs" slist => { "main", "basic_stuff" }; 
}

Default value:

There is no default value for bundlesequence, and the absence of a bundlesequence will cause a compilation error. A bundlesequence may also be specified using the -b or --bundlesequence command line option.


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5.1.2 goal_categories

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of context names that represent parent categories for goals (goal patterns)

Example:

body common control
{
goal_categories => { "goals", "targets", "milestones" };
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5, Nova 2.1 Constellation 1.0 (2011)

Goal categories are the parent classes used when searching for goals in the knowledge map. This is mostly for internal use in the Knowledge Map, but is a generic part of policy so it appears in the common body.


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5.1.3 goal_patterns

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of regular expressions that match promisees/topics considered to be organizational goals

Example:

body common control
{
goal_patterns => { "goal_.*", "target.*" };
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0 (2011)

Used as identifier to mark business and organizational goals in commercial versions of CFEngine. CFEngine uses this to match promisees that represent business goals in promises.


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5.1.4 ignore_missing_bundles

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: If any bundles in the bundlesequence do not exist, ignore and continue

Example:

ignore_missing_bundles => "true";

Notes:

This authorizes the bundlesequence to contain possibly existent pluggable modules. It defaults to false, whereupon undefined bundles cause a fatal error in parsing, and a transition to failsafe mode.


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5.1.5 ignore_missing_inputs

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: If any input files do not exist, ignore and continue

Example:

ignore_missing_inputs => "true";

Notes:

The inputs lists determines which files are parsed by CFEngine. Normally stringent security checks are made on input files to prevent abuse of the system by unauthorized users. Sometimes however, it is appropriate to consider the automatic plug-in of modules that might or might not exist. This option permits CFEngine to list possible files that might not exist and continue `best effort' with those that do exist. The default of all Booleans is false, so the normal behaviour is to signal an error if an input is not found.


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5.1.6 inputs

Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: List of additional filenames to parse for promises

Example:

body common control
{
inputs  => {
           "update.cf",
           "library.cf"
           };
}

Notes:

The filenames specified are all assumed to be in the same directory as the file which references them (this is usually $(sys.workdir)/inputs, but may be overridden by the -f or --file command line option.

Default value:

There is no default value. If no filenames are specified, no other filenames will be included in the compilation process.


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5.1.7 version

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Scalar version string for this configuration

Example:

body common control
{
version => "1.2.3";
}

Notes:

The version string is used in error messages and reports.

This string should not contain the colon ‘:’ character, as this has a special meaning in the context of knowledge management. This restriction might be lifted later.


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5.1.8 lastseenexpireafter

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: One week

Synopsis: Number of minutes after which last-seen entries are purged

Example:

body common control
{
lastseenexpireafter => "72";
}

Notes:

Default time is one week.


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5.1.9 output_prefix

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The string prefix for standard output

Example:

body common control
{
output_prefix => "my_cf3";
}

Notes:

On native Windows versions of CFEngine (Nova and above), this string is also prefixed messages in the event log.


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5.1.10 domain

Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Specify the domain name for this host

Example:

body common control
{
domain => "example.org";
}

Notes:

There is no standard, universal or reliable way of determining the DNS domain name of a host, so it can be set explicitly to simplify discovery and name-lookup.


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5.1.11 require_comments

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: Warn about promises that do not have comment documentation

Example:

body common control

{
common::

require_comments => "true";
}

Notes:

This may be used as a policy Quality Assurance measure, to remind policy makers to properly document their promises. When true, cf-promises will report loudly on promises that do not have comments. Variables promises are exempted from this rule, since they may be considered self-documenting.


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5.1.12 host_licenses_paid

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 0

Synopsis: The number of licenses that you promise to have paid for by setting this value (legally binding for commercial license)

Example:

body common control
{
host_licenses_paid => "1000";
}

Notes:

Licensees of the commercial CFEngine releases have to make a promise in acceptance of contract terms by setting this value to the number of licenses they have paid for. This is tallied with the number of licenses granted. This declaration should be placed in all separate configuration files, e.g. failsafe.cf, promises.cf.


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5.1.13 site_classes

Type: clist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_!&@@$|.()\[\]{}]+

Synopsis: A list of classes that will represent geographical site locations for hosts. These should be defined elsewhere in the configuration in a classes promise.

Example:

body common control
{
site_classes => { "datacenters","datacentres"  }; # locations is by default
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.2.0, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

This list is used to match against topics when connecting inferences about host locations in the knowledge map. Normally any CFEngine classes promise whose name is defined as a thing or topic under class locations:: will be assumed to be a location defining classifier. This list will add alternative class contexts for interpreting location.


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5.1.14 syslog_host

Type: string

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}.:-]+

Default value: 514

Synopsis: The name or address of a host to which syslog messages should be sent directly by UDP

Example:

body common control
{
syslog_host => "syslog.example.org";
syslog_port => "514";
}

Notes:

The hostname or IP address of a local syslog service to which all CFEngine's components may promise to send data. This feature is provided in CFEngine Nova and above.


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5.1.15 syslog_port

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: The port number of a UDP syslog service

Example:

body common control
{
syslog_host => "syslog.example.org";
syslog_port => "514";
}

Notes:

The UDP port of a local syslog service to which all CFEngine's components may promise to send data. This feature is provided in CFEngine Nova and above.


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5.1.16 fips_mode

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: Activate full FIPS mode restrictions

Example:

body common control
{
fips_mode => "true";
}

Notes:

Appears as of Nova 2.0. If CFEngine commercial editions this value may be set to avoid the use of old deprecated algorithms that are no longer FIPS 140-2 compliant. If not set, there is some degree of compatibility with older versions and algorithms. During an upgrade, setting this parameter can cause a lot of recomputation of checksums etc. Government bodies starting with Nova 2.0 or higher should set this to ‘true’ from the start.


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5.2 agent control promises


     
     body agent control
     {
     123_456_789::
     
       domain => "mydomain.com";
     
     123_456_789_111::
     
       auditing => "true";
     
     any::
     
       fullencryption => "true";
     
     }
     


Settings describing the details of the fixed behavioural promises made by cf-agent.


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5.2.1 abortclasses

Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: A list of classes which if defined lead to termination of cf-agent

Example:

body agent control

  {
  abortclasses => { "danger.*", "should_not_continue" };
  }

Notes:

A list of class regular expressions that cf-agent will watch out for. If any matching class becomes defined, it will cause the current execution of cf-agent to be aborted. This may be used for validation, for example. To handle class expressions, simply create an alias for the expression with a single name.


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5.2.2 abortbundleclasses

Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: A list of classes which if defined lead to termination of current bundle

Example:

This example shows how to use the feature to validate input to a method bundle.

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "testbundle"  };
version => "1.2.3";
}

###########################################


body agent control

{
abortbundleclasses => { "invalid.*" };
}

###########################################


bundle agent testbundle
{
vars:

 "userlist" slist => { "xyz", "mark", "jeang", "jonhenrik", "thomas", "eben" };

methods:

 "any" usebundle => subtest("$(userlist)");

}

###########################################


bundle agent subtest(user)

{
classes:

  "invalid" not => regcmp("[a-z]{4}","$(user)");

reports:

 !invalid::

  "User name $(user) is valid at exactly 4 letters";

 # abortbundleclasses will prevent this from being evaluated

 invalid::

  "User name $(user) is invalid";
}

Notes:

A list of regular expressions for classes, or class expressions that cf-agent will watch out for. If any of these classes becomes defined, it will cause the current bundle to be aborted. This may be used for validation, for example.


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5.2.3 addclasses

Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: A list of classes to be defined always in the current context

Example:

Add classes adds global, literal classes. The only predicates available during the control section are hard-classes.

any::

  addclasses => { "My_Organization" }

solaris::

  addclasses => { "some_solaris_alive", "running_on_sunshine" };


Notes:

Another place to make global aliases for system hardclasses. Classes here are added unqeuivocally to the system. If classes are used to predicate definition, then they must be defined in terms of global hard classes.


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5.2.4 agentaccess

Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: A list of user names allowed to execute cf-agent

Example:

 agentaccess => { "mark", "root", "sudo" };

Notes:

A list of user names that will be allowed to attempt execution of the current configuration. This is mainly a sanity check rather than a security measure.


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5.2.5 agentfacility

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               LOG_USER
               LOG_DAEMON
               LOG_LOCAL0
               LOG_LOCAL1
               LOG_LOCAL2
               LOG_LOCAL3
               LOG_LOCAL4
               LOG_LOCAL5
               LOG_LOCAL6
               LOG_LOCAL7

Default value: LOG_USER

Synopsis: The syslog facility for cf-agent

Example:

agentfacility => "LOG_USER";

Notes:

Sets the agent's syslog facility level. See the manual pages for syslog. This is ignored on Windows, as CFEngine Nova creates event logs.


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5.2.6 allclassesreport

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Synopsis: Generate allclasses.txt report

Example:

body common control
{
allclassesreport => "true";
}

Notes:

This option determines whether state/allclasses.txt file is written to disk during agent execution. This functionality is retained only for CFEngine 2 compatibility as more convenient facilities exist in CFEngine 3 language to achieve similar results.

This option is turned off by default.

History: Was introduced in 3.2.0, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)


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5.2.7 alwaysvalidate

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Synopsis: true/false flag to determine whether configurations will always be checked before executing, or only after updates

Example:

body agent control
{
Min00_05::

  # revalidate once per hour, regardless of change in configuration


  alwaysvalidate => "true";
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.2,Nova 2.0.1 (2010)

The agents cf-agent, and cfserverd etc can run cf-promises to validate inputs before attempting to execute a configuration. As of version 3.1.2 core, this only happens if the configuration file has changed to save CPU cycles. When this attribute is set, cf-agent will force a revalidation of the input.


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5.2.8 auditing

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false flag to activate the cf-agent audit log

Example:

body agent control
{
auditing  => "true";
}

Notes:

If this is set, CFEngine will perform auditing on promises in the current configuration. This means that all details surrounding the verification of the current promise will be recorded in the audit database. The database may be inspected with cf-report, or cfshow in CFEngine 2.


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5.2.9 binarypaddingchar

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Default value: space (ASC=32)

Synopsis: Character used to pad unequal replacements in binary editing

Example:

body agent control
{
binarypaddingchar => "#";
}

Notes:

When editing binary files, it can be dangerous to replace a text string with one that is longer or shorter as byte references and jumps would be destroyed. CFEngine will therefore not allow replacements that are larger in size than the original, but shorter strings can be padded out to the same length.

Default value:

The binarypaddingchar defaults to the empty string (i.e., no padding)


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5.2.10 bindtointerface

Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Use this interface for outgoing connections

Example:

bindtointerface => "192.168.1.1";

Notes:

On multi-homed hosts, the server and client can bind to a specific interface for server traffic. The IP address of the interface must be given as the argument, not the device name.


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5.2.11 hashupdates

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false whether stored hashes are updated when change is detected in source

Example:

body agent control
{
hashupdates => "true";
}

Notes:

If ‘true’ the stored reference value is updated as soon as a warning message has been given. As most changes are benign (package updates etc) this is a common setting.


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5.2.12 childlibpath

Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: LD_LIBRARY_PATH for child processes

Example:

body agent control
{
childlibpath => "/usr/lcoal/lib:/usr/local/gnu/lib";
}

Notes:

This string may be used to set the internal LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment of the agent.


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5.2.13 checksum_alert_time

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,60

Default value: 10 mins

Synopsis: The persistence time for the checksum_alert class

Example:

body agent control
{
checksum_alert_time => "30";
}

Notes:

When checksum changes trigger an alert, this is registered as a persistent class. This value determines the longevity of that class.


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5.2.14 defaultcopytype

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               mtime
               atime
               ctime
               digest
               hash
               binary

Synopsis: ctime or mtime differ

Example:

body agent control
{
#...

defaultcopytype => "digest";
}

Notes:

Sets the global default policy for comparing source and image in copy transactions.


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5.2.15 dryrun

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: All talk and no action mode

Example:

body agent control
{
dryrun => "true";
}

Notes:

If set in the configuration, CFEngine makes no changes to a system, only reports what it needs to do.


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5.2.16 editbinaryfilesize

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 100000

Synopsis: Integer limit on maximum binary file size to be edited

Example:

body agent control
{
edibinaryfilesize => "10M";
}

Notes:

The global setting for the file-editing safety-net for binary files (this value may be overridden on a per-promise basis with max_file_size, See edit_defaults in files. The default value for editbinaryfilesize is 100k. Note the use of special units is allowed, See Datatypes in CFEngine 3, for a list of permissible suffixes.

When setting limits, the limit on editing binary files should generally be set higher than for text files.


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5.2.17 editfilesize

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 100000

Synopsis: Integer limit on maximum text file size to be edited

Example:

body agent control
{
editfilesize => "120k";
}

Notes:

The global setting for the file-editing safety-net (this value may be overridden on a per-promise basis with max_file_size, See edit_defaults in files. Note the use of special units is allowed, See Datatypes in CFEngine 3, for a list of permissible suffixes.


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5.2.18 environment

Type: slist

Allowed input range: [A-Za-z0-9_]+=.*

Synopsis: List of environment variables to be inherited by children

Example:

body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "one" };
}

body agent control
{
environment => { "A=123", "B=456", "PGK_PATH=/tmp"};
}

bundle agent one
{
commands:

  "/usr/bin/env";
}

Notes:

This may be used to set the runtime environment of the agent process. The values of environment variables are inherited by child commands. Some interactive programs insist on values being set, e.g.

# Required by apt-cache, debian


environment => { "LANG=C"};


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5.2.19 exclamation

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: true

Synopsis: true/false print exclamation marks during security warnings

Example:

body agent control
{
exclamation => "false";
}

Notes:

This affects only the output format of warnings.


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5.2.20 expireafter

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 1 min

Synopsis: Global default for time before on-going promise repairs are interrupted

Example:

body action example
{
ifelapsed   => "120";	# 2 hours
expireafter => "240";	# 4 hours
}

Notes:

The locking time after which CFEngine will attempt to kill and restart its attempt to keep a promise.


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5.2.21 files_single_copy

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of filenames to be watched for multiple-source conflicts

Example:

body agent control
{
single_copy => { "/etc/.*", "/special/file" };
}

Notes:

This list of regular expressions will ensure that files matching the patterns of the list are never copied from more than one source during a single run of cf-agent. This may be considered a protection against accidential overlap of copies from diverse remote sources, or as a first-come-first-served disambiguation tool for lazy-evaluation of overlapping file-copy promises.


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5.2.22 files_auto_define

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of filenames to define classes if copied

Example:

body agent control
{
files_auto_define => { "/etc/syslog\.c.*", "/etc/passwd" };
}

Notes:

Classes are automatically defined by the files that are copied. The file is named according to the prefixed `canonization' of the file name. Canonization means that non-identifier characters are converted into underscores. Thus /etc/passwd would canonize to ‘_etc_passwd’. The prefix ‘auto_’ is added to clarify the origin of the class. Thus in the example the copying of /etc/passwd would lead to the class ‘auto__etc_passwd’ being defined automatically.


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5.2.23 hostnamekeys

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false label ppkeys by hostname not IP address

Example:

body server control
{
hostnamekeys => "true";
}

Notes:

Client side choice to base key associations on host names rather than IP address. This is useful for hosts with dynamic addresses.

This feature has been deprecated since 3.1.0. Host identification is now handled transparently.


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5.2.24 ifelapsed

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 1

Synopsis: Global default for time that must elapse before promise will be rechecked

Example:

#local


body action example
{
ifelapsed   => "120";	# 2 hours
expireafter => "240";	# 4 hours
}

# global


body agent control
{
ifelapsed   => "180";	# 3 hours
}

Notes:

This overrides the global settings. Promises which take a long time to verify should usually be protected with a long value for this parameter. This serves as a resource `spam' protection. A CFEngine check could easily run every 5 minutes provided resource intensive operations are not performed on every run. Using time classes like Hr12 etc., is one part of this strategy; using ifelapsed is another which is not tied to a specific time.


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5.2.25 inform

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false set inform level default

Example:

body agent control
{
inform => "true";
}

Notes:

Equivalent to (and when present, overrides) the command line option ‘-I’. Sets the default output level `permanently' within the class context indicated.

Every promiser makes an implicit default promise to use output settings declared using outputs promises.


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5.2.26 intermittency

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false store detailed recordings of last observed time for all client-server connections for reliability assessment

Example:

reports:

  "Comment"

    intermittency => "0.5";

Notes:

Report on CFEngine peers in the neighbourhood watch whose observed irregularity of connection exceeds 0.5 scaled entropy units, meaning that they show an erratic pattern of connection.


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5.2.27 max_children

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 1 concurrent agent promise

Synopsis: Maximum number of background tasks that should be allowed concurrently

Example:

body runagent control
{
max_children => "10";
}

# or


body agent control
{
max_children => "10";
}

Notes:

For the run-agent this represents the maximum number of forked background processes allowed when parallelizing connections to servers. For the agent it represents the number of background jobs allowed concurrently. Background jobs often lead to contention of the disk resources slowing down tasks considerably; there is thus a law of diminishing returns.


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5.2.28 maxconnections

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 30 remote queries

Synopsis: Maximum number of outgoing connections to cf-serverd

Example:

# client side 


body agent control
{
maxconnections => "1000";
}

# server side


body server control
{
maxconnections => "1000";
}

Notes:

Watch out for kernel limitations for maximum numbers of open file descriptors which can limit this.


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5.2.29 mountfilesystems

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false mount any filesystems promised

Example:

body agent control
{
mountfilesystems => "true";
}

Notes:

Issues the generic command to mount file systems defined in the file system table.


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5.2.30 nonalphanumfiles

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false warn about filenames with no alphanumeric content

Example:

body agent control
{
nonalphanumfiles => "true";
}

Notes:

This test is applied in all recursive/depth searches.


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5.2.31 repchar

Type: string

Allowed input range: .

Default value: _

Synopsis: The character used to canonize pathnames in the file repository

Example:

body agent control
{
repchar => "_";
}

Notes:


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5.2.32 refresh_processes

Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: Reload the process table before verifying the bundles named in this list (lazy evaluation)

Example:

body agent control
{
refresh_processes => { "mybundle" };
#refresh_processes => { "none" };

}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.3,Nova 2.0.2 (2010)

If this list of regular expressions is non-null and an existing bundle is mentioned or matched in this list, CFEngine will reload the process table at the start of the named bundle, each time is is scheduled. If the list is null, the process list will be reloaded at the start of every scheduled bundle.

In the example above we use a non-empty list with the name `none'. This is not a reserved word, but as long as there are no bundles with the name `none' this has the effect of never reloading the process table. This keeps improves the efficiency of the agent.


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5.2.33 default_repository

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Default value: in situ

Synopsis: Path to the default file repository

Example:

body agent control
{
default_repository => "/var/cfengine/repository";
}

Notes:

If defined the default repository is the location where versions of files altered by CFEngine are stored. This should be understood in relation to the policy for ‘backup’ in copying, editing etc. If the backups are time-stamped, this becomes effective a version control repository. See also repository for a way to locally override the global repository.

Note that when a repository is specified, the files are stored using the canonified directory name of the original file, concatenated with the name of the file. So, for example, /usr/local/etc/postfix.conf would ordinarily be stored in an alternative repository as _usr_local_etc_postfix.conf.cfsaved.


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5.2.34 secureinput

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false check whether input files are writable by unauthorized users

Example:

body agent control
{
secureinput => "true";
}

Notes:

If this is set, the agent will not accept an input file that is not owned by a privileged user.


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5.2.35 sensiblecount

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 2 files

Synopsis: Minimum number of files a mounted filesystem is expected to have

Example:

body agent control
{
sensiblecount => "20";
}

Notes:


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5.2.36 sensiblesize

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 1000 bytes

Synopsis: Minimum number of bytes a mounted filesystem is expected to have

Example:

body agent control
{
sensiblesize => "20K";
}

Notes:


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5.2.37 skipidentify

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: Do not send IP/name during server connection because address resolution is broken

Example:

body agent control
{
skipidentify => "true";
}

Notes:

Hosts that are not registered in DNS cannot supply reasonable credentials for a secondary confirmation of their identity to a CFEngine server. This causes the agent to ignore its missing DNS credentials.


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5.2.38 suspiciousnames

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of names to warn about if found during any file search

Example:

body agent control
{
suspiciousnames => { ".mo", "lrk3", "rootkit" };
}

Notes:

If CFEngine sees these names during recursive (depth) file searches it will warn about them.


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5.2.39 syslog

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false switches on output to syslog at the inform level

Example:

body agent control
{
syslog => "true";
}

Notes:


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5.2.40 track_value

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false switches on tracking of promise valuation

Example:

body agent control
{
track_value => "true";
}

Notes:

If this is true, CFEngine generates a log in WORKDIR/state/cf_value.log of the estmated `business value' of the system automation as a running log, value_kept, etc. The format of the file is

date,sum value kept,sum value repaired,sum value notkept


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5.2.41 timezone

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of allowed timezones this machine must comply with

Example:

body agent control
{
timezone => { "MET", "CET", "GMT+1" };
}

Notes:


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5.2.42 default_timeout

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 10 seconds

Synopsis: Maximum time a network connection should attempt to connect

Example:

body agent control
{
default_timeout => "10";
}

Notes:

The time is in seconds. It is not a guaranteed number, since it depends on system behaviour. under Linux, the kernel version plays a role, since not all system calls seem to respect the signals.


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5.2.43 verbose

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false switches on verbose standard output

Example:

body agent control
{
verbose => "true";
}

Notes:

Equivalent to (and when present, overrides) the command line option ‘-v’. Sets the default output level `permanently' for this promise.

Every promiser makes an implicit default promise to use output settings declared using outputs promises.


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5.3 server control promises


     
     body server control
     
     {
     allowconnects         => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" ,  ".*\.example\.org" };
     allowallconnects      => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" ,  ".*\.example\.org" };
     
     # Uncomment me under controlled circumstances
     #trustkeysfrom         => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" ,  ".*\.example\.org" };
     }
     


Settings describing the details of the fixed behavioural promises made by cf-serverd. Server controls are mainly about determining access policy for the connection protocol: i.e. access to the server itself. Access to specific files must be granted in addition.


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5.3.1 allowallconnects

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of IPs or hostnames that may have more than one connection to the server port

Example:

allowallconnects      => { 
                         "127.0.0.1", 
                         "::1", 
                         "200\.1\.10\..*", 
                         "host\.domain\.tld", 
                         "host[0-9]+\.domain\.com" 
                         };

Notes:

This list of regular expressions matches hosts that are allowed to connect an umlimited number of times up to the maximum connection limit. Without this, a host may only connect once (which is a very strong constraint, as the host must wait for the TCP FIN_WAIT to expire before reconnection can be attempted).

In CFEngine 2 this corresponds to AllowMultipleConnectionsFrom.

Note that 127.0.0.1 is a regular expression (i.e., “127 any character 0 any character 0 any character 1”), but this will only match the IP address 127.0.0.1. Take care with IP addresses and domain names, as the hostname regular expression www.domain.com will potentially match more than one hostname (e.g., wwwxdomain.com, in addition to the desired hostname www.domain.com).


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5.3.2 allowconnects

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of IPs or hostnames that may connect to the server port

Example:

allowconnects         => { 
                         "127.0.0.1", 
                         "::1", 
                         "200\.1\.10\..*", 
                         "host\.domain\.tld", 
                         "host[0-9]+\.domain\.com" 
                         };

Notes:

If a client's identity matches an entry in this list it is granted to permission to send data to the server port. Clients who are not in this list may not connect or send data to the server.

See also the warning about regular expressions in allowallconnects.


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5.3.3 allowusers

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of usernames who may execute requests from this server

Example:

allowusers => { "cfengine", "root" };

Notes:

The usernames listed in this list are those asserted as public key identities during client-server connections. These may or may not correspond to system identities on the server-side system.


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5.3.4 auditing

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false activate auditing of server connections

Example:

body agent control
{
auditing  => "true";
}

Notes:

If this is set, CFEngine will perform auditing on promises in the current configuration. This means that all details surrounding the verification of the current promise will be recorded in the audit database. The database may be inspected with cf-report, or cfshow in CFEngine 2.


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5.3.5 bindtointerface

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: IP of the interface to which the server should bind on multi-homed hosts

Example:

bindtointerface => "192.168.1.1";

Notes:

On multi-homed hosts, the server and client can bind to a specific interface for server traffic. The IP address of the interface must be given as the argument, not the device name.


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5.3.6 cfruncommand

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Path to the cf-agent command or cf-execd wrapper for remote execution

Example:

body server control

{
cfruncommand => "/var/cfengine/bin/cf-agent";
}


Notes:

It is normal for this to point to the location of cf-agent but it could also point to the cf-execd, or even another program or shell command at your own risk.


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5.3.7 denybadclocks

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: true

Synopsis: true/false accept connections from hosts with clocks that are out of sync

Example:

body server control
{
#..

denybadclocks => "true";
}

Notes:

A possible form of attack on the fileserver is to request files based on time by setting the clocks incorrectly. This option prevents connections from clients whose clocks are drifting too far from the server clock (where "too far" is currently defined as "more than an hour off"). This serves as a warning about clock asynchronization and also a protection against Denial of Service attempts based on clock corruption.


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5.3.8 denyconnects

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of IPs or hostnames that may NOT connect to the server port

Example:

body server control
{
denyconnects => { "badhost\.domain\.evil", "host3\.domain\.com" };
}

Notes:

Hosts or IP addresses that are explicitly denied access. This should only be used in special circumstances. One should never grant generic access to everything and then deny special cases. Since the default server behaviour is to grant no access to anything, this list is unnecessary unless you have already granted access to some set of hosts using a generic pattern, to which you intend to make an exception.

See also the warning about regular expressions in allowallconnects.


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5.3.9 dynamicaddresses

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of IPs or hostnames for which the IP/name binding is expected to change

Example:

body server control
{
dynamicaddresses => { "dhcp_.*" };
}

Notes:

The addresses or hostnames here are expected to have non-permanent address-name bindings, we must therefor work harder to determine whether hosts credentials are trusted by looking for existing public keys in files that do not match the current hostname or IP.

This feature has been deprecated since 3.1.0. This is now handled transparently.


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5.3.10 hostnamekeys

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false store keys using hostname lookup instead of IP addresses

Example:

body server control
{
hostnamekeys => "true";
}

Notes:

Client side choice to base key associations on host names rather than IP address. This is useful for hosts with dynamic addresses.

This feature has been deprecated since 3.1.0. Host identification is now handled transparently.


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5.3.11 keycacheTTL

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 24

Synopsis: Maximum number of hours to hold public keys in the cache

Example:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0b1,Nova 2.0.0b1 (2010)

body server control
{
keycacheTTL => "24";
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0b1,Nova 2.0.0b1 (2010)


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5.3.12 logallconnections

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false causes the server to log all new connections to syslog

Example:

body server control
{
logallconnections => "true";
}

Notes:

If set, the server will record connection attempts in syslog.


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5.3.13 logencryptedtransfers

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false log all successful transfers required to be encrypted

Example:

body server control
{
logencryptedtransfers => "true";
}

Notes:

If true the server will log all transfers of files which the server requires to encrypted in order to grant access (see ifencrypted) to syslog. These files are deemed to be particularly sensitive.


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5.3.14 maxconnections

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 30 remote queries

Synopsis: Maximum number of connections that will be accepted by cf-serverd

Example:

# client side 


body agent control
{
maxconnections => "1000";
}

# server side


body server control
{
maxconnections => "1000";
}

Notes:

Watch out for kernel limitations for maximum numbers of open file descriptors which can limit this.


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5.3.15 port

Type: int

Allowed input range: 1024,99999

Default value: 5308

Synopsis: Default port for cfengine server

Example:

body hub control
{
port => "5308";
}

body server control
{
specialhost::
 port => "5308";

!specialhost::
 port => "5308";
}

Notes:

The standard or registered port number is tcp/5308. CFEngine does not presently use its registered udp port with the same number, but this could change in the future.

Changing the standard port number is not recommended practice. You should not do it without a good reason.


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5.3.16 serverfacility

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               LOG_USER
               LOG_DAEMON
               LOG_LOCAL0
               LOG_LOCAL1
               LOG_LOCAL2
               LOG_LOCAL3
               LOG_LOCAL4
               LOG_LOCAL5
               LOG_LOCAL6
               LOG_LOCAL7

Default value: LOG_USER

Synopsis: Menu option for syslog facility level

Example:

body server control
{
serverfacility => "LOG_USER";
}

Notes:

See syslog notes.


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5.3.17 skipverify

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of IPs or hostnames for which we expect no DNS binding and cannot verify

Example:

body server control
{
skipverify => { "special_host.*", "192.168\..*" };
}

Notes:

Server side decision to ignore requirements of DNS identity confirmation.

See also the warning about regular expressions in allowallconnects.


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5.3.18 trustkeysfrom

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of IPs from whom we accept public keys on trust

Example:

body server control
{
trustkeysfrom => { "10\.0\.1\.1", "192\.168\..*"};
}

Notes:

If connecting clients' public keys have not already been trusted, this allows us to say `yes' to accepting the keys on trust. Normally this should be an empty list except in controlled circumstances.

See also the warning about regular expressions in allowallconnects.


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5.4 monitor control promises


     
     body monitor control()
        {
        #version => "1.2.3.4";
     
        threshold => "0.3";
        forgetrate => "0.7";
        tcpdump => "false";
        tcpdumpcommand => "/usr/sbin/tcpdump -i eth1 -n -t -v";
     
        }
     


Settings describing the details of the fixed behavioural promises made by cf-monitord. The system defaults will be sufficient for most users. This configurability potential, however, will be a key to developing the integrated monitoring capabilities of CFEngine.


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5.4.1 forgetrate

Type: real

Allowed input range: 0,1

Default value: 0.6

Synopsis: Decimal fraction [0,1] weighting of new values over old in 2d-average computation

Example:

body monitor control
{
threshold => "0.3";
forgetrate => "0.7";
}

Notes:

Configurable settings for the machine-learning algorithm that tracks system behaviour. This is only for expert users. This parameter effectively determines (together with the monitoring rate) how quickly CFEngine forgets its previous history.


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5.4.2 monitorfacility

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               LOG_USER
               LOG_DAEMON
               LOG_LOCAL0
               LOG_LOCAL1
               LOG_LOCAL2
               LOG_LOCAL3
               LOG_LOCAL4
               LOG_LOCAL5
               LOG_LOCAL6
               LOG_LOCAL7

Default value: LOG_USER

Synopsis: Menu option for syslog facility

Example:

body monitor control
{
monitorfacility => "LOG_USER";
}

Notes:

See notes for syslog.


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5.4.3 histograms

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: true

Synopsis: Ignored, kept for backward compatibility

Example:

body monitor control
{
histograms => "true";
}

Notes:

cf-monitord now always keeps histograms information, so this option is a no-op kept for backward compatibility. It used to cause CFEngine to learn the conformally transformed distributions of fluctuations about the mean.


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5.4.4 tcpdump

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false use tcpdump if found

Example:

body monitor control
{
tcpdump => "true";
}

Notes:

Interface with TCP stream if possible.


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5.4.5 tcpdumpcommand

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Path to the tcpdump command on this system

Example:

body monitor control
{
tcpdumpcommand => "/usr/sbin/tcpdump -i eth1";
}

Notes:

If this is defined, the monitor will try to interface with the TCP stream and monitor generic package categories for anomalies.


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5.5 runagent control promises


     
     body runagent control
     {
     # default port is 5308
     
     hosts => { "127.0.0.1:5308", "eternity.iu.hio.no:80", "slogans.iu.hio.no" };
     
     #output_to_file => "true";
     }
     


Settings describing the details of the fixed behavioural promises made by cf-runagent. The most important parameter here is the list of hosts that the agent will poll for connections. This is easily read in from a file list, however when doing so always have a stable input source that does not depend on the network (including a database or directory service) in any way: introducing such dependencies makes configuration brittle.


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5.5.1 hosts

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of host or IP addresses to attempt connection with

Example:

body runagent control
{
network1::
  hosts => { "host1.example.org", "host2", "host3" };

network2::
  hosts => { "host1.example.com", "host2", "host3" };
}

Notes:

The complete list of contactable hosts. The values may be either numerical IP addresses or DNS names, optionally suffixed by a ‘:’ and a port number. If no port number is given, the default CFEngine port 5308 is assumed.


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5.5.2 port

Type: int

Allowed input range: 1024,99999

Default value: 5308

Synopsis: Default port for cfengine server

Example:

body hub control
{
port => "5308";
}

body server control
{
specialhost::
 port => "5308";

!specialhost::
 port => "5308";
}

Notes:

The standard or registered port number is tcp/5308. CFEngine does not presently use its registered udp port with the same number, but this could change in the future.

Changing the standard port number is not recommended practice. You should not do it without a good reason.


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5.5.3 force_ipv4

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false force use of ipv4 in connection

Example:

body copy_from example
{
force_ipv4 => "true";
}

Notes:

IPv6 should be harmless to most users unless you have a partially or misconfigured setup.


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5.5.4 trustkey

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false automatically accept all keys on trust from servers

Example:

body copy_from example
{
trustkey => "true";
}

Notes:

If the server's public key has not already been trusted, this allows us to accept the key in automated key-exchange.

Note that, as a simple security precaution, trustkey should normally be set to ‘false’, to avoid key exchange with a server one is not one hundred percent sure about, though the risks for a client are rather low. On the server-side however, trust is often granted to many clients or to a whole network in which possibly unauthorized parties might be able to obtain an IP address, thus the trust issue is most important on the server side.

As soon as a public key has been exchanged, the trust option has no effect. A machine that has been trusted remains trusted until its key is manually revoked by a system administrator. Keys are stored in WORKDIR/ppkeys.


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5.5.5 encrypt

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false encrypt connections with servers

Example:

body copy_from example
{
servers  => { "remote-host.example.org" };
encrypt => "true";
}

Notes:

Client connections are encrypted with using a Blowfish randomly generated session key. The intial connection is encrypted using the public/private keys for the client and server hosts.


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5.5.6 background_children

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false parallelize connections to servers

Example:

body runagent control
{
background_children => "true";
}

Notes:

Causes the runagent to attempt parallelized connections to the servers.


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5.5.7 max_children

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 50 runagents

Synopsis: Maximum number of simultaneous connections to attempt

Example:

body runagent control
{
max_children => "10";
}

# or


body agent control
{
max_children => "10";
}

Notes:

For the run-agent this represents the maximum number of forked background processes allowed when parallelizing connections to servers. For the agent it represents the number of background jobs allowed concurrently. Background jobs often lead to contention of the disk resources slowing down tasks considerably; there is thus a law of diminishing returns.


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5.5.8 output_to_file

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false whether to send collected output to file(s)

Example:

body runagent control
{
output_to_file => "true";
}

Notes:

Filenames are chosen automatically and placed in the WORKDIR/outputs/hostname_runagent.out.


Next: , Previous: output_to_file in runagent, Up: control runagent

5.5.9 output_directory

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Directory where the output is stored

Example:

body runagent control
{
output_directory => "/tmp/run_output";
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.2.0, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

Defines the location for parallelized output to be saved when running cf-runagent in parallel mode.


Previous: output_directory in runagent, Up: control runagent

5.5.10 timeout

Type: int

Allowed input range: 1,9999

Synopsis: Connection timeout, sec

Example:

body agent control
{
timeout => "10";
}

Notes:

Timeout in seconds.


Next: , Previous: control runagent, Up: Control Promises

5.6 executor control promises


     
     body executor control
     
     {
     splaytime  => "5";
     mailto     => "cfengine@example.org";
     mailfrom   => "cfengine@$(host).example.org";
     smtpserver => "localhost";
     schedule   => { "Min00_05", "Min30_35" }
     }
     


These body settings determine the behaviour of cf-execd, including scheduling times and output capture to WORKDIR/outputs and relay via email. Note that the splaytime and schedule parameters are now coded here rather than (as previously) in the agent.


Next: , Previous: control executor, Up: control executor

5.6.1 splaytime

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Default value: 0

Synopsis: Time in minutes to splay this host based on its name hash

Example:

body executor control
{
splaytime => "2";
}

Notes:

Whenever any class listed in the schedule attribute is present, cf-execd can schedule an execution of cf-agent. The actual execution will be delayed an integer number of seconds between 0-splaytime minutes. The specific amount of delay for “this” host is based on a hash of the hostname. Thus a collection of hosts will all execute at different times, and surges in network traffic can be avoided.

A rough rule of thumb for scaling of small updates is set the splay time between 1-5 minutes for up a few thousand hosts. The splaytime should not be set to a value larger than the cf-execd scheduling interval, else multiple clients might contend for data.

Default value:

The default value is 0 minutes.

See also: The splayclass() function for a task-specific means for setting splay times.


Next: , Previous: splaytime in executor, Up: control executor

5.6.2 mailfrom

Type: string

Allowed input range: .*@.*

Synopsis: Email-address cfengine mail appears to come from

Example:

body executor control
{
mailfrom => "mrcfengine@example.org";
}

Notes:


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5.6.3 mailto

Type: string

Allowed input range: .*@.*

Synopsis: Email-address cfengine mail is sent to

Example:

body executor control
{
mailto => "cfengine_alias@example.org";
}

Notes:

The address to whom email is sent if an smtp host is configured.


Next: , Previous: mailto in executor, Up: control executor

5.6.4 smtpserver

Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Name or IP of a willing smtp server for sending email

Example:

body executor control
{
smtpserver => "smtp.example.org";
}

Notes:

This should point to a standard port 25 server without encyption. If you are running secured or encrypted email then you should run a mail relay on localhost and point this to localhost.


Next: , Previous: smtpserver in executor, Up: control executor

5.6.5 mailmaxlines

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,1000

Default value: 30

Synopsis: Maximum number of lines of output to send by email

Example:

body executor control
{
mailmaxlines => "100";
}

Notes:

This limit prevents anomalously large outputs from clogging up a system administrator's mailbox. The output is truncated in the email report, but the complete original transcript is stored in WORKDIR/outputs/* where it can be viewed on demand. A reference to the appropriate file is given.


Next: , Previous: mailmaxlines in executor, Up: control executor

5.6.6 schedule

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The class schedule used by cf-execd for activating cf-agent

Example:

body executor control
{
schedule => { "Min00", "(Evening|Night).Min15_20", "Min30", "(Evening|Night).Min45_50" };
}

Notes:

The list should contain class expressions comprised of classes which are visible to the cf-execd daemon. In principle, any defined class expression will cause the daemon to wake up and schedule the execution of the cf-agent. In practice, the classes listed in the list are usually date- and time-based.

The actual execution of cf-agent may be delayed by splaytime, and may be deferred by promise caching and the value of ifelapsed. Note also that the effectiveness of the splayclass function may be affected by changing the schedule.

Default value:

schedule => { "Min00", "Min05", "Min10", "Min15", "Min20", "Min25",
	      "Min30", "Min35", "Min40", "Min45", "Min50", "Min55" };


Next: , Previous: schedule in executor, Up: control executor

5.6.7 executorfacility

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               LOG_USER
               LOG_DAEMON
               LOG_LOCAL0
               LOG_LOCAL1
               LOG_LOCAL2
               LOG_LOCAL3
               LOG_LOCAL4
               LOG_LOCAL5
               LOG_LOCAL6
               LOG_LOCAL7

Default value: LOG_USER

Synopsis: Menu option for syslog facility level

Example:

body executor control
{
executorfacility => "LOG_USER";
}

Notes:

See the syslog manual pages.


Previous: executorfacility in executor, Up: control executor

5.6.8 exec_command

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: The full path and command to the executable run by default (overriding builtin)

Example:

exec_command => "$(sys.workdir)/bin/cf-agent -f failsafe.cf && $(sys.workdir)/bin/cf-agent";

Notes:

The command is run in a shell encapsulation so pipes and shell symbols may be used if desired. Unlike, CFEngine 2, CFEngine 3 does not automatically run a separate update sequence before its normal run. This can be handled using the approach in the example above.


Next: , Previous: control executor, Up: Control Promises

5.7 knowledge control promises


     
     body knowledge control
     
     {
     query_output    => "html";
     goal_categories => { "goals", "targets", "milestones" };
     goal_patterns   => { "goal_.*", "target.*" };
     }
     


Settings describing the details of the fixed behavioural promises made by cf-know. These parameters control the way in which knowledge data are stored and retrieved from a relational database and the output format of the queries.


Next: , Previous: control knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.1 build_directory

Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Default value: Current working directory

Synopsis: The directory in which to generate output files

Example:

body knowledge control

{
#..

build_directory => "/tmp/builddir";
}

body reporter control

{
#..

build_directory => "/tmp/builddir";
}

Notes:

The directory where all auto-generated textual output is placed by cf-report. This includes manual generation, ontology and topic map data.


Next: , Previous: build_directory in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.2 document_root

Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: The directory in which the web root resides

Example:

body knowledge control

{
document_root => "/srv/www/htdocs";
}

Notes:

The local file path of the system's web document root.


Next: , Previous: document_root in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.3 generate_manual

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false generate texinfo manual page skeleton for this version

Example:

body knowledge control
{
generate_manual => "true";
}

Notes:

Auto-creates a manual based on the self-documented code. As the promise syntax is extended the manual self-heals. The resulting manual is generated in Texinfo format, from which all other formats can be generated.


Next: , Previous: generate_manual in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.4 graph_directory

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Path to directory where rendered .png files will be created

Example:

body knowledge control
{
graph_directory => "/tmp/output";
}

Notes:

A separate location where the potentially large number of .png visualizations of a knowledge representation are pre-compiled. This feature only works if the necessary graphics libraries are present.


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5.7.5 graph_output

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Synopsis: true/false generate png visualization of topic map if possible (requires lib)

Example:

body knowledge control

{
# fix/override -g option

graph_output => "true"; 
}

Notes:

Equivalent to the use of the ‘-g’ option for cf-know.


Next: , Previous: graph_output in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.6 html_banner

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: HTML code for a banner to be added to rendered in html after the header

Example:

body knowledge control
{
html_banner => "<img src=\"http://www.example.org/img/banner.png\">";
}

body reporter control
{
html_banner => "<img src=\"http://www.example.org/img/banner.png\">";
}

Notes:

This content is cited when generating HTML output from the knowledge agent.


Next: , Previous: html_banner in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.7 html_footer

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: HTML code for a page footer to be added to rendered in html before the end body tag

Example:

body reporter control
{
html_footer => "
               <div id=\"footer\">Bottom of the page</div>
               ";
}

body knowledge control
{
html_footer => "
               <div id=\"footer\">Bottom of the page</div>
               ";
}

Notes:

This allows us to cite HTML code for formatting reports generated by the reporting and knowledge agents.


Next: , Previous: html_footer in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.8 id_prefix

Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: The LTM identifier prefix used to label topic maps (used for disambiguation in merging)

Example:

body knowledge control
{
id_prefix => "unique_prefix";
}

Notes:

Use to disambiguate indentifiers for a successful merging of topic maps, especially in Linear Topic Map (LTM) format using third party tools such as Ontopia's Omnigator.


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5.7.9 manual_source_directory

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Path to directory where raw text about manual topics is found (defaults to build_directory)

Example:

body knowledge control
{
manual_source => "/path/cfengine_manual_commentary";
}

Notes:

This is used in the self-healing documentation. The directory points to a location where the Texinfo sources for per-section commentary is maintained.


Next: , Previous: manual_source_directory in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.10 query_engine

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Name of a dynamic web-page used to accept and drive queries in a browser

Example:

body knowledge control
{
query_engine => "http://www.example.org/script.php";
}

body reporter control
{
query_engine => "http://www.example.org/script.pl";
}

Notes:

When displaying topic maps in HTML format, cf-know will render each topic as a link to this URL with the new topic as an argument. Thus it is possible to make a dynamic web query by embedding CFEngine in the web page as system call and passing the argument to it.


Next: , Previous: query_engine in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.11 query_output

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               html
               text

Synopsis: Menu option for generated output format

Example:

body knowledge control
{
query_output => "html";
}

Notes:


Next: , Previous: query_output in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.12 sql_type

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               mysql
               postgres

Synopsis: Menu option for supported database type

Example:

body knowledge control
{
sql_type => "mysql";
}

Notes:


Next: , Previous: sql_type in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.13 sql_database

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Name of database used for the topic map

Example:

body knowledge control
{
sql_database => "cfengine_knowledge_db";
}

Notes:

The name of an SQL database for caching knowledge.


Next: , Previous: sql_database in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.14 sql_owner

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: User id of sql database user

Example:

body knowledge control
{
sql_owner => "db_owner";
}

Notes:

Part of the credentials for opening the database. This depends on the type of database.


Next: , Previous: sql_owner in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.15 sql_passwd

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Embedded password for accessing sql database

Example:

body knowledge control
{
sql_passwd => "";
}

Notes:

Part of the credentials for connecting to the database server. This is system dependent. If the server host is localhost a password might not be required.


Next: , Previous: sql_passwd in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.16 sql_server

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Name or IP of database server (or localhost)

Example:

body knowledge control
{
sql_server => "localhost";
}

Notes:

The host name of IP address of the server. The default is to look on the localhost.


Next: , Previous: sql_server in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.17 sql_connection_db

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The name of an existing database to connect to in order to create/manage other databases

Example:

body knowledge control
{
sql_connection_db => "mysql";
}

Notes:

In order to create a database on a database server (all of which practice voluntary cooperation), one has to be able to connect to the server, however, without an existing database this is not allowed. Thus, database servers provide a default database that can be connected to in order to thereafter create new databases. These are called postgres and mysql for their respective database servers.

For the knowledge agent, this setting is made in the control body, for database verification promises, it is made in the database_server body.


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5.7.18 style_sheet

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Name of a style-sheet to be used in rendering html output (added to headers)

Example:

body knowledge control
{
style_sheet => "http://www.example.org/css/sheet.css";
}

body reporter control
{
style_sheet => "http://www.example.org/css/sheet.css";
}

Notes:

For formatting the HTML generated output of cf-know.


Next: , Previous: style_sheet in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.19 view_projections

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: Perform view-projection analytics in graph generation

Example:

body knowledge control
{
view_projections => "true";
}

Notes:

If this is set to true, CFEngine Nova computes additional graphical representations in its knowledge map, representing causal dependencies between CFEngine promises.


Previous: view_projections in knowledge, Up: control knowledge

5.7.20 generate_xml

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false generate xml format documentation for this version

Example:

History: Was introduced in 3.4.0a1.r4055, Nova 2.2.0.a1.r4049, Constellation 1.0.0a1.r354 (2012)

Fill me in
""

Notes:

History: Was introduced in 3.4.0a1.r4055, Nova 2.2.0.a1.r4049, Constellation 1.0.0a1.r354 (2012)

Fill me in
""


Next: , Previous: control knowledge, Up: Control Promises

5.8 reporter control promises


body reporter control
{
reports => { "performance", "last_seen", "monitor_history" };
build_directory => "/tmp/nerves";
report_output => "html";
}


Determines a list of reports to write into the build directory. The format may be in text, html or xml format. The reporter agent cf-report replaces both cfshow and cfenvgraph. It no longer produces output to the console.

Some reports are only available in enterprise level versions of CFEngine.


Next: , Previous: control reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.1 aggregation_point

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: The root directory of the data cache for CMDB aggregation

Example:

body reporter control
{
aggregation_point => "/srv/www/htdocs/reports";
}

Notes:

This feature is only used in enterprise level versions of CFEngine. It specifies the directory where reports from multiple hosts are to be aggregated in sub-directories. This should be somewhere under the document root of the web server for the CFEngine knowledge base in order to make the reports browsable.


Next: , Previous: aggregation_point in reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.2 auto_scaling

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: true

Synopsis: true/false whether to auto-scale graph output to optimize use of space

Example:

body reporter control
{
auto_scaling => "true";
}

Notes:

Automatic scaling is the default.


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5.8.3 build_directory

Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Default value: Current working directory

Synopsis: The directory in which to generate output files

Example:

body knowledge control

{
#..

build_directory => "/tmp/builddir";
}

body reporter control

{
#..

build_directory => "/tmp/builddir";
}

Notes:

The directory where all auto-generated textual output is placed by cf-report. This includes manual generation, ontology and topic map data.


Next: , Previous: build_directory in reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.4 csv2xml

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of csv formatted files in the build directory to convert to simple xml

Example:

body reporter control
{
csv2xml => { "myreport.csv", "custom_report.csv"  };
}

Notes:

CSV files are easy to generate in CFEngine from individual promise logging functions. XML is not easily generated due to its hierarchical structure. This function allows cf-report to convert a CSV file into pidgin XML for convenience. The schema has the general form:

<output>
 <line> <one>...</one> <two>...</two> ... </line>
 <line> <one>...</one> <two>...</two> ... </line>
</output>


Next: , Previous: csv2xml in reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.5 error_bars

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: true

Synopsis: true/false whether to generate error bars on graph output

Example:

body reporter control
{
error_bars => "true";
}

Notes:

The default is to produce error bars. Without error bars from CFEngine's machine learning data there is no way to assess the significance of an observation about the system, i.e. whether it is normal or anomalous.


Next: , Previous: error_bars in reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.6 html_banner

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: HTML code for a banner to be added to rendered in html after the header

Example:

body knowledge control
{
html_banner => "<img src=\"http://www.example.org/img/banner.png\">";
}

body reporter control
{
html_banner => "<img src=\"http://www.example.org/img/banner.png\">";
}

Notes:

This content is cited when generating HTML output from the knowledge agent.


Next: , Previous: html_banner in reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.7 html_embed

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Synopsis: If true, no header and footer tags will be added to html output

Example:

body reporter control
{
html_embed => "true";
}

Notes:

Embedded HTML means something that could be put into a frame or table, without html or body tags, headers footers etc.


Next: , Previous: html_embed in reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.8 html_footer

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: HTML code for a page footer to be added to rendered in html before the end body tag

Example:

body reporter control
{
html_footer => "
               <div id=\"footer\">Bottom of the page</div>
               ";
}

body knowledge control
{
html_footer => "
               <div id=\"footer\">Bottom of the page</div>
               ";
}

Notes:

This allows us to cite HTML code for formatting reports generated by the reporting and knowledge agents.


Next: , Previous: html_footer in reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.9 query_engine

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Name of a dynamic web-page used to accept and drive queries in a browser

Example:

body knowledge control
{
query_engine => "http://www.example.org/script.php";
}

body reporter control
{
query_engine => "http://www.example.org/script.pl";
}

Notes:

When displaying topic maps in HTML format, cf-know will render each topic as a link to this URL with the new topic as an argument. Thus it is possible to make a dynamic web query by embedding CFEngine in the web page as system call and passing the argument to it.


Next: , Previous: query_engine in reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.10 reports

Type: (option list)

Allowed input range:

               all
               audit
               performance
               all_locks
               active_locks
               hashes
               classes
               last_seen
               monitor_now
               monitor_history
               monitor_summary
               compliance
               setuid
               file_changes
               installed_software
               software_patches
               value
               variables

Default value: none

Synopsis: A list of reports that may be generated

Example:

body reporter control
{
reports => { "performance", "classes"  };
}

Notes:

A list of report types that can be generated by this agent. The listed items from compliance onward are available only Enterprise editions of CFEngine.

The keyword ‘all’ can be used to get all reports except the audit and locking reports. The latter are large and unwieldy and need specific confirmation.


Next: , Previous: reports in reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.11 report_output

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               csv
               html
               text
               xml

Default value: none

Synopsis: Menu option for generated output format. Applies only to text reports, graph data remain in xydy format.

Example:

body reporter control
{
report_output => "html";
}

Notes:

Sets the output format of embedded database reports.


Next: , Previous: report_output in reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.12 style_sheet

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Name of a style-sheet to be used in rendering html output (added to headers)

Example:

body knowledge control
{
style_sheet => "http://www.example.org/css/sheet.css";
}

body reporter control
{
style_sheet => "http://www.example.org/css/sheet.css";
}

Notes:

For formatting the HTML generated output of cf-know.


Previous: style_sheet in reporter, Up: control reporter

5.8.13 time_stamps

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false whether to generate timestamps in the output directory name

Example:

body reporter control
{
time_stamps => "true";
}

Notes:

This option is only necessary with the default build directory. This can be used to keep snapshots of the system but it will result in a lot of storage be consumed. For most purposes CFEngine is programmed to forget the past at a predictable rate and there is no need to override this.


Previous: control reporter, Up: Control Promises

5.9 hub control promises


body hub control
{
export_zenoss => "true";
}



Next: , Previous: control hub, Up: control hub

5.9.1 export_zenoss

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Synopsis: Make data available for Zenoss integration in docroot/reports/summary.z

Example:

body hub control
{
am_policy_hub::

  export_zenoss => "true";
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0b1,Nova 2.0.0b1 (2010)

For integration with the Zenoss monitoring software.


Next: , Previous: export_zenoss in hub, Up: control hub

5.9.2 federation

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The list of CFEngine servers supporting constellation integration with this hub

Example:

federation => { "host1", "host2" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in Constellation 1.0 (2011)


Next: , Previous: federation in hub, Up: control hub

5.9.3 exclude_hosts

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of IP addresses of hosts to exclude from report collection

Example:

body hub control
{
exclude_hosts => { "192.168.12.21", "10.10", "10.12.*" };
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in 3.3.0, Nova 2.1.1, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

In commercial CFEngine editions, this list of IP addresses will not be queried for reports by cf-hub, even though they are in the last-seen database.

The lists may contain network addresses in CIDR notation or regular expressions to match the IP address. However, host names are currently not supported.


Next: , Previous: exclude_hosts in hub, Up: control hub

5.9.4 hub_schedule

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The class schedule used by cf-hub for report collation

Example:

body hub control
{
hub_schedule => { "Min00", "Min30", "(Evening|Night).Min45_50" };
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0b1,Nova 2.0.0b1 (2010)


Previous: hub_schedule in hub, Up: control hub

5.9.5 port

Type: int

Allowed input range: 1024,99999

Default value: 5308

Synopsis: Default port for contacting hub nodes

Example:

body hub control
{
port => "5308";
}

body server control
{
specialhost::
 port => "5308";

!specialhost::
 port => "5308";
}

Notes:

The standard or registered port number is tcp/5308. CFEngine does not presently use its registered udp port with the same number, but this could change in the future.

Changing the standard port number is not recommended practice. You should not do it without a good reason.


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6 Bundles of common


     
     bundle common globals
     {
     vars:
     
       "global_var" string => "value";
     
     classes:
     
       "global_class" expression => "value";
     }
     


Common bundles may only contain the promise types that are common to all bodies. Their main function is to define cross-component global definitions. Common bundles are observed by every agent, whereas the agent specific bundle types are ignored by components other than the intended recipient.


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6.1 vars promises


Whereas most promise types are specific to a particular kind of interpretation that requires a typed interpreter (the bundle type), a number of promises can be made in any kind of bundle since they are of a generic input/output nature. These are vars, classes, and reports promises. The specific promise attributes are listed below.


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6.1.1 string

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A scalar string

Example:

vars:

 "xxx"    string => "Some literal string...";

 "yyy"    string => readfile( "/home/mark/tmp/testfile" , "33" );

Notes:

In CFEngine previously lists were represented (as in the shell) using separted scalars, e.g. like the PATH variable. This design feature turned out to be an error of judgement which has resulted in much trouble. This is no longer supported in CFEngine 3. By keeping lists an independent type many limitations have been removed.


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6.1.2 int

Type: int

Allowed input range: -99999999999,9999999999

Synopsis: A scalar integer

Example:

vars:

 "scalar" int    => "16k";

 "ran"    int    => randomint(4,88);

 "dim_array" int =>  readstringarray("array_name","/etc/passwd","#[^\n]*",":",10,4000);

Notes:

Int variables are strings that are expected to be used as integer numbers. The typing in CFEngine is dynamic, so the variable types are interchangable, but when you declare a variable to be type int, CFEngine verifies that the value you assign to it looks like an integer (e.g., ‘3’, ‘-17’, ‘16K’, etc).

Integer values may use suffices ‘k’, ‘K’, ‘m’, ‘M’, etc., but must only have an integer numeric part (so ‘1.5M’ is not allowed).

k
The value multipled by 1000.
K
The value multipled by 1024.
m
The value multipled by 1000 * 1000.
M
The value multipled by 1024 * 1024.
g
The value multipled by 1000 * 1000 * 1000.
G
The value multipled by 1024 * 1024 * 1024.
%
A percentage between 1 and 100 - mainly for use in a storage context.

The value ‘inf’ may also be used to represent an unlimited positive value.


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6.1.3 real

Type: real

Allowed input range: -9.99999E100,9.99999E100

Synopsis: A scalar real number

Example:

vars:
   
 "scalar" real   => "0.5";

Notes:

Real variables are strings that are expected to be used as real numbers. The typing in CFEngine is dynamic, so the variable types are interchangable, but when you declare a variable to be type real, CFEngine verifies that the value you assign to it looks like a real number (e.g., ‘3’, ‘3.1415’, ‘.17’, ‘6.02e23’, ‘-9.21e-17’, etc).

Real numbers are not used in many places in CFEngine, but they are useful for representing probabilties and performance data.


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6.1.4 slist

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of scalar strings

Example:

vars:

 "xxx"    slist  => {  "literal1",  "literal2" };

 "yyy"    slist  => { 
                    readstringlist(
                                  "/home/mark/tmp/testlist",
                                  "#[a-zA-Z0-9 ]*",
                                  "[^a-zA-Z0-9]",
                                  15,
                                  4000
                                  ) 
                    };

 "zzz"    slist  => { readstringlist("/home/mark/tmp/testlist2","#[^\n]*",",",5,4000) };


Notes:

Some functions return slists (see Introduction to functions), and an slist may contain the values copied from another slist, rlist, or ilist (see List variable substitution and expansion, see policy in vars).


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6.1.5 ilist

Type: ilist

Allowed input range: -99999999999,9999999999

Synopsis: A list of integers

Example:

vars:

  "variable_id"

       ilist => { "10", "11", "12" };

Notes:

Integer lists are lists of strings that are expected to be treated as integers. The typing in CFEngine is dynamic, so the variable types are interchangable, but when you declare a variable to be type ilist, CFEngine verifies that each value you assign to it looks like an integer (e.g., ‘3’, ‘-17’, ‘16K’, etc).

Some functions return ilists (see Introduction to functions), and an ilist may contain the values copied from another slist, rlist, or ilist (see List variable substitution and expansion, see policy in vars).


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6.1.6 rlist

Type: rlist

Allowed input range: -9.99999E100,9.99999E100

Synopsis: A list of real numbers

Example:

vars:

  "varid" rlist => { "0.1", "0.2", "0.3" };

Notes:

Real lists are lists of strings that are expected to be used as real numbers. The typing in CFEngine is dynamic, so the variable types are interchangable, but when you declare a variable to be type rlist, CFEngine verifies that each value you assign to it looks like a real number (e.g., ‘3’, ‘3.1415’, ‘.17’, ‘6.02e23’, ‘-9.21e-17’, etc).

Some functions return rlists (see Introduction to functions), and an rlist may contain the values copied from another slist, rlist, or ilist (see List variable substitution and expansion, see policy in vars).


Previous: rlist in vars, Up: vars in common promises

6.1.7 policy

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               free
               overridable
               constant
               ifdefined

Synopsis: The policy for (dis)allowing (re)definition of variables

Example:

vars:

  "varid" string => "value...",
          policy => "constant";

Notes:

Variables can either be allowed to change their value dynamically (be redefined) or they can be constant. The use of private variable spaces in CFEngine 3 makes it unlikely that variable redefinition would be necessary in CFEngine 3.

The value constant indicates that the variable value may not be changed. The values free and overridable are synonymous, and indicated the the variable's value may be changed.

The value ifdefined applies only to lists and implies that unexpanded or undefined lists are dropped. The default behaviour is otherwise to retain this value as an indicator of the failure to quench the variable reference, e.g.

   
    "one" slist => { "1", "2", "3" };

   "list" slist => { "@(one)", @(two) },

            policy => "ifdefined";

would result in ‘@(list)’ being the same as ‘@(one)’, and the reference to ‘@(two)’ would disappear. This is useful for combining lists, `inheritance-style' where one can extend a base with special cases if they are defined.

Default value:

policy => constant


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6.2 classes promises


Whereas most promise types are specific to a particular kind of interpretation that requires a typed interpreter (the bundle type), a number of promises can be made in any kind of bundle since they are of a generic input/output nature. These are vars, classes, and reports promises. The specific promise attributes are listed below.


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6.2.1 and

Type: clist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_!&@@$|.()\[\]{}]+

Synopsis: Combine class sources with AND

Example:

classes:

  "compound_class" and => { classmatch("host[0-9].*"), "Monday", "Hr02" };

Notes:

If an expression contains a mixture of different object types that need to be ANDed together, this list form is more convenient than providing an expression. If all of the class expressions listed in the RHS match, then the class on the LHS is defined.


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6.2.2 dist

Type: rlist

Allowed input range: -9.99999E100,9.99999E100

Synopsis: Generate a probabilistic class distribution (from strategies in cfengine 2)

Example:

classes:

  "my_dist"  

    dist => { "10", "20", "40", "50" };

Notes:

Assign one generic class (always) and one additional class, randomly weighted on a probability distribution. The sum of 10+20+40+50 = 120 in the example above, so in generating a distribution, CFEngine picks a number between 1-120. This will generate the following classes:

     my_dist    (always)
     my_dist_10 (10/120 of the time)
     my_dist_20 (20/120 of the time)
     my_dist_40 (40/120 of the time)
     my_dist_50 (50/120 of the time)

This was previous called a ‘strategy’ in CFEngine 2.


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6.2.3 expression

Type: class

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_!&@@$|.()\[\]{}]+

Synopsis: Evaluate string expression of classes in normal form

Example:

classes:

  "class_name" expression => "solaris|(linux.specialclass)";
  "has_toor"   expression => userexists("toor");

Notes:

A way of aliasing class combinations.


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6.2.4 or

Type: clist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_!&@@$|.()\[\]{}]+

Synopsis: Combine class sources with inclusive OR

Example:

classes:

    "compound_test" 

      or => { classmatch("linux_x86_64_2_6_22.*"), "suse_10_3" };

Notes:

A useful construction for writing expressions that contain special functions. The class in the LHS will be defined if any one (or more) of the class expressions in the RHS are true.


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6.2.5 persistence

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Make the class persistent (cached) to avoid reevaluation

Example:

bundle common setclasses
{
classes:

  "cached_classes" 
                or => { "any" },
       persistence => "1";

  "cached_class" 
       expression => "any",
       persistence => "1";

}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in 3.4.0, Nova 2.2.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2012)

This feature can be used to avoid recomputing expensive classes calculations on each invocation. If a class discovered is essentially constant or only slowly varying (like a hostname or alias from a non-standard naming facility)

For example, to create a conditional inclusion of costly class definitions, put them into a separate bundle in a file classes.cf.

# promises.cf

body common control 
{
cached_classes::
  bundlesequence => { "test" };

!cached_classes::
  bundlesequence => {  "setclasses", "test" };

!cached_classes::
  inputs => { "classes.cf" };
}
 

bundle agent test
{
reports:

  !my_cached_class::
   "no cached class";

  my_cached_class::
    "cached class defined";
}
 
Then create classes.cf
# classes.cf

bundle common setclasses
{
classes:

  "cached_classes"            # timer flag 
         expression => "any",
        persistence => "480";

  "my_cached_class" 
                or => { ...long list or heavy function... } ,
       persistence => "480";

}


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6.2.6 not

Type: class

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_!&@@$|.()\[\]{}]+

Synopsis: Evaluate the negation of string expression in normal form

Example:

classes:

   "others"  not => "linux|solaris";
   "no_toor" not => userexists("toor");

Notes:

This negates the effect of the promiser-pattern regular expression. The class in the LHS will only be defined if the class expression in the RHS is false.


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6.2.7 select_class

Type: clist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_!&@@$|.()\[\]{}]+

Default value: random_selection

Synopsis: Select one of the named list of classes to define based on host identity

Example:

bundle common g
{
classes:
  "selection" select_class => { "one", "two" };

reports:
  one::
    "One was selected";
  two::
    "Two was selected";
  selection::
     "A selection was made";
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5, Nova 2.1.0 Constellation 1.0 (2011)

This feature is somewhat like the splayclass function, but instead of selecting a class for a moment in time, it always chooses one class in the list – the same class each time for a given host. This allows hosts to be distributed across a controlled list of classes, e.g for load balancing purposes.

The class is chosen deterministically (not randomly) but it is not possible to say which host will end up in which class in advance – only that hosts will always end up in the same class every time.


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6.2.8 xor

Type: clist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_!&@@$|.()\[\]{}]+

Synopsis: Combine class sources with XOR

Example:

classes:

 "another_global" xor => { "any", "linux", "solaris"};

Notes:

Behaves as the XOR operation on class expressions. It can be used to define a class if exactly one of the class expressions on the RHS matches.


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6.3 reports promises


Whereas most promise types are specific to a particular kind of interpretation that requires a typed interpreter (the bundle type), a number of promises can be made in any kind of bundle since they are of a generic input/output nature. These are vars, classes, and reports promises. The specific promise attributes are listed below.


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6.3.1 friend_pattern

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression to keep selected hosts from the friends report list

Example:

reports:

  linux::

   "Friend status report"

          lastseen => "0",
     friend_pattern => "host1|host2|.*\.domain\.tld";

Notes:

This regular expression should match hosts we want to exclude from friend reports.


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6.3.2 intermittency

Type: real

Allowed input range: 0,1

Default value: false

Synopsis: Real number threshold [0,1] of intermittency about current peers, report above

Example:

reports:

  "Comment"

    intermittency => "0.5";

Notes:

Report on CFEngine peers in the neighbourhood watch whose observed irregularity of connection exceeds 0.5 scaled entropy units, meaning that they show an erratic pattern of connection.


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6.3.3 lastseen

Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Integer time threshold in hours since current peers were last seen, report absence

Example:

In control:

body agent control
{
lastseen => "false";
}

See also in reports:

reports:

  "Comment"

    lastseen => "10";

Notes:

In reports: after this time (hours) has passed, CFEngine will begin to warn about the host being overdue. After the lastseenexpireafter expiry time, hosts will be purged from this host's database (default is a week).

In control: determines whether CFEngine will records last seen intermittency profiles (reliability diagnostics) in WORKDIR/lastseen. This generates a separate file for each each host that connects to the current host. For central hubs this can result is a huge number of files.


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6.3.4 printfile (body template)

Type: (ext body)

file_to_print
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Path name to the file that is to be sent to standard output

Example:

     
body printfile example
     {
     file_to_print   => "/etc/motd";
     number_of_lines => "10";
     }
     

Notes:

Include part of a file in a report.

number_of_lines
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Integer maximum number of lines to print from selected file

Example:

     
body printfile example
     {
     number_of_lines => "10";
     }
     

Notes:


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6.3.5 report_to_file

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: The path and filename to which output should be appended

Example:

bundle agent test
{
reports:

  linux::

   "$(sys.date),This is a report from $(sys.host)"

       report_to_file => "/tmp/test_log";
}

Notes:

Append the output of the report to the named file instead of standard output. If the file cannot be opened for writing then the report defaults to the standard output.


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6.3.6 showstate

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of services about which status reports should be reported to standard output

Example:

reports:

  "Comment"

    showstate => {"www_in", "ssh_out", "otherprocs" };

Notes:

The basic list of services is:

users
Users logged in
rootprocs
Privileged system processes
otherprocs
Non-privileged process
diskfree
Free disk on / partition
loadavg
% kernel load utilization
netbiosns_in
netbios name lookups (in)
netbiosns_out
netbios name lookups (out)
netbiosdgm_in
netbios name datagrams (in)
netbiosdgm_out
netbios name datagrams (out)
netbiosssn_in
netbios name sessions (in)
netbiosssn_out
netbios name sessions (out)
irc_in
IRC connections (in)
irc_out
IRC connections (out)
cfengine_in
CFEngine connections (in)
cfengine_out
CFEngine connections (out)
nfsd_in
nfs connections (in)
nfsd_out
nfs connections (out)
smtp_in
smtp connections (in)
smtp_out
smtp connections (out)
www_in
www connections (in)
www_out
www connections (out)
ftp_in
ftp connections (in)
ftp_out
ftp connections (out)
ssh_in
ssh connections (in)
ssh_out
ssh connections (out)
wwws_in
wwws connections (in)
wwws_out
wwws connections (out)
icmp_in
ICMP packets (in)
icmp_out
ICMP packets (out)
udp_in
UDP dgrams (in)
udp_out
UDP dgrams (out)
dns_in
DNS requests (in)
dns_out
DNS requests (out)
tcpsyn_in
TCP sessions (in)
tcpsyn_out
TCP sessions (out)
tcpack_in
TCP acks (in)
tcpack_out
TCP acks (out)
tcpfin_in
TCP finish (in)
tcpfin_out
TCP finish (out)
tcpmisc_in
TCP misc (in)
tcpmisc_out
TCP misc (out)
webaccess
Webserver hits
weberrors
Webserver errors
syslog
New log entries (Syslog)
messages
New log entries (messages)
temp0
CPU Temperature 0
temp1
CPU Temperature 1
temp2
CPU Temperature 2
temp3
CPU Temperature 3
cpu
%CPU utilization (all)
cpu0
%CPU utilization 0
cpu1
%CPU utilization 1
cpu2
%CPU utilization 2
cpu3
%CPU utilization 3


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6.4 * promises


Whereas most promise types are specific to a particular kind of interpretation that requires a typed interpreter (the bundle type), a number of promises can be made in any kind of bundle since they are of a generic input/output nature. These are vars, classes, and reports promises. The specific promise attributes are listed below.


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6.4.1 action (body template)

Type: (ext body)

action_policy
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    fix
                    warn
                    nop

Synopsis: Whether to repair or report about non-kept promises

Example:

The following example shows a simple use of transaction control, causing the promise to be verified as a separate background process.

     
body action background
     
     {
     action_policy => "warn";
     }
     

Notes:

The action settings allow general transaction control to be implemented on promise verification. Action bodies place limits on how often to verify the promise and what classes to raise in the case that the promise can or cannot be kept.

Note that actions can be added to sub-bundles like methods and editing bundles, and that promises within these do not inherit action settings at higher levels. Thus, in the following example there are two levels of action setting:

     ########################################################
     #

     # Warn if line matched

     #

     ########################################################

     
     body common control
     
     {
     bundlesequence  => { "testbundle" };
     }
     
     ########################################################

     
bundle agent testbundle
     
     {
     files:
     
       "/var/cfengine/inputs/.*"
     
            edit_line => DeleteLinesMatching(".*cfenvd.*"),
            action => WarnOnly;
     }
     
     ########################################################

     
bundle edit_line DeleteLinesMatching(regex)
       {
       delete_lines:
     
         "$(regex)" action => WarnOnly;
     
       }
     
     ########################################################

     
body action WarnOnly
     {
     action_policy => "warn";
     }

The action setting for the files promise means that file edits will not be committed to disk, only warned about. This is a master-level promise that overrides anything that happens during the editing. The action setting for the edit bundle means that the internal memory modelling of the file will only warn about changes rather than committing them to the memory model. This makes little difference to the end result, but it means that CFEngine will report

          Need to delete line - ... - but only a warning was promised

Instead of

          Deleting the prpomised line ...
          Need to save file - but only a warning was promised

In either case, no changes will be made to the disk, but the messages given by cf-agent will differ.

ifelapsed
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Number of minutes before next allowed assessment of promise

Default value: control body value

Example:

     
     #local

     
body action example
     {
     ifelapsed   => "120";	# 2 hours
     expireafter => "240";	# 4 hours
     }
     
     # global

     
body agent control
     {
     ifelapsed   => "180";	# 3 hours
     }
     

Notes:

This overrides the global settings. Promises which take a long time to verify should usually be protected with a long value for this parameter. This serves as a resource `spam' protection. A CFEngine check could easily run every 5 minutes provided resource intensive operations are not performed on every run. Using time classes like Hr12 etc., is one part of this strategy; using ifelapsed is another which is not tied to a specific time.

expireafter
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Number of minutes before a repair action is interrupted and retried

Default value: control body value

Example:

     body action example
     {
     ifelapsed   => "120";	# 2 hours
     expireafter => "240";	# 4 hours
     }

Notes:

The locking time after which CFEngine will attempt to kill and restart its attempt to keep a promise.

log_string
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A message to be written to the log when a promise verification leads to a repair

Example:

          
          promise-type:
          
           "promiser"
          
             attr => "value",
             action => log_me("checked $(this.promiser) in promise $(this.handle)");
          
          # ..
          
          body action log_me(s)
          {
          log_string => "$(s)";
          }
          

Notes:

The log_string works together with log_repair, log_kept etc, to define a string for logging to one of the named files depending on promise outcome, or to standard output of the log file is stipulared as ‘stdout’. Log strings on standard output are denoted by an ‘L:’ prefix.

Note that log_string does not interact with log_level, which is about regular system output messages.

Hint: the promise handle ‘$(this.handle)’ can be a useful referent in a log message, indicating the origin of the message. In CFEngine Nova and above, every promise has a default handle (which is based o the filename and line number - specifying your own handle will probably be more mnemonic)..

log_level
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    inform
                    verbose
                    error
                    log

Synopsis: The reporting level sent to syslog

Example:

     
body action example
     {
     log_level => "inform";
     }
     

Notes:

Use this as an alternative to auditing to use the syslog mechanism to centralize or manage messaging from CFEngine. A backup of these messages will still be kept in WORKDIR/outputs if you are using cf-execd.

On native Windows version of CFEngine (Nova or above), using ‘verbose’ will include a message when the promise is kept or repaired in the event log.

log_kept
Type: string

Allowed input range: stdout|udp_syslog|("?[a-zA-Z]:\\.*)|(/.*)

Synopsis: This should be filename of a file to which log_string will be saved, if undefined it goes to the system logger

Example:

     
body action logme(x)
     {
     log_kept => "/tmp/private_keptlog.log";
     log_failed => "/tmp/private_faillog.log";
     log_repaired => "/tmp/private_replog.log";
     log_string => "$(sys.date) $(x) promise status";
     }
     

Notes:

If this option is specified together with log_string, the current promise will log promise-kept status using the log string to this named file. If these log names are absent, the default logging destination for the log string is syslog, but only for non-kept promises. Only the log_string is affected by this setting. Other messages destined for logging are sent to syslog.

It is intended that named file logs should be different for the three cases: promise kept, promise not kept and promise repaired.

This string should be the full path to a text file which will contain the log, of one of the following special values:

stdout
Send the log message to the standard output, prefixed with an ‘L:’ to indicate a log message.
udp_syslog
Attempt to connect to the syslog_server defined in ‘body common control’ and log the message there, assuming the server is configured to receive the request.

log_priority
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    emergency
                    alert
                    critical
                    error
                    warning
                    notice
                    info
                    debug

Synopsis: The priority level of the log message, as interpreted by a syslog server

Example:

     body action low_priority
     {
     log_priority => "info";
     }

Notes:

This determines the importance of messages from CFEngine.

log_repaired
Type: string

Allowed input range: stdout|udp_syslog|("?[a-zA-Z]:\\.*)|(/.*)

Synopsis: This should be filename of a file to which log_string will be saved, if undefined it goes to the system logger

Example:

     
bundle agent test
     {
     vars:
     
       "software" slist => { "/root/xyz", "/tmp/xyz" };
     
     files:
     
       "$(software)"
     
         create => "true",
          action => logme("$(software)");
     
     }
     
body action logme(x)
     {
     log_kept => "/tmp/private_keptlog.log";
     log_failed => "/tmp/private_faillog.log";
     log_repaired => "/tmp/private_replog.log";
     log_string => "$(sys.date) $(x) promise status";
     }
     
body action immediate_syslog(x)
     {
     log_repaired => "udp_syslog"; # Nova and above 
     log_string => "CFEngine repaired promise $(this.handle) - $(x)";
     }

Notes:

This may be the name of a log to which the log_string is written if a promise is repaired. It should be the full path to a text file which will contain the log, of one of the following special values:

stdout
Send the log message to the standard output, prefixed with an ‘L:’ to indicate a log message.
udp_syslog
Attempt to connect to the syslog_server defined in ‘body common control’ and log the message there, assuming the server is configured to receive the request.

log_failed
Type: string

Allowed input range: stdout|udp_syslog|("?[a-zA-Z]:\\.*)|(/.*)

Synopsis: This should be filename of a file to which log_string will be saved, if undefined it goes to the system logger

Example:

     
bundle agent test
     {
     vars:
     
       "software" slist => { "/root/xyz", "/tmp/xyz" };
     
     files:
     
       "$(software)"
     
         create => "true",
          action => logme("$(software)");
     
     }
     
     
body action logme(x)
     {
     log_kept => "/tmp/private_keptlog.log";
     log_failed => "/tmp/private_faillog.log";
     log_repaired => "/tmp/private_replog.log";
     log_string => "$(sys.date) $(x) promise status";
     }
     

Notes:

If this option is specified together with log_string, the current promise will log promise-kept status using the log string to this named file. If these log names are absent, the default logging destination for the log string is syslog, but only for non-kept promises. Only the log_string is affected by this setting. Other messages destined for logging are sent to syslog.

It is intended that named file logs should be different for the three cases: promise kept, promise not kept and promise repaired. This string should be the full path to a text file which will contain the log, of one of the following special values:

stdout
Send the log message to the standard output, prefixed with an ‘L:’ to indicate a log message.
udp_syslog
Attempt to connect to the syslog_server defined in ‘body common control’ and log the message there, assuming the server is configured to receive the request.

value_kept
Type: real

Allowed input range: -9.99999E100,9.99999E100

Synopsis: A real number value attributed to keeping this promise

Example:

     
body action mydef
     {
     value_kept     => "4.5";   # this promise is worth 4.5 dollars per hour
     value_repaired => "2.5";   # fixing this promise is worth 2.5 dollars per hour
     value_notkept  => "-10.0"; # not keeping this promise costs is 10 dollars per hour
     ifelapsed       => "60";   # one hour
     }
     

Notes:

If nothing is specified, the default value is +1.0. However, nothing is logged unless the agent control body switched on ‘track_value => "true"’.

value_repaired
Type: real

Allowed input range: -9.99999E100,9.99999E100

Synopsis: A real number value attributed to reparing this promise

Example:

     
body action mydef
     {
     value_kept     => "4.5";   # this promise is worth 4.5 dollars per hour
     value_repaired => "2.5";   # fixing this promise is worth 2.5 dollars per hour
     value_notkept  => "-10.0"; # not keeping this promise costs is 10 dollars per hour
     ifelapsed       => "60";   # one hour
     }
     

Notes:

If nothing is specified, the default value is 0.5. However, nothing is logged unless the agent control body switched on ‘track_value => "true"’.

value_notkept
Type: real

Allowed input range: -9.99999E100,9.99999E100

Synopsis: A real number value (possibly negative) attributed to not keeping this promise

Example:

     
body action mydef
     {
     value_kept     => "4.5";   # this promise is worth 4.5 dollars per hour
     value_repaired => "2.5";   # fixing this promise is worth 2.5 dollars per hour
     value_notkept  => "-10.0"; # not keeping this promise costs is 10 dollars per hour
     ifelapsed       => "60";   # one hour
     }
     

Notes:

If nothing is specified, the default value is -1.0. However, nothing is logged unless the agent control body switched on ‘track_value => "true"’.

audit
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false switch for detailed audit records of this promise

Default value: false

Example:

     
body action example
     {
     # ...

     
     audit => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

If this is set, CFEngine will perform auditing on this specific promise. This means that all details surrounding the verification of the current promise will be recorded in the audit database. The database may be inspected with cf-report, or cfshow in CFEngine 2.

background
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false switch for parallelizing the promise repair

Default value: false

Example:

     
body action example
     {
     background => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

If possible, perform the verification of the current promise in the background. This is advantageous only if the verification might take a significant amount of time, e.g. in remote copying of filesystem/disk scans.

On the windows version of CFEngine Nova, this can be useful if we don't want to wait for a particular command to finish execution before checking the next promise. This is particular for the windows platform because there is no way that a program can start itself in the background here (i.e. fork off a child process). However, file operations can not be performed in the background on windows.

report_level
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    inform
                    verbose
                    error
                    log

Synopsis: The reporting level for standard output for this promise

Default value: none

Example:

     
body action example
     {
     report_level => "verbose";
     }
     

Notes:

cf-agent can be run in verbose mode (-v), inform mode (-I) and just print errors (no arguments). This attribute allows to set these three output levels on a per promise basis, allowing the promise to be more verbose than the global setting (but not less).

In CFEngine 2 one would say ‘inform=true’ or ‘syslog=true’, etc. This replaces these levels since they act as encapsulating super-sets.

measurement_class
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: If set performance will be measured and recorded under this identifier

Example:

     
     
body action measure
     {
     measurement_class => "$(this.promiser) long job scan of /usr";
     }
     

Notes:

By setting this string you switch on performance measurement for the current promise, and also give the measurement a name. The identifier forms a partial identity for optional performance scanning of promises of the form:

          ID:promise-type:promiser.

These can be seen identifying using cf-reports, e.g. in the generated file performance.html.


Next: , Previous: action in *, Up: * in common promises

6.4.2 classes (body template)

Type: (ext body)

promise_repaired
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of classes to be defined globally

Example:

     
body classes example
     {
     promise_repaired => { "change_happened" };
     }
     

Notes:

If a promise is `repaired' it means that a corrective action had to be taken to keep the promise.

Note that any strings passed to this list are automatically canonified, so it is unecessary to call a canonify function on such inputs.

Important: complex promises, e.g. files promises that set multiple parameters on a file simultaneously can report misleadingly. The classes for different parts of a promise are not separable. Thus, if you promise to create and file and change its permissions, when the file exists with incorrect permissions, cf-agent will report that the ‘promise_kept’ for the file existence, but ‘promise_repaired’ for the permissions. If you need separate reports, you should code two separate promises rather than `overloading' a single one.

repair_failed
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of classes to be defined globally

Example:

     
body classes example
     {
     repair_failed => { "unknown_error" };
     }
     

Notes:

A promise could not be repaired because the corrective action failed for some reason.

Note that any strings passed to this list are automatically canonified, so it is unecessary to call a canonify function on such inputs.

repair_denied
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of classes to be defined globally

Example:

     
body classes example
     {
     repair_denied => { "permission_failure" };
     }
     

Notes:

A promise could not be kept because access to a key resource was denied.

Note that any strings passed to this list are automatically canonified, so it is unecessary to call a canonify function on such inputs.

repair_timeout
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of classes to be defined globally

Example:

     
body classes example
     {
     repair_timeout => { "too_slow", "did_not_wait" };
     }
     

Notes:

A promise maintenance repair timed-out waiting for some dependent resource.

promise_kept
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of classes to be defined globally

Example:

     
body classes example
     {
     promise_kept => { "success", "kaplah" };
     }
     

Notes:

This class is set if no action was necessary by cf-agent because the promise concerned was already kept without further action required.

Note that any strings passed to this list are automatically canonified, so it is unecessary to call a canonify function on such inputs.

Important: complex promises, e.g. files promises that set multiple parameters on a file simultaneously can report misleadingly. The classes for different parts of a promise are not separable. Thus, if you promise to create and file and change its permissions, when the file exists with incorrect permissions, cf-agent will report that the ‘promise_kept’ for the file existence, but ‘promise_repaired’ for the permissions. If you need separate reports, you should code two separate promises rather than `overloading' a single one.

cancel_kept
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of classes to be cancelled if the promise is kept

Example:

     
body classes example
     {
     cancel_kept => { "success", "kaplah" };
     }
     

Notes:

If the promise was already kept and nothing was done, cancel (undefine) any of the listed classes so that they are no longer defined.

Note that any strings passed to this list are automatically canonified, so it is unecessary to call a canonify function on such inputs.

History: This attribute was introduced in CFEngine version 3.0.4 (2010)

cancel_repaired
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of classes to be cancelled if the promise is repaired

Example:

     
body classes example
     {
     cancel_repaired => { "change_happened" };
     }
     

Notes:

If the promise was repaired and changes were made to the system, cancel (undefine) any of the listed classes so that they are no longer defined.

Note that any strings passed to this list are automatically canonified, so it is unecessary to call a canonify function on such inputs.

History: This attribute was introduced in CFEngine version 3.0.4 (2010)

cancel_notkept
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of classes to be cancelled if the promise is not kept for any reason

Example:

     
body classes example
     {
     cancel_notkept => { "failure" };
     }
     

Notes:

If the promise was not kept but nothing could be done, cancel (undefine) any of the listed classes so that they are no longer defined.

Note that any strings passed to this list are automatically canonified, so it is unecessary to call a canonify function on such inputs.

History: This attribute was introduced in CFEngine version 3.0.4 (2010)

kept_returncodes
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [-0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of return codes indicating a kept command-related promise

Example:

     bundle agent cmdtest
     {
     commands:
       "/bin/false"
        classes => example;
     
     reports:
     waskept::
       "The command-promise was kept!";
     }
     
body classes example
     {
     kept_returncodes => { "0", "1" };
     promise_kept => { "waskept" };
     }

Notes:

A list of integer return codes indicating that a command-related promise has been kept. This can in turn be used to define classes using the promise_kept attribute, or merely alter the total compliance statistics.

Currently, the attribute has impact on the following command-related promises.

If none of the attributes kept_returncodes, repaired_returncodes, or failed_returncodes are set, the default is to consider a return code zero as promise repaired, and nonzero as promise failed.

Note that the return codes may overlap, so multiple classes may be set from one return code. In Unix systems the possible return codes are usually in the range from 0 to 255.

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.3, Nova 2.0.2 (2010)

repaired_returncodes
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [-0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of return codes indicating a repaired command-related promise

Example:

     bundle agent cmdtest
     {
     commands:
       "/bin/false"
        classes => example;
     
     reports:
     wasrepaired::
       "The command-promise got repaired!";
     }
     
body classes example
     {
     repaired_returncodes => { "0", "1" };
     promise_repaired => { "wasrepaired" };
     }

Notes:

A list of integer return codes indicating that a command-related promise has been repaired. This can in turn be used to define classes using the promise_repaired attribute, or merely alter the total compliance statistics.

Currently, the attribute has impact on the following command-related promises.

If none of the attributes kept_returncodes, repaired_returncodes, or failed_returncodes are set, the default is to consider a return code zero as promise repaired, and nonzero as promise failed.

Note that the return codes may overlap, so multiple classes may be set from one return code. In Unix systems the possible return codes are usually in the range from 0 to 255.

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.3, Nova 2.0.2 (2010)

failed_returncodes
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [-0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of return codes indicating a failed command-related promise

Example:

     body common control
     {
     bundlesequence => { "cmdtest" };
     }
     
bundle agent cmdtest
     {
     files:
     "/tmp/test"
       copy_from => copy("/etc/passwd");
     
     
     "/tmp/test"
       classes => example,
       transformer => "/bin/grep -q lkajfo999999 $(this.promiser)";
     
     reports:
     wasfailed::
       "The files-promise failed!";
     }
     
body classes example
     {
     failed_returncodes => { "1" };
     repair_failed => { "wasfailed" };
     }
     
body copy_from copy(file)
     {
     source => "$(file)";
     } 

Notes:

A list of integer return codes indicating that a command-related promise has failed. This can in turn be used to define classes using the promise_repaired attribute, or merely alter the total compliance statistics.

Currently, the attribute has impact on the following command-related promises.

If none of the attributes kept_returncodes, repaired_returncodes, or failed_returncodes are set, the default is to consider a return code zero as promise repaired, and nonzero as promise failed.

Note that the return codes may overlap, so multiple classes may be set from one return code. In Unix systems the possible return codes are usually in the range from 0 to 255.

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.3, Nova 2.0.2 (2010)

persist_time
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: A number of minutes the specified classes should remain active

Example:

     
body classes example
     {
     persist_time => "10";
     }
     

Notes:

By default classes are ephemeral entities that disappear when cf-agent terminates. By setting a persistence time, they can last even when the agent is not running.

timer_policy
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    absolute
                    reset

Synopsis: Whether a persistent class restarts its counter when rediscovered

Default value: reset

Example:

     
body classes example
     {
     timer_policy => "reset";
     }
     

Notes:

The in most cases resetting a timer will give a more honest appraisal of which classes are currently important, but if we want to activate a response of limited duration as a rare event then an asbolute time limit is useful.


Next: , Previous: classes in *, Up: * in common promises

6.4.3 ifvarclass

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Extended classes ANDed with context

Example:

The generic example has the form:

     
     promise-type:
     
       "promiser"
     
         ifvarclass => "$(program)_running|($(program)_notfound&Hr12)";
     

A specific example would be:

bundle agent example

{     
commands:

 any::

    "/bin/echo This is linux"

       ifvarclass => "linux";


    "/bin/echo This is solaris"

       ifvarclass => "solaris";

}

Notes:

This is an additional class expression that will be evaluated after the ‘class::’ classes have selected promises. It is provided in order to enable a channel between variables and classes. The result is thus the logical AND of the ordinary classes and the variable classes.

This function is provided so that one can form expressions that link variables and classes, e.g.

# Check that all components are running

vars:

  "component" slist => { "cf-monitord", "cf-serverd" };

processes:

  "$(component)" restart_class => canonify("start_$(component)");

commands:

   "/var/cfengine/bin/$(component)"

       ifvarclass => canonify("start_$(component)");

Notice that the function canonify() is provided to convert a general variable input into a string composed only of legal characters, using the same algorithm that CFEngine uses.


Next: , Previous: ifvarclass in *, Up: * in common promises

6.4.4 handle

Type: string

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A unique id-tag string for referring to this as a promisee elsewhere

Example:

access:

  "/source"

    handle  => "update_rule",
    admit   => { "127.0.0.1" };

Notes:

A promise handle is like a `goto' label. It allows you to refer to a promise as the promisee of depends_on client of another promise. Handles are essential for mapping dependencies and performing impact analyses. In Enterprise versions of CFEngine, promise handles can also be used in outputs promises, See outputs in agent promises.


Next: , Previous: handle in *, Up: * in common promises

6.4.5 depends_on

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of promise handles that this promise builds on or depends on somehow (for knowledge management)

Example:

files:

  "/home/mark/tmp/testcopy" 

    depends_on    => { "server_promise_1" },
    copy_from     => mycopy("/source");

Notes:

This is a list of promise handles for whom this promise is a promisee. In other words, we acknowledge that this promise will be affected by the list of promises whose handles are specified.

This option is only used only for documentation currently. In commercial versions of CFEngine, using this attribute leads to automatic documentation about policy relationships for the purpose of Knowledge Management.


Previous: depends_on in *, Up: * in common promises

6.4.6 comment

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A comment about this promise's real intention that follows through the program

Example:

comment => "This comment follows the data for reference ...",

Notes:

Comments written in code follow the program, they are not merely discarded. They appear in reports and error messages.


Next: , Previous: Bundles for common, Up: Top

7 Bundles of agent


     
     bundle agent main(parameter)
     
     {
     vars:
     
       "sys_files"    slist        => {
                                      "/etc/passwd",
                                      "/etc/services"
                                      };
     files:
     
       "$(sys_files)" perms        => p("root","0644"),
                      changes      => trip_wire;
     
       "/etc/shadow"  perms        => p("root","0600"),
                      changes      => trip_wire;
     
       "/usr"         changes      => trip_wire,
                      depth_search => recurse("inf");
     
       "/tmp"         delete       => tidy,
                      file_select  => days("2"),
                      depth_search => recurse("inf");
     
     }
     


Agent bundles contain user-defined promises for cf-agent. The types of promises and their corresponding bodies are detailed below.


Next: , Previous: Bundles for agent, Up: Bundles for agent

7.1 commands promises in ‘agent


     
     commands:
     
       "/path/to/command args"
     
                  args => "more args",
                  contain => contain_body,
                  module => true/false;
     

Command containment allows you to make a `sandbox' around a command, to run it as a non-privileged user inside an isolated directory tree. CFEngine modules are commands that support a simple protocol (see below) in order to set additional variables and classes on execution from user defined code. Modules are intended for use as system probes rather than additional configuration promises.

In CFEngine 3 commands and processes have been separated cleanly. Restarting of processes must be coded as a separate command. This stricter type separation will allow more careful conflict analysis to be carried out.

Output from commands executed here is quoted inline, but prefixed with the letter ‘Q’ to distinguish it from other output, e.g. from reports (which is prefixed with the letter ‘R’).

It is possible to set classes based on the return code of a commands-promise in a very flexible way. See the kept_returncodes, repaired_returncodes and failed_returncodes attributes.

Commands were called shellcommands in CFEngine 2.

NOTE: a common mistake in using CFEngine is to embed many shell commands instead of using the built-in functionality. Use of CFEngine internals is preferred as it assures convergence and proper integrated checking. Extensive use of shell commands will make a CFEngine execution very heavy-weight like other management systems. To minimize the system cost of execution, always use CFEngine internals.


bundle agent example

{
commands:

  "/bin/sleep 10"
     action  => background;

  "/bin/sleep"
     args => "20",
     action  => background;

}


NOTE: when referring to executables whose paths contain spaces, you should quote the entire program string separately so that CFEngine knows the name of the executable file. e.g.

     
      commands:
     
       windows::
     
        "\"c:\Program Files\my name with space\" arg1 arg2";
     
       linux::
     
        "\"/usr/bin/funny command name\" -a -b -c";
     


Next: , Previous: commands in agent promises, Up: commands in agent promises

7.1.1 args

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Alternative string of arguments for the command (concatenated with promiser string)

Example:

commands:

  "/bin/echo one"

   args => "two three";

Notes:

Sometimes it is convenient to separate the arguments to a command from the command itself. The final arguments are the concatenation with one space. So in the example above the command would be

 /bin/echo one two three


Next: , Previous: args in commands, Up: commands in agent promises

7.1.2 contain (body template)

Type: (ext body)

useshell
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false embed the command in a shell environment

Default value: false

Example:

     
body contain example
     {
     useshell => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

The default is to not use a shell when executing commands. Use of a shell has both resource and security consequences. A shell consumes an extra process and inherits environment variables, reads commands from files and performs other actions beyond the control of CFEngine. If one does not need shell functionality such as piping through multiple commands then it is best to manage without it. In the windows version of CFEngine Nova, the command is run in the the “Command Prompt” if useshell is true.

umask
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    0
                    77
                    22
                    27
                    72
                    077
                    022
                    027
                    072

Synopsis: The umask value for the child process

Example:

     
body contain example
     {
     umask => "077";
     }
     

Notes:

Sets the internal umask for the process. Default value for the mask is ‘077’. On windows, umask is not supported and is thus ignored by windows versions of CFEngine.

exec_owner
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The user name or id under which to run the process

Example:

     
body contain example
     {
     exec_owner => "mysql_user";
     }
     

Notes:

This is part of the restriction of privilege for child processes when running cf-agent as the root user, or a user with privileges.

Windows requires the clear text password for the user account to run under. Keeping this in CFEngine policies could be a security hazard. Therefore, this option is not yet implemented on windows versions of CFEngine.

exec_group
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The group name or id under which to run the process

Example:

     
body contain example
     {
     exec_group => "nogroup";
     }
     

Notes:

This is part of the restriction of privilege for child processes when running cf-agent as the root group, or a group with privileges. It is ignored on windows, as processes do not have any groups associated with them.

exec_timeout
Type: int

Allowed input range: 1,3600

Synopsis: Timeout in seconds for command completion

Example:

     
body contain example
     {
     exec_timeout => "30";
     }
     

Notes:

Attempt to time-out after this number of seconds. This cannot be guaranteed as not all commands are willing to be interrupted in case of failure.

chdir
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Directory for setting current/base directory for the process

Example:

     
body contain example
     
     {
     chdir => "/containment/directory";
     }
     

Notes:

This command has the effect of placing the running command into a current working directory equal to the parameter given, i.e. it works like the ‘cd’ shell command.

chroot
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Directory of root sandbox for process

Example:

     
body contain example
     
     {
     chroot => "/private/path";
     }
     

Notes:

Sets the path of the directory that will be experienced as the top-most root directory for the process. In security parlance, this creates a `sandbox' for the process. Windows does not support this feature.

preview
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false preview command when running in dry-run mode (with -n)

Default value: false

Example:

     
body contain example
     {
     preview => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

Previewing shell scripts during a dry-run is a potentially misleading activity. It should only be used on scripts that make no changes to the system. It is CFEngine best practice to never write change-functionality into user-written scripts except as a last resort: CFEngine can apply its safety checks to user defined scripts.

no_output
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false discard all output from the command

Default value: false

Example:

     
body contain example
     {
     no_output => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

This is equivalent to piping standard output and error to /dev/null.


Previous: contain in commands, Up: commands in agent promises

7.1.3 module

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false whether to expect the cfengine module protocol

Example:

commands:

   "/masterfiles/user_script"

     module => "true";

Notes:

If true, the module protocol is supported for this script, i.e. it is treated as a user module. A plug-in module may be written in any language, it can return any output you like, but lines which begin with a ‘+’ sign are treated as classes to be defined (like -D), while lines which begin with a ‘-’ sign are treated as classes to be undefined (like -N). Lines starting with ‘=’ are scalar variables to be defined, and lines beginning with ‘@’ are lists. Any other lines of output are cited by cf-agent as being erroneous, so you should normally make your module completely silent. Here is an example written in shell:

     #!/bin/sh
     /bin/echo "@mylist= { \"one\", \"two\", \"three\" }"
     /bin/echo "=myscalar= scalar val"
     /bin/echo "+module_class"

And here is an example using it:

body common control
   {
   any::

      bundlesequence  => { 
                         def,
                         modtest
                         };
   }

###################################################################


bundle agent def

{
commands:

  "$(sys.workdir)/modules/module_name" module => "true";

reports:

  #

  # Each module forms a private context with its name as id

  #


 module_class::

  "Module set variable $(module_name.myscalar)";

}

###################################################################


bundle agent modtest

{
vars:

 "mylist" slist => { @(module_name.mylist) };

reports:

 module_class::

  "Module set variable $(mylist)";

}

Here is an example module written in perl.
     #!/usr/bin/perl
     #
     # module:myplugin
     #
     
       # lots of computation....
     
     if (special-condition)
        {
        print "+specialclass";
        }
     

If your module is “simple” and is best expressed as a shell command, then we suggest that you expose the class being defined in the command being executed (making it easier to see what classes are used when reading the promises file). For example, the promises could read as follows (the two echo commands are to ensure that the shell always exits with a successful execution of a command):

bundle agent sendmail
{
commands:
    # This next module checks a specific failure mode of dcc, namely

    # more than 3 error states since the last time we ran cf-agent

    is_mailhost::
        "/bin/test `/usr/bin/tail -100 /var/log/maillog | /usr/bin/grep 'Milter (dcc): to error state' | /usr/bin/wc -l` -gt 3 && echo '+start_dccm' || echo
''"
            contain => shell_command,
            module => true;

    start_dccm::
        "/var/dcc/libexec/start-dccm"
            contain => not_paranoid;
}

body contain shell_command
{
    useshell    => "yes";
}

body contain not_paranoid
{
    useshell    => "no";
    exec_owner  => "root";
    umask       => "22";
}

Modules inherit the environment variables from cfagent and accept arguments, just as a regular command does.

     #!/bin/sh
     #
     # module:myplugin
     #
     
     /bin/echo $*
     

Modules define variables in cf-agent by outputting strings of the form

     
     =variablename=value
     

These variables end up in a context which has the same name as the module. When the $(allclasses) variable becomes too large to manipulate conveniently, you can access the complete list of currently defined classes in the file /var/cfengine/state/allclasses.


Next: , Previous: commands in agent promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.2 databases promises in ‘agent


These features apply to Enterprise versions of CFEngine only.

CFEngine Nova can interact with commonly used database servers to keep promises about the structure and content of data within them.

There are two main cases of database management to address: small embedded databases and large centralized databases.

CFEngine is a tool whose strength lies distributed management of computers. Databases are often centralized entities that have single point of management, so a large monolithic database is more easily managed with other tools. However, CFEngine can still monitor changes and discrepancies, and it can manage smaller embedded databases that are distributed in nature, whether they are SQL, registry or future types.

So creating 100 new databases for test purposes is a task for CFEngine, but adding a new item to an important production database is not a task that we recommend using CFEngine for.

There are three kinds of database supported by Nova:

LDAP - The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
A hierarchical network database primarily for reading simple schema.
SQL - Structured Query Language
A number of relational databases (currently supported: MySQL, Postgres) for reading and writing complex data.
Registry - Microsoft Registry
An embedded database for interfacing with system values in Microsoft Windows.
In addition, CFEngine uses a variety of embedded databases for its own internals.

CFEngine's ability to make promises about databases depends on the good grace of the database server. Embedded databases are directly part of the system and promises can be made directly. However, databases running through a server process (either on the same host or on a different host) are independent agents and CFEngine cannot make promises on their behalf, unless they promise (grant) permission for CFEngine to make the changes. Thus the pre-requisite for making SQL database promises is to grant a point of access on the server.

     
      databases:
     
       "database/subkey or table"
     
         database_operation => "create/delete/drop",
         database_type => "sql/ms_registry",
         database_columns => {
                             "name,type,size",
                             "name,type",
                             },
     
         database_server => body;
     
     
      body database_server name
       {
       db_server_owner => "account name";
       db_server_password => "password";
       db_server_host => "hostname or omit for localhost";
       db_server_type => "mysql/posgres";
       db_server_connection_db => "database we can connect to";
       }
     


body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "databases" };
}

bundle agent databases

{
#commands:


#  "/usr/bin/createdb cf_topic_maps",


#        contain => as_user("mysql");


databases:

  "cf_topic_maps/topics"

    database_operation => "create",
    database_type => "sql",
    database_columns => { 
                        "topic_name,varchar,256",
                        "topic_comment,varchar,1024",
                        "topic_id,varchar,256",
                        "topic_type,varchar,256",
                        "topic_extra,varchar,26" 
                        },

    database_server => myserver;



}

################################################


body database_server myserver
{
any::
 db_server_owner => "postgres";
 db_server_password => "";
 db_server_host => "localhost";
 db_server_type => "postgres";
 db_server_connection_db => "postgres";
none::
 db_server_owner => "root";
 db_server_password => "";
 db_server_host => "localhost";
 db_server_type => "mysql";
 db_server_connection_db => "mysql";
}

body contain as_user(x)
{
exec_owner => "$(x)";
}


The promiser in database promises is a concatenation of the database name and underlying tables. This presents a simple hierarchical model that looks like a file-system. This is the normal structure within the Windows registry for instance. Entity-Relation databases do not normally present tables in this way, but no harm is done in representing them as a hierarchy of depth 1.


Next: , Previous: databases in agent promises, Up: databases in agent promises

7.2.1 database_server (body template)

Type: (ext body)

db_server_owner
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: User name for database connection

Example:

     
     db_server_owner => "mark";
     

Notes:


db_server_password
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Clear text password for database connection

Example:

     
     db_server_password => "xyz.1234";
     

Notes:


db_server_host
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Hostname or address for connection to database, blank means localhost

Example:

     
     db_server_host => "sqlserv.example.org";
     

Notes:

Hostname or IP address of the server.

db_server_type
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    postgres
                    mysql

Synopsis: The dialect of the database server

Default value: none

Example:

     
     db_server_type => "postgres";
     

Notes:


db_server_connection_db
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The name of an existing database to connect to in order to create/manage other databases

Example:

     
body database_server myserver(x)
     {
     db_server_owner => "$(x)";
     db_server_password => "";
     db_server_host => "localhost";
     db_server_type => "$(mysql)";
     db_server_connection_db => "$(x)";
     }
     

where ‘x’ is currently mysql or postgres.

Notes:

In order to create a database on a database server (all of which practice voluntary cooperation), one has to be able to connect to the server, however, without an existing database this is not allowed. Thus, database servers provide a default database that can be connected to in order to thereafter create new databases. These are called postgres and mysql for their respective database servers.

For the knowledge agent, this setting is made in the control body, for database verification promises, it is made in the database_server body.


Next: , Previous: database_server in databases, Up: databases in agent promises

7.2.2 database_type

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               sql
               ms_registry

Default value: none

Synopsis: The type of database that is to be manipulated

Example:

database_type => "ms_registry";

Notes:


Next: , Previous: database_type in databases, Up: databases in agent promises

7.2.3 database_operation

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               create
               delete
               drop
               cache
               verify
               restore

Synopsis: The nature of the promise - to be or not to be

Example:

database_operation => "create";

Notes:


Next: , Previous: database_operation in databases, Up: databases in agent promises

7.2.4 database_columns

Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: A list of column definitions to be promised by SQL databases

Example:

  "cf_topic_maps/topics"

    database_operation => "create",
    database_type => "sql",
    database_columns => { 
                        "topic_name,varchar,256",
                        "topic_comment,varchar,1024",
                        "topic_id,varchar,256",
                        "topic_type,varchar,256",
                        "topic_extra,varchar,26" 
                        },

    database_server => myserver;

Notes:

Columns are a list of tuplets (Name,type,size). Array items are triplets, and fixed size data elements are doublets.


Next: , Previous: database_columns in databases, Up: databases in agent promises

7.2.5 database_rows

Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*,.*

Synopsis: An ordered list of row values to be promised by SQL databases

Example:

bundle agent databases

{
databases:

 windows::

  # Regsitry has (value,data) pairs in "keys" which are directories


  "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CFEngine AS\CFEngine"

    database_operation => "create",
    database_rows => { "value1,REG_SZ,new value 1", "value2,REG_DWORD,12345"} ,
    database_type     => "ms_registry";
}

Notes:

This constraint is used only in adding data to database columns. Rows are considered to be instances of individual columns.

In the case of the system registry on Windows, the rows represent data on data-value pairs. The currently supported types (the middle field) for the Windows registry are REG_SZ (string), REG_EXPAND_SZ (expandable string) and REG_DWORD (double word).


Previous: database_rows in databases, Up: databases in agent promises

7.2.6 registry_exclude

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of regular expressions to ignore in key/value verification

Example:

databases:

 "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE"

    database_operation => "cache",

    registry_exclude => { ".*Windows.*CurrentVersion.*", 
                          ".*Touchpad.*",
                          ".*Capabilities.FileAssociations.*", 
                          ".*Rfc1766.*" , 
                          ".*Synaptics.SynTP.*", 
                          ".*SupportedDevices.*8086", 
                          ".*Microsoft.*ErrorThresholds" 
                        },

    database_type     => "ms_registry";

Notes:

During recursive Windows registry scanning, this option allows us to ignore keys of values matching a list of regular expressions. Some values in the registry are ephemeral and some should not be considered. This provdes a convenient way of avoiding names. It is analogous to exclude_dirs for files.


Next: , Previous: databases in agent promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.3 environments promises in ‘agent


Environment promises are available in the CFEngine Nova Edition and above. Environment promises describe enclosed computing environments that can host physical and virtual machines, solaris zones, grids, clouds or other enclosures, including embedded systems. CFEngine will support the convergent maintenance of such inner environments in a fixed location, with interfaces to an external environment.

CFEngine currently seeks to add convergence properties to existing interfaces for automatic self-healing of virtualized environments. The current implementation integrates with libvirt, supporting host virtualization for Xen, KVM, VMWare, etc. Thus CFEngine, running on a virtual host, can maintain the state and deployment of virtual guest machines defined within the libvirt framework. Environment promises are not meant to manage what goes on within the virtual guests: for that purpose, you should run CFEngine directly on the virtual machine, as if it were any other machine.


 site1::

  "unique_name1"

       environment_resources => myresources("2GB","512MB"),
       environment_interface => mymachine("hostname"),
            environment_type => "xen",
            environment_state => "running",
            environment_host => "atlas";

  "unique_name2"

            environment_type => "xen_network",
           environment_state => "create",
            environment_host => "atlas";


CFEngine currently provides a convergent interface to libvirt.


Next: , Previous: environments in agent promises, Up: environments in agent promises

7.3.1 environment_host

Type: string

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}.:-]+

Synopsis: A host for the virtual environment uniquely indicating which physical node will execute this machine

Example:

environments:

 linux::

 "host1"
                 comment => "Keep this vm suspended",
   environment_resources => myresources,
        environment_type => "kvm",
       environment_state => "suspended",
        environment_host => "ubuntu";

Notes:

History: this feature was introduced in Nova 2.0.0 (2010)


Next: , Previous: environment_host in environments, Up: environments in agent promises

7.3.2 environment_interface (body template)

Type: (ext body)

env_addresses
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The IP addresses of the environment's network interfaces

Example:

     
body environment_interface vnet(primary)
     {
     env_name      => "$(this.promiser)";
     env_addresses => { "$(primary)" };
     
     host1::
     
       env_network => "default_vnet1";
     
     host2::
     
       env_network => "default_vnet2";
     
     }

Notes:

The IP addresses of the virtual machine can be overridden here at run time.

env_name
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The hostname of the virtual environment

Example:

     body environment_interface vnet(primary)
     {
     env_name      => "$(this.promiser)";
     env_addresses => { "$(primary)" };
     
     host1::
       env_network => "default_vnet1";
     
     host2::
       env_network => "default_vnet2";
     }

Notes:

The `hostname' of a virtual guest may or may not be the same as the identifier used as `promiser' by the virtualization manager.

env_network
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The hostname of the virtual network

Example:

     
body environment_interface vnet(primary)
          {
          env_name      => "$(this.promiser)";
          env_addresses => { "$(primary)" };
     
          host1::
            env_network => "default_vnet1";
     
          host2::
            env_network => "default_vnet2";
          }
     

Notes:


Next: , Previous: environment_interface in environments, Up: environments in agent promises

7.3.3 environment_resources (body template)

Type: (ext body)

env_cpus
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Number of virtual CPUs in the environment

Example:

     
body environment_resources my_environment
     {
     env_cpus => "2";
     env_memory => "512"; # in KB
     env_disk => "1024";  # in MB
     }
     

Notes:

The maximum number of cores or processors in the physical environment will set a natural limit on this value. If the number is already set in a specification file, this value will attempt to override it at run time.

env_memory
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Amount of primary storage (RAM) in the virtual environment (KB)

Example:

     
body environment_resources my_environment
     {
     env_cpus => "2";
     env_memory => "512"; # in KB
     env_disk => "1024";  # in MB
     }
     

Notes:

The maximum amount of memory in the physical environment will set a natural limit on this value. If the number is already set in a specification file, this value will attempt to override it at run time.

env_disk
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Amount of secondary storage (DISK) in the virtual environment (MB)

Example:

     
body environment_resources my_environment
     {
     env_cpus => "2";
     env_memory => "512"; # in KB
     env_disk => "1024";  # in MB
     }
     

Notes:

This parameter is currently unsupported, for future extension.

env_baseline
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: The path to an image with which to baseline the virtual environment

Example:

     
     env_baseline => "/path/to/image";
     

Notes:

This function is for future development.

env_spec_file
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: The path to a file containing a technology specific set of promises for the virtual instance

Example:

     
body environment_resources virt_xml
     {
     env_spec_file => "/srv/xen/centos5-libvirt-create.xml";
     }
     
You may also quote the file as XML:
     body environment_resources virt_xml(host)
     {
     env_spec_file => 
     
     "<domain type='xen'>
       <name>$(host)</name>
       <os>
         <type>linux</type>
         <kernel>/var/lib/xen/install/vmlinuz-ubuntu10.4-x86_64</kernel>
         <initrd>/var/lib/xen/install/initrd-vmlinuz-ubuntu10.4-x86_64</initrd>
         <cmdline> kickstart=http://example.com/myguest.ks </cmdline>
       </os>
       <memory>131072</memory>
       <vcpu>1</vcpu>
       <devices>
         <disk type='file'>
           <source file='/var/lib/xen/images/$(host).img'/>
           <target dev='sda1'/>
         </disk>
         <interface type='bridge'>
           <source bridge='xenbr0'/>
           <mac address='aa:00:00:00:00:11'/>
           <script path='/etc/xen/scripts/vif-bridge'/>
         </interface>
         <graphics type='vnc' port='-1'/>
         <console tty='/dev/pts/5'/>
       </devices>
     </domain>
     ";
     }
     

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0b1,Nova 2.0.0b1 (2010)


Next: , Previous: environment_resources in environments, Up: environments in agent promises

7.3.4 environment_state

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               create
               delete
               running
               suspended
               down

Synopsis: The desired dynamical state of the specified environment

Example:

environments:

 linux::

 "bishwa-kvm1"
                 comment => "Keep this vm suspended",
   environment_resources => myresources,
        environment_type => "kvm",
       environment_state => "suspended",
        environment_host => "ubuntu";


Notes:

The allowed states have the following convergent semantics.

create
The guest machine is allocated, installed and left in a running state.
delete
The guest machine is shut down and de-allocated but no files are removed.
running
The guest machine is in a running state, if it previously exists.
suspended
The guest exists in a suspended state or a shutdown state. If the guest is running, it is suspended, else it is ignored.
down
The guest machine is shut down, but not de-allocated.


Previous: environment_state in environments, Up: environments in agent promises

7.3.5 environment_type

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               xen
               kvm
               esx
               test
               xen_net
               kvm_net
               esx_net
               test_net
               zone
               ec2
               eucalyptus

Synopsis: Virtual environment type

Example:

bundle agent my_vm_cloud
{
environments:

 scope::

   "vguest1"

       environment_resources => my_environment_template,
       environment_interface => vnet("eth0,192.168.1.100/24"),
       environment_type      => "test",
       environment_state     => "create",
       environment_host      => "atlas";

   "vguest2"

       environment_resources => my_environment_template,
       environment_interface => vnet("eth0,192.168.1.101/24"),
       environment_type      => "test",
       environment_state     => "delete",
       environment_host      => "atlas";
}

Notes:

The currently supported types are those supported by libvirt. More will be added as time goes on.


Next: , Previous: environments in agent promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.4 files promises in ‘agent


Files promises are an umbrella concept for all attributes of files. Operations fall basically into three categories: create, delete and edit.

     
      files:
     
        "/path/file_object"
     
            perms => perms_body,
            ... ;
     

Prior to version 3, file promises were scattered into many different types such as files, tidy, copy, links, etc. File handling in CFEngine 3 uses regular expressions everywhere for pattern matching. The old `wildcard/globbing' expressions ‘*’ and ‘?’ are deprecated, and everything is based consistently on Perl Compatible Regular Expressions.

There is a natural ordering in file processing that obviates the need for the actionsequence. The trick of using multiple actionsequence items with different classes, e.g.

 actionsequence = ( ... files.one  ..  files.two )

can now be handled more elegantly using bundles. The natural ordering uses that fact that some operations are mutually exclusive and that some operations do not make sense in reverse order. For example, editing a file and then copying onto it would be nonsense. Similarly, you cannot both remove a file and rename it.

File copying

One of the first things users of CFEngine 2 will notice is that copying is now `backwards'. Instead of the default object being source and the option being the destination, in CFEngine 3 the destination is paramount and the source is an option. This is because the model of voluntary cooperation tells us that it is the object that is changed which is the agent making the promise. One cannot force change onto a destination with CFEngine, one can only invite change from a source.

Normal ordering of promise attributes

CFEngine 3 no longer has an `action sequence'. Ordering of operations has, in most cases, a natural ordering which is assumed by the agent. For instance: `delete then create' (normal ordering) makes sense, but `create then delete' does not. This sort of principle can be extended to deal with all aspects of file promises.

The diagram below shows the ordering. Notice that the same ordering applies regardless of file type (plain-file or directory). Note also that file editing is done "atomically" (see `File editing in CFEngine 3' for important details).

The normal ordering of file operators in CFEngine 3

The pseudo-code for this logic is shown in the diagram and below:

 for each file promise-object
    {
    if (depth_search) 
      do 
        DepthSearch (HandleLeaf)
      else 
        (HandleLeaf)
      done
    }

 HandleLeaf()
   {
   Does leaf-file exist?

     NO:  create
     YES: rename,delete,touch, 

     do
      for all servers in {localhost, @(servers)}
         {
         if (server-will-provide)
            do
              if (depth_search)
                 embedded source-depth-search (use file source)
                 break
              else
                 (use file source)
                 break
              done
            done
         }
     done
      
   Do all links (always local)

   Check Permissions

   Do edits
   }

Depth searches (recursion) during searches

In CFEngine 2 there was the concept of recursion during file searches. Recursion is now called "depth-search". In addition, it was possible to specify wildcards in the base-path for this search. CFEngine 3 replaces the `globbing' symbols with standard regular expressions:

      CFEngine 2               CFEngine 3

/one/*/two/thr*/four    /one/.*/two/thr.*/four

Note that this now means when searching for “hidden” files (files with names starting with a `.') or files with specific extensions, you should take care to escape the dot (e.g., \.cshrc or .*\.txt when you wish it to mean a literal character and not the “any character” interpretation provided by regular expression interpretation. Note that when you do a recursive search, the files '.' and '..' are never included in the matched files, even if the regular expresion in the ‘leaf_name’ specifically allows them.

Note also the the filename ‘/dir/ect/ory/.’ is a special case used with the ‘create’ attribute to indicate the directory named ‘/dir/ect/ory’ and not any of the files under it. If you really want to specify a regular expression that matches any single-character filename, use ‘/dir/ect/ory/[\w\W]’ as your promise regular expression (you can't use ‘/dir/ect/ory[^/]’, see below for an explanation.

When we talk about a depth search, it refers to a search for file objects which starts from the one or more matched base-paths as shown in the example above.

Filenames and regular expressions

CFEngine allows regular expressions within filenames, but only after first doing some sanity checking to prevent some readily avoidable problems. The biggest rule you need to know about filenames and regular expressions is that all regular expressions in filenames are bounded by directory separators, and that each component expression is anchored between the directory separators See Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions. In other words, CFEngine splits up any file paths into its component parts, and then it evaluates any regular expressions at a component-level.

What this means is that the path ‘/tmp/gar.*’ will only match filenames like /tmp/gar, /tmp/garbage and /tmp/garden. It will not match filename like /tmp/gar/baz (because even though the ‘.*’ in a regular expression means "zero or more of any character", CFEngine restricts that to mean "zero or more of any character in a path component"). Correspondingly, CFEngine also restricts where you can use the ‘/’ character (you can't use it in a character class like ‘[^/]’ or in a parenthesized or repeated regular expression component.

This means that regular expressions which include "optional directory components" won't work. You can't have a files promise to tidy the directory ‘(/usr)?/tmp’. Instead, you need to be more verbose and specify ‘/usr/tmp|/tmp’, or even better, think declaratively and create an slist that contains both the strings ‘/tmp’ and ‘/usr/tmp’, and then allow CFEngine to iterate over the list!

This also means that the path ‘/tmp/.*/something’ will match files like /tmp/abc/something or /tmp/xyzzy/something. However, even though the pattern ‘.*’ means "zero or more of any character (except ‘/’)", CFEngine matches files bounded by directory separators. So even though the pathname /tmp//something is technically the same as the pathname /tmp/something, the regular expression ‘/tmp/.*/something’ will not match on the degenerate case of /tmp//something (or /tmp/something).

Promises involving regular expressions

CFEngine can only keep (or repair, or fail to keep) a promise on files which actually exist. If you make a promise based on a wildcard match, then the promise is only ever attempted if the match succeeds. However, if you make a promise which includes a recursive search which includes a wildcard match, then the promise can be kept or repaired (provided that the directory specified in the promise exists). Consider the following two examples, (assuming that there first exist files named /tmp/gar, /tmp/garbage and /tmp/garden). At first blush, the two promises look like they should do the same thing, but there is a subtle difference:

bundle agent foobaz		    bundle agent foobaz
{				    {
files:				    files:
 "/tmp/gar.*"			     "/tmp"
    delete => tidy,		    	delete => tidy,
    classes => if_ok("done");	    	depth_search => recurse("0"),
				    	file_select => gars,
				    	classes => if_ok("done");
				    }

body file_select gars
				    {
					leaf_name => { "gar.*" };
					file_result => "leaf_name";
				    }

body classes if_ok(x)
{				    {
promise_repaired => { "$(x)" };	    promise_repaired => { "$(x)" };
promise_kept => { "$(x)" };	    promise_kept => { "$(x)" };
}				    }

In the first example, when the configuration containing this promise is first executed, any file starting with "gar" that exists in the ‘/tmp’ directory will be removed, and the ‘done’ class will be set. However, when the configuration is executed a second time, the pattern ‘/tmp/gar.*’ will not match any files, and that promise will not even be attempted (and, consequently the ‘done’ class will not be set).

In the second example, when the configuration containing this promise is first executed, any file starting with "gar" that exists in the ‘/tmp’ directory will also be removed, and the ‘done’ class will also be set. The second time the configuration is executed, however, the promise on the ‘/tmp’ directory will still be executed (because ‘/tmp’ of course still exists), and the ‘done’ class will be set, because all files matching the ‘file_select’ attribute have been deleted from that directory.

Local and remote searches

There are two distinct kinds of depth search:

When we are copying or linking to a file source, it is the search over the remote source that drives the content of a promise (the promise is a promise to use what the remote source provides). In general, the sources are on a different device to the images that make the promises. For all other promises, we search over existing local objects.

If we specify depth search together with copy of a directory, then the implied remote source search is assumed, and it is made after the search over local base-path objects has been made. If you mix complex promise body operations in a single prmose, this could lead to confusion about the resulting behaviour, and a warning is issued. In general it is not recommended to mix searches without a full understanding of the consequences, but this might occasionally be useful.

Depth search is not allowed with edit_line promises.

File editing in CFEngine 3

CFEngine 2 assumed that all files were line-edited, because it was based on Unix traditions. Since then many new file formats have emerged, including XML. CFEngine 3 opens up the possibiltiy for multiple models of file editing. Line based editing is still present and is both much simplified and much more powerful than previously.

File editing is not just a single kind of promise but a whole range of `promises within files'. It is therefore not merely a body to a single kind of promise, but a bundle of sub-promises. After all, inside each file is a new world of objects that can make promises, quite separate from files' external attributes.

A typical file editing stanza has the elements in the following example.

######################################################################
#

# File editing

#

######################################################################


body common control

{
version => "1.2.3";
bundlesequence  => { "outerbundle"  };
}

########################################################


bundle agent outerbundle

{
files:

  "/home/mark/tmp/cf3_test"

       create    => "true",     # Like autocreate in cf2
       edit_line => inner_bundle;
}

########################################################


bundle edit_line inner_bundle
  {
  vars:

   "who" string => "SysAdmin John";	# private variable in bundle

  insert_lines:
    "/* This file is maintained by CFEngine (see $(who) for details) */",
	location => first_line;
  
  replace_patterns:

   # replace shell comments with C comments


   "#(.*)"

      replace_with => C_comment,
     select_region => MySection("New section");

  reports:

    someclass::

      "This is file $(edit.filename)";
  }

########################################

# Bodies for the library ...

########################################


body replace_with C_comment

{
replace_value => "/* $(match.1) */"; # backreference
occurrences => "all";          # first, last all
}

########################################################


body select_region MySection(x)

{
select_start => "\[$(x)\]";
select_end => "\[.*\]";
}

########################################################


body location first_line

{
before_after => "before";
first_last => "first";
select_line_matching => ".*";
}


There are several things to notice:

In the example above, back references are used to allow conversion of comments from shell-style to C-style.


Another example of files promises is to look for changes in files. The following example reports on all recent changes to files in a directory by maintaining the most recent version of the md5 hash of the file contents. Similar checks can be used to examine metadata or both the contents and metadata, as well as using different difference checks. The Community Edition only reports that changes were found, but Enterprise versions of CFEngine can also report on what exactly the significant changes were.

bundle agent example
{
files:

  "/home/mark/tmp" -> "Security team"

       changes      => lay_a_tripwire,
       depth_search => recurse("inf"),
       action       => background;
}

#########################################################


body changes lay_a_tripwire

{
hash           => "md5";
report_changes => "content";
update         => "yes";
}



Next: , Previous: files in agent promises, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.1 acl (body template)

Type: (ext body)

aces
Type: slist

Allowed input range: ((user|group):[^:]+:[-=+,rwx()dtTabBpcoD]*(:(allow|deny))?)|((all|mask):[-=+,rwx()]*(:(allow|deny))?)

Synopsis: Native settings for access control entry

Example:

     
body acl template
     
     {
     acl_method => "overwrite";
     acl_type => "posix";
     acl_directory_inherit => "parent";
     
     aces => { 
             "user:*:r(wwx),-r:allow", 
             "group:*:+rw:allow", 
             "mask:x:allow", 
             "all:r"
             };
     }
     

Notes:

Access Control Lists are only available with CFEngine Nova or above. Form of the permissions is:

                aces => {
                        "user:uid:mode[:perm_type]", ...,
                        "group:gid:mode[:perm_type]", ...,
                        "all:mode[:perm_type]"
                        };

gperms (generic permissions) is a concatenation of zero or more of the characters shown in the table below. If left empty, none of the permissions are set.

Flag Description Semantics on file Semantics on directory


r Read Read data, permissions, attributes Read directory contents, permissions, attributes
w Write Write data Create, delete, rename subobjects
x Execute Execute file Access subobjects

Note that the r permission is not neccessary to read an object's permissions and attributes in all file systems (e.g. in POSIX, having x on its containing directory is sufficient).

acl_directory_inherit
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    nochange
                    parent
                    specify
                    clear

Synopsis: Access control list type for the affected file system

Example:

     
body acl template
     
     {
     acl_method => "overwrite";
     acl_type => "posix";
     acl_directory_inherit => "parent";
     
     aces => {
             "user:*:rwx:allow",
             "group:*:+rw:allow",
             "mask:rx:allow",
             "all:r"
             };
     }
     

Notes:

Directories have ACLs associated with them, but they also have the ability to inherit an ACL to sub-objects created within them. POSIX calls the former ACL type "access ACL" and the latter "default ACL", and we will use the same terminology.

The constraint acl_directory_inherit gives control over the default ACL of directories. The default ACL can be left unchanged (nochange), empty (clear), or be explicitly specified (specify). In addition, the default ACL can be set equal to the directory's access ACL (parent). This has the effect that child objects of the directory gets the same access ACL as the directory.

acl_method
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    append
                    overwrite

Synopsis: Editing method for access control list

Example:

     
body acl template
     
     {
     acl_method => "overwrite";
     acl_type => "posix";
     aces => { "user:*:rw:allow", "group:*:+r:allow", "all:"};
     }
     

Notes:

When defining an ACL, we can either use an existing ACL as the starting point, or state all entries of the ACL. If we just care about one entry, say that the superuser has full access, the method constraint can be set to append, which is the default. This has the effect that all the existing ACL entries that are not mentioned will be left unchanged. On the other hand, if method is set to overwrite, the resulting ACL will only contain the mentioned entries. When doing this, it is important to check that all the required ACL entries are set, e.g. owning user, group and all in Posix ACLs.

acl_type
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    generic
                    posix
                    ntfs

Synopsis: Access control list type for the affected file system

Example:

     
body acl template
     
     {
     acl_type => "ntfs";
     aces => { "user:Administrator:rwx(po)", "user:Auditor:r(o)"};
     }
     

Notes:

ACLs are supported on multiple platforms, which may have different sets of available permission flags. By using the constraint acl_type, we can specify which platform, or ACL API, we are targeting with the ACL. The default, generic, is designed to work on all supported platforms. However, if very specific permission flags are required, like “Take Ownership” on the NTFS platform, we must set acl_type to indicate the target platform. Currently, the supported values are posix and ntfs.

specify_inherit_aces
Type: slist

Allowed input range: ((user|group):[^:]+:[-=+,rwx()dtTabBpcoD]*(:(allow|deny))?)|((all|mask):[-=+,rwx()]*(:(allow|deny))?)

Synopsis: Native settings for access control entry

Example:

     body acl template
     {
     specify_inherit_aces => {  "all:r" };
     }

Notes:

specify_inherit_aces (optional) is a list of access control entries that are set on child objects. It is also parsed from left to right and allows multiple entries with same entity-type and id. Only valid if acl_directory_inherit is set to specify.

This is an acl which makes explicit setting for the acl inherited by new objects within a directory. It is included for those implementations that do not have a clear inheritance policy.


Next: , Previous: acl in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.2 changes (body template)

Type: (ext body)

hash
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    md5
                    sha1
                    sha224
                    sha256
                    sha384
                    sha512
                    best

Synopsis: Hash files for change detection

Example:

     
body changes example
     {
     hash => "md5";
     }
     

Notes:

The best option cross correlates the best two available algorithms known in the OpenSSL library.

report_changes
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    all
                    stats
                    content
                    none

Synopsis: Specify criteria for change warnings

Example:

     
body changes example
     {
     report_changes => "content";
     }
     

Notes:

Files can change in permissions and contents, i.e. external or internal attributes. If ‘all’ is chosen all attributes are checked.

update_hashes
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: Update hash values immediately after change warning

Example:

     
body changes example
     {
     update_hashes => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

If this is positive, file hashes should be updated as soon as a change is registered so that multiple warnings are not given about a single change. This applies to addition and removal too.

report_diffs
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: Generate reports summarizing the major differences between individual text files

Example:

     
body changes example
     {
     report_diffs => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

This feature is available only in enterprise levels Nova and above.

If true, CFEngine will log a `diff' summary of major changes to the files. It is not permitted to combine this promise with a depth search, since this would consume a dangerous amount of resources and would lead to unreadable reports.

The feature is intented as a informational summary, not as a version control function suitable for transaction control. If you want to do versioning on system files, you should keep a single repository for them and use CFEngine to synchronize changes from the repository source. Repositories should not be used to attempt to capture random changes of the system.


Next: , Previous: changes in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.3 copy_from (body template)

Type: (ext body)

source
Type: string

Allowed input range: .+

Synopsis: Reference source file from which to copy

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     source => "/path/to/source";
     }
     
     # or

     
body link_from example
     {
     source => "/path/to/source";
     }
     

Notes:

For remote copies this refers to the file name on the remote server.

servers
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [A-Za-z0-9_.:-]+

Synopsis: List of servers in order of preference from which to copy

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     servers => { "primary.example.org", "secondary.example.org", 
                      "tertiary.other.domain" };
     }
     

Notes:

The servers are tried in order until one of them succeeds.

collapse_destination_dir
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false Place files in subdirectories into the root destination directory during copy

Example:

     
body copy_from mycopy(from,server)
     
     {
     source      => "$(from)";
     servers     => { "$(server)" };
     collapse_destination_dir => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

Under normal operations, recursive copies cause CFEngine to track subdirectories of files. So, for instance, if we copy recurively from src to dest, then src/subdir/file will map to dest/subdir/file.

By setting this option to ‘true’, the promiser destination directory promises to aggregate files searched from all subdirectories into itself, i.e. a single destination directory.

compare
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    atime
                    mtime
                    ctime
                    digest
                    hash
                    exists
                    binary

Synopsis: Menu option policy for comparing source and image file attributes

Default value: mtime or ctime differs

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     
     {
     compare => "digest";
     }
     

Notes:

The default copy method is ‘mtime’ (modification time), meaning that the source file is copied to the destination (promiser) file, if the source file has been modified more recently than the destination.

The different options are:


copy_backup
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    timestamp

Synopsis: Menu option policy for file backup/version control

Default value: true

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     copy_backup => "timestamp";
     }
     

Notes:

Determines whether a backup of the previous version is kept on the system. This should be viewed in connection with the system repository, since a defined repository affects the location at which the backup is stored. See default_repository and repository for further details.

encrypt
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false use encrypted data stream to connect to remote host

Default value: false

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     servers  => { "remote-host.example.org" };
     encrypt => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

Client connections are encrypted with using a Blowfish randomly generated session key. The intial connection is encrypted using the public/private keys for the client and server hosts.

check_root
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false check permissions on the root directory when depth_search

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     check_root => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

When copying files recursively (by depth search), this flag determines whether the permissions of the root directory should be set from the root of the source. The default is to check only copied file objects and subdirectories within this root (false).

copylink_patterns
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of patterns matching files that should be copied instead of linked

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     copylink_patterns => { "special_node1", "other_node.*" };
     }
     

Notes:

The matches are performed on the last node of the filename, i.e. the file without its path. As windows does not support symbolic links, this feature is not available there.

copy_size
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,inf

Synopsis: Integer range of file sizes that may be copied

Default value: any size range

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     copy_size => irange("0","50000");
     } 
     

Notes:

The use of the irange function is optional. Ranges may also be specified as a comma separated numbers.

findertype
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    MacOSX

Synopsis: Menu option for default finder type on MacOSX

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     findertype => "MacOSX";
     }
     

Notes:

This applies only to the Macintosh OSX variants.

linkcopy_patterns
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of patterns matching files that should be replaced with symbolic links

Example:

     
body copy_from mycopy(from)
     
     {
     source            => "$(from)";
     linkcopy_patterns => { ".*" };
     }
     

Notes:

The pattern matches the last node filename (i.e. without the absolute path). Windows only supports hard links, see link_type.

link_type
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    symlink
                    hardlink
                    relative
                    absolute

Synopsis: Menu option for type of links to use when copying

Default value: symlink

Example:

     
body link_from example
     {
     link_type => "symlink";
     source => "/tmp/source";
     }
     

Notes:

What kind of link should be used to link files. Users are advised to be wary of `hard links' (see Unix manual pages for the ‘ln’ command). The behaviour of non-symbolic links is often precarious and unpredictable. However, hard links are the only supported type by windows.

Note that ‘symlink’ is synonymous with ‘absolute’ links, which are different from ‘relative’ links. Although all of these are symbolic links, the nomenclature here is defined such that ‘symlink’ and ‘absolute’ are equivalent . When verifying a link, choosing `relative' means that the link must be relative to the source, so relative and absolute links are mutually exclusive.

force_update
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false force copy update always

Default value: false

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     force_update => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

Warning: this is a non-convergent operation. Although the end point might stabilize in content, the operation will never quiesce. Use of this feature is not recommended except in exceptional circumstances since it creates a busy-dependency. If the copy is a network copy, the system will be disturbed by network disruptions.

force_ipv4
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false force use of ipv4 on ipv6 enabled network

Default value: false

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     force_ipv4 => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

IPv6 should be harmless to most users unless you have a partially or misconfigured setup.

portnumber
Type: int

Allowed input range: 1024,99999

Synopsis: Port number to connect to on server host

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     portnumber => "5308";
     }
     

Notes:

The standard or registered port number is tcp/5308. CFEngine does not presently use its registered udp port with the same number, but this could change in the future.

preserve
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false whether to preserve file permissions on copied file

Default value: false

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     preserve => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

Ensures the destination file (promiser) gets the same Unix mode as the source. This also applies to remote copies.

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0b3,Nova 2.0.0b1 (2010)

purge
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false purge files on client that do not match files on server when a depth_search is used

Default value: false

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     purge => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

Purging files is a potentially dangerous matter during a file copy it implies that any promiser (destination) file which is not matched by a source will be deleted. Since there is no source, this means the file will be irretrievable. Great care should be exercised when using this feature.

Note that purging will also delete backup files generated during the file copying if copy_backup is set to true.

stealth
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false whether to preserve time stamps on copied file

Default value: false

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     stealth => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

Preserves file access and modification times on the promiser files.

timeout
Type: int

Allowed input range: 1,3600

Synopsis: Connection timeout, seconds

Example:

     
body agent control
     {
     timeout => "10";
     }
     

Notes:

Timeout in seconds.

trustkey
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false trust public keys from remote server if previously unknown

Default value: false

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     trustkey => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

If the server's public key has not already been trusted, this allows us to accept the key in automated key-exchange.

Note that, as a simple security precaution, trustkey should normally be set to ‘false’, to avoid key exchange with a server one is not one hundred percent sure about, though the risks for a client are rather low. On the server-side however, trust is often granted to many clients or to a whole network in which possibly unauthorized parties might be able to obtain an IP address, thus the trust issue is most important on the server side.

As soon as a public key has been exchanged, the trust option has no effect. A machine that has been trusted remains trusted until its key is manually revoked by a system administrator. Keys are stored in WORKDIR/ppkeys.

type_check
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false compare file types before copying and require match

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     type_check => "false";
     }
     

Notes:

File types at source and destination should normally match in order for updates to overwrite them. This option allows this checking to be switched off.

verify
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false verify transferred file by hashing after copy (resource penalty)

Default value: false

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     verify => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

This is a highly resource intensive option, not recommended for large file transfers.


Next: , Previous: copy_from in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.4 create

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false whether to create non-existing file

Example:

files:

  "/path/plain_file"

     create =>   "true";

  "/path/dir/."
  
     create =>   "true";

Notes:

Directories are created by using the ‘/.’ to signify a directory type. Note that, if no permissions are specified, mode 600 is chosen for a file, and mode 755 is chosen for a directory. If you cannot accept these defaults, you should specify permissions.

Note that technically, ‘/.’ is a regular expression. However, it is used as a special case meaning "directory". See the filenames and regular expressions near the beginning of the section on files promises for a more complete discussion.

Note: In general, you should not use create with copy_from or link_from in files promises. These latter attributes automatically create the promised file, and using create may actually prevent the copy or link promise from being kept (since create acts first, which may affect file comparison or linking operations).


Next: , Previous: create in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.5 delete (body template)

Type: (ext body)

dirlinks
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    delete
                    tidy
                    keep

Synopsis: Menu option policy for dealing with symbolic links to directories during deletion

Example:

     
body delete example
     {
     dirlinks => "keep";
     }
     

Notes:

Links to directories are normally removed just like any other link or file objects. By keeping directory links, you preserve the logical directory structure of the file system so that a link to a directory is not removed but is treated as a directory to be descended into.

The value keep instructs CFEngine not to remove directory links. The values delete and tidy are synonymous, and instruct CFEngine to remove directory links.

Default value (only if body is present):

The default value only has significance if there is a delete body present. If there is no delete body, then files (and directory links) are not deleted.

dirlinks => delete

rmdirs
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false whether to delete empty directories during recursive deletion

Example:

     
body delete example
     {
     rmdirs => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

When deleting files recursively from a base directory, should we delete empty directories also, or keep the directory structure intact?

Note the parent directory of a search is not deleted in recursive deletions. In CFEngine 2 there was an option to delete the parent of the search, but now in CFEngine 3, you must code a separate promise to delete the single parent object.

     
bundle agent cleanup
     {
     files:
     
       # This will not delete the parent

     
       "/home/mark/tmp/testcopy" 
     
         delete => tidyfiles,
         file_select => changed_within_1_year,
         depth_search => recurse("inf");
     
       # Now delete the parent.

     
       "/home/mark/tmp/testcopy" 
         delete => tidyfiles;
     }
     
body delete tidyfiles
     {
     dirlinks => "delete";
     rmdirs   => "true";
     }
     
body file_select changed_within_1_year
     {
     mtime     => irange(ago(1,0,0,0,0,0),now);
     file_result => "mtime";
     }
     

Default value (only if body is present):

The default value only has significance if there is a delete body present. If there is no delete body, then files (and directories) are not deleted.

rmdirs => true


Next: , Previous: delete in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.6 depth_search (body template)

Type: (ext body)

depth
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Maximum depth level for search

Example:

     
body depth_search example
     {
     depth => "inf";
     }
     

Notes:

This was previous called `recurse' in earlier versions of CFEngine. Note that the value ‘inf’ may be used for an unlimited value.

When searching recursively from a directory, the parent directory is not part of the search. It is only the anchor point. To alter the parent, a separate non-recursive promise should be made.

exclude_dirs
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: List of regexes of directory names NOT to include in depth search

Example:

     
body depth_search 
     {
     # no dot directories

     exclude_dirs => { "\..*" };
     }
     

Notes:

Directory names are treated specially when searching recursively through a file system.

include_basedir
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false include the start/root dir of the search results

Example:

     
body depth_search example
     {
     include_basedir => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

When checking files recursively (with depth_search) the promiser is a directory. This parameter determines whether that initial directory should be considered part of the promise or simply a boundary which marks the edge of the search. If true, the promiser directory will also promise the same attributes as the files inside it.

include_dirs
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: List of regexes of directory names to include in depth search

Example:

     
body depth_search example
     {
     include_dirs => { "subdir1", "subdir2", "pattern.*" };
     }
     

Notes:

This is the complement of exclude_dirs.

rmdeadlinks
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false remove links that point to nowhere

Default value: false

Example:

     
body depth_search example
     {
     rmdeadlinks => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

If we find links that point to non-existence files, should we delete them or keep them?

traverse_links
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false traverse symbolic links to directories

Default value: false

Example:

     
body depth_search example
     {
     traverse_links => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

If this is true, cf-agent will treat symbolic links to directories as if they were directories. Normally this is considered a potentially dangerous assumption and links are not traversed.

xdev
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false exclude directories that are on different devices

Default value: false

Example:

     
body depth_search example
     {
     xdev => "true";
     }
     

Notes:


Next: , Previous: depth_search in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.7 edit_line

Type: (ext bundle) (Separate Bundle)


Next: , Previous: edit_line in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.8 edit_xml

Type: (ext bundle) (Separate Bundle)


Next: , Previous: edit_xml in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.9 edit_defaults (body template)

Type: (ext body)

edit_backup
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    timestamp
                    rotate

Synopsis: Menu option for backup policy on edit changes

Default value: true

Example:

     
body edit_defaults example
     {
     edit_backup => "timestamp";
     }
     

Notes:


empty_file_before_editing
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: Baseline memory model of file to zero/empty before commencing promised edits

Default value: false

Example:

     
body edit_defaults example
     {
     empty_file_before_editing => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

Emptying a file before reconstructing its contents according to a fixed recipe allows an ordered procedure to be convergent.

max_file_size
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Do not edit files bigger than this number of bytes

Example:

     
body edit_defaults example
     {
     max_file_size => "50K";
     }
     

Notes:

A local, per-file sanity check to make sure the file editing is sensible. If this is set to zero, the check is disabled and any size may be edited. The default value of max_file_size is determined by the global control body setting, See editfilesize in agent, whose default value is 100k.

recognize_join
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: Join together lines that end with a backslash, up to 4kB limit

Default value: false

Example:

     files:
     
       "/tmp/test_insert"
                 create => "true",
              edit_line => Insert("$(insert.v)"),
          edit_defaults => join;
     }
     
     #

     
body edit_defaults join
     {
     recognize_join => "true";
     }

Notes:

If set to true, this option allows CFEngine to process line based files with backslash continuation. The default is to not process continuation backslashes.

Back slash lines will only be concatenated if the file requires editing, and will not be restored. Restoration of the backslashes is not possible in a meaningful and convergent fashion.

rotate
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99

Synopsis: How many backups to store if 'rotate' edit_backup strategy is selected. Defaults to 1

Example:

     
body rename example
     {
     rotate => "4";
     }
     

Notes:

Used for log rotation. If the file is named foo and the ‘rotate’ attribute is set to ‘4’, as above, then initially foo is copied to foo.1 and the old file foo is zeroed out (that is, the inode of the original logfile does not change, but the original logfile will be empty after the rotation is complete).

The next time the promise is executed, foo.1 will be renamed foo.2, foo is again copied to foo.1 and the old file foo is again zeroed out.

Each time the promise is executed (and typically, the promise would be executed as guarded by time-based or file-size-based classes), the files are copied/zeroed or rotated as above until there are ‘rotate’ numbered files plus the one "main" file. In the example above, the file foo.3 will be renamed foo.4, but the old version of the file foo.4 will be deleted (that is, it "falls off the end" of the rotation).


Next: , Previous: edit_defaults in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.10 file_select (body template)

Type: (ext body)

leaf_name
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of regexes that match an acceptable name

Example:

     
body file_select example
     {
     leaf_name => { "S[0-9]+[a-zA-Z]+", "K[0-9]+[a-zA-Z]+" };
     file_result => "leaf_name";
     }
     

Notes:

This pattern matches only the node name of the file, not its path.

path_name
Type: slist

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: List of pathnames to match acceptable target

Example:

     
body file_select example
     {
     leaf_name => { "prog.pid", "prog.log" };
     path_name => { "/etc/.*", "/var/run/.*" };
     
     file_result => "leaf_name.path_name"
     }
     

Notes:

Path name and leaf name can be conveniently tested for separately by use of appropriate regular expressions.

search_mode
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [0-7augorwxst,+-]+

Synopsis: A list of mode masks for acceptable file permissions

Example:

     
     #######################################################

     #

     # Searching for permissions

     #

     #######################################################

     
     body common control
        {
        any::
     
           bundlesequence  => { 
"testbundle"  
                              };
     
        version => "1.2.3";
        }
     
     ############################################

     
bundle agent testbundle
     
     {
     files:
     
       "/home/mark/tmp/testcopy" 
     
         file_select => by_modes,
         transformer => "/bin/echo DETECTED $(this.promiser)",
         depth_search => recurse("inf");
     
     }
     
     ############################################

     
body file_select by_modes
     
     {
     search_mode => { "711" , "666" };
     file_result => "mode";
     }
     
     ############################################

     
body depth_search recurse(d)
     
     {
     depth => "$(d)";
     }
     

Notes:

The mode may be specified in symbolic or numerical form with ‘+’ and ‘-’ constraints. Note that concatenation ug+s implies u OR g, and u+g,u+s implies u AND g.

search_size
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,inf

Synopsis: Integer range of file sizes

Example:

     
body file_select example
     {
     search_size => irange("0","20k");
     file_result => "size";
     }
     

Notes:


search_owners
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of acceptable user names or ids for the file, or regexes to match

Example:

     
body file_select example
     {
     search_owners => { "mark", "jeang", "student_.*" };
     file_result => "owner";
     }
     

Notes:

A list of regular expressions any of which must match the entire userid, (that is, it is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions). Note that windows does not have user ids, only names.

search_groups
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of acceptable group names or ids for the file, or regexes to match

Example:

     
body file_select example
     {
     search_groups => { "users", "special_.*" };
     file_result => "group";
     }
     

Notes:

A list of regular expressions, any of which which must match the entire group, (that is, it is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions). Note that on windows, files do not have group associations.

search_bsdflags
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [+-]*[(arch|archived|nodump|opaque|sappnd|sappend|schg|schange|simmutable|sunlnk|sunlink|uappnd|uappend|uchg|uchange|uimmutable|uunlnk|uunlink)]+

Synopsis: String of flags for bsd file system flags expected set

Example:

     
body file_select xyz
     {
     search_bsdflags => "archived|dump";
     file_result => "bsdflags";
     }

Notes:

Extra BSD file system flags (these have no effect on non-BSD versions of CFEngine). See the manual page for chflags for more details.

ctime
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,2147483647

Synopsis: Range of change times (ctime) for acceptable files

Example:

     
body files_select example
     {
     ctime => irange(ago(1,0,0,0,0,0),now);
     file_result => "ctime";
     }
     

Notes:

The file's change time refers to both modification of content and attributes such as permissions. On windows, ctime refers to creation time.

mtime
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,2147483647

Synopsis: Range of modification times (mtime) for acceptable files

Example:

     
body files_select example
     
     {
     # Files modified more than one year ago (i.e., not in mtime range)

     mtime => irange(ago(1,0,0,0,0,0),now);
     file_result => "!mtime";
     }
     

Notes:

The file's modification time refers to both modification of content but not other attributes such as permissions.

atime
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,2147483647

Synopsis: Range of access times (atime) for acceptable files

Example:

     body file_select used_recently
     {
     
     # files accessed within the last hour

     atime     => irange(ago(0,0,0,1,0,0),now);
     file_result => "atime";
     }
     
     
body file_select not_used_much
     
     {
     # files not accessed since 00:00 1st Jan 2000 (in the local timezime)

     atime     => irange(on(2000,1,1,0,0,0),now);
     file_result => "!atime";
     }
     

Notes:

A range of times during which a file was accessed can be specified in a file_select body. (Like file filters in CFEngine 2.)

exec_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Matches file if this regular expression matches any full line returned by the command

Example:

     
body file_select example
     {
     exec_regex => "SPECIAL_LINE: .*";
     exec_program => "/path/test_program $(this.promiser)";
     file_result => "exec_program.exec_regex";
     }
     

Notes:

The regular expression must be used in conjunction with the exec_program test. In this way the program must both return exit status 0 and its output must match the regular expression. The entire output must be matched (that is, as if the regex is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

exec_program
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Execute this command on each file and match if the exit status is zero

Example:

     
body file_select example
     {
     exec_program => "/path/test_program $(this.promiser)";
     file_result => "exec_program";
     }
     

Notes:

This is part of the customizable file search criteria. If the user-defined program returns exit status 0, the file is considered matched.

file_types
Type: (option list)

Allowed input range:

                    plain
                    reg
                    symlink
                    dir
                    socket
                    fifo
                    door
                    char
                    block

Synopsis: List of acceptable file types from menu choices

Example:

     
body file_select filter
     {
     file_types => { "plain","symlink" };
     
     file_result => "file_types";
     }
     

Notes:

File types vary in details between operating systems. The main POSIX types are provided here as menu options, with ‘reg’ being a synonym for ‘plain’ (meaning, in both cases, not one of the "special" file types).

issymlinkto
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of regular expressions to match file objects

Example:

     
body file_select example
     {
     issymlinkto => { "/etc/[^/]*", "/etc/init\.d/[a-z0-9]*" };
     }
     

Notes:

A list of regular expressions. If the file is a symbolic link which points to files matched by one of these expressions, the file will be selected. As windows does not support symbolic links, this attribute is not applicable there.

file_result
Type: string

Allowed input range: [!*(leaf_name|path_name|file_types|mode|size|owner|group|atime|ctime|mtime|issymlinkto|exec_regex|exec_program|bsdflags)[|&.]*]*

Synopsis: Logical expression combining classes defined by file search criteria

Example:

     
body file_select year_or_less
     
     {
     mtime       => irange(ago(1,0,0,0,0,0),now);  
     file_result => "mtime"; 
     }
     
body file_select my_pdf_files_morethan1dayold
     
     {
     mtime         => irange(ago(0,0,1,0,0,0),now);  
     leaf_name     => { ".*\.pdf" , ".*\.fdf" };
     search_owners => { "mark" };
     
     file_result => "owner.leaf_name.!mtime";
     }
     

Notes:

Sets the criteria for file selection outcome during file searches. The syntax is the same as for a class expression, since the file selection is a classification of the file-search in the same way that system classes are a classification of the abstract host-search (that is, you may specify a boolean expression involving any of the file-matching components). In this way, you may specify arbitrarily complex file-matching parameters, such as what is shown above, "is owned by mark, has the extension '.pdf' or '.fdf', and whose modification time is not between 1 day ago and now (that is, it is older than 1 day)".

Items in the boolean expression in file_result must be from the following list:


Next: , Previous: file_select in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.11 link_from (body template)

Type: (ext body)

copy_patterns
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A set of patterns that should be copied ansd synchronized instead of linked

Example:

     
body link_from example
     {
     copy_patterns =>  { "special_node1", "/path/special_node2" };
     }
     

Notes:

During the linking of files, it is sometimes useful to buffer changes with an actual copy, especially if the link is to an emphemeral file system. This list of patterns matches files that arise during a linking policy. A positive match means that the file should be copied and updated by modification time.

link_children
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false whether to link all directory's children to source originals

Default value: false

Example:

     
body link_from example
     {
     link_children => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

If the promiser is a directory, instead of copying the children, link them to the source.

link_type
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    symlink
                    hardlink
                    relative
                    absolute

Synopsis: The type of link used to alias the file

Default value: symlink

Example:

     
body link_from example
     {
     link_type => "symlink";
     source => "/tmp/source";
     }
     

Notes:

What kind of link should be used to link files. Users are advised to be wary of `hard links' (see Unix manual pages for the ‘ln’ command). The behaviour of non-symbolic links is often precarious and unpredictable. However, hard links are the only supported type by windows.

Note that ‘symlink’ is synonymous with ‘absolute’ links, which are different from ‘relative’ links. Although all of these are symbolic links, the nomenclature here is defined such that ‘symlink’ and ‘absolute’ are equivalent . When verifying a link, choosing `relative' means that the link must be relative to the source, so relative and absolute links are mutually exclusive.

source
Type: string

Allowed input range: .+

Synopsis: The source file to which the link should point

Example:

     
body copy_from example
     {
     source => "/path/to/source";
     }
     
     # or

     
body link_from example
     {
     source => "/path/to/source";
     }
     

Notes:

For remote copies this refers to the file name on the remote server.

when_linking_children
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    override_file
                    if_no_such_file

Synopsis: Policy for overriding existing files when linking directories of children

Example:

     
body link_from example
     {
     when_linking_children => "if_no_such_file";
     }
     

Notes:

The options refer to what happens if the directory exists already and is already partially populated with files. If the directory being copied from contains a file with the same name as that of a link to be created, we must decide whether to override the existing destination object with a link or simply omit the automatic linkage for files that already exist. The latter case can be used to make a copy of one directory with certain fields overridden.

when_no_source
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    force
                    delete
                    nop

Synopsis: Behaviour when the source file to link to does not exist

Default value: nop

Example:

     
body link_from example
     {
     when_no_source => "force";
     }
     

Notes:

If we try to create a link to a file that does not exist a link, how should CFEngine respond? The options are to force the creation to a file that does not (yet) exist, delete any existing link, or do nothing.


Next: , Previous: link_from in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.12 move_obstructions

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false whether to move obstructions to file-object creation

Example:

files:

  "/tmp/testcopy" 

    copy_from    => mycopy("/tmp/source"),
    move_obstructions => "true",
    depth_search => recurse("inf");

Notes:

If we have promised to make file X a link, but it already exists as a file, or vice-versa, or if a file is blocking the creation of a directory etc, then normally CFEngine will report an error. If this is set, existing objects will be moved aside to allow the system to heal without intervention. Files and directories are saved/renamed, but symbolic links are deleted.

Note that symbolic links for directories are treated as directories, not links. This behaviour can be discussed, but the aim is to err on the side of caution. Some operating systems (Solaris) use symbolic links in path names. Copying to a directory could then result in renaming of the important link, if the behaviour were different.


Next: , Previous: move_obstructions in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.13 pathtype

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               literal
               regex
               guess

Synopsis: Menu option for interpreting promiser file object

Example:

files:

   "/var/lib\d"
      pathtype => "guess", 	# best guess (default)
         perms => system;

   "/var/lib\d"
      pathtype => "regex",	# force regex interpretation
         perms => system;

   "/var/.*/lib"

      pathtype => "literal", 	# force literal interpretation
         perms => system;

Notes:

By default, CFEngine makes an educated guess as to whether the promise pathname involves a regular expression or not. This guesswork is needed due to cross-platform differences in filename interpretation.

If CFEngine guesses (or is told) that the pathname uses a regular expression pattern, it will undertake a file search to find possible matches. This can consume significant resources, and so the ‘guess’ option will always try to optimize this. Guesswork is, however, imperfect, so you have the option to declare your intention.

If the keyword literal is invoked, a path will be treated as a literal string regardless of what characters is contains. If it is declared ‘regex’, it will be treated as a pattern to match.

Note that CFEngine splits the promiser up into path links before matching, so that each link in the path chain is matched separately. Thus it it meaningless to have a ‘/’ in a regular expression, as the comparison will never see this character.

In the examples above, at least one case implies an iteration over all files/directories matching the regular expression, while the last case means a single literal object with a name composed of dots and stars.

Furthermore, on Windows paths using regex must use the forward slash (/) as path separator, since the backward slash has a special meaning in a regular expression. Literal paths may also use backslash (\) as a path separator, See Regular expressions in paths, for more information.


Next: , Previous: pathtype in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.14 perms (body template)

Type: (ext body)

bsdflags
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [+-]*[(arch|archived|nodump|opaque|sappnd|sappend|schg|schange|simmutable|sunlnk|sunlink|uappnd|uappend|uchg|uchange|uimmutable|uunlnk|uunlink)]+

Synopsis: List of menu options for bsd file system flags to set

Example:

     
body perms example
     
     {
     bsdflags => { "uappnd","uchg","uunlnk","nodump",
                   "opaque","sappnd","schg","sunlnk" };
     }
     

Notes:

The BSD Unices (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD) and MacOSX have additional filesystem flags which can be set. Refer to the BSD chflags documentation for this.

groups
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$.-]+

Synopsis: List of acceptable groups of group ids, first is change target

Example:

     body perms example
     {
     groups => { "users", "administrators" };
     }
     

Notes:

The first named group is the list is the defaul that will be configured if the file does not match an element of the list. The reserved word ‘none’ may be used to match files that are not owned by a registered group. On windows, files do not have file groups associated with them and thus this attribute is ignored.

In CFEngine Nova, ACLs may be used in place for this.

mode
Type: string

Allowed input range: [0-7augorwxst,+-]+

Synopsis: File permissions (like posix chmod)

Example:

     
body perms example
     {
     mode => "a+rx,o+w";
     }
     

Notes:

The mode string may be symbolic or numerical, like chmod. This is ignored on windows, as the permission model uses ACLs. ACLs are supported by CFEngine Nova.

owners
Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$.-]+

Synopsis: List of acceptable owners or user ids, first is change target

Example:

     
body perms example
     {
     owners => { "mark", "wwwrun", "jeang" };
     }
     

Notes:

The first user is the reference value that CFEngine will set the file to if none of the list items matches the true state of the file. The reserved word ‘none’ may be used to match files that are not owned by a registered user.

On windows, users can only take ownership of files, never give it. Thus, the first user in the list should be the user running the CFEngine process (usually “Administrator”). Additionally, some groups may be owners on windows (such as the “Administrators” group).

rxdirs
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false add execute flag for directories if read flag is set

Example:

     
body perms rxdirs
     {
     rxdirs => "false";
     }
     

Notes:

Default behaviour is to set the ‘x’ flag on directories automatically if the ‘r’ flag is specified when specifying multiple files in a single promise. This is ignored on windows, as the permission model uses ACLs.


Next: , Previous: perms in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.15 rename (body template)

Type: (ext body)

disable
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false automatically rename and remove permissions

Default value: false

Example:

     
body rename example
     {
     disable => "true"; 
     disable_suffix => ".nuked";
     }
     

Notes:

Disabling a file means making is impotent in the context in which it has an effect. For executables this means preventing execution, for an information file it means making the file unreadable.

disable_mode
Type: string

Allowed input range: [0-7augorwxst,+-]+

Synopsis: The permissions to set when a file is disabled

Example:

     
body rename example
     {
     disable_mode => "0600"; 
     }
     

Notes:

To disable an executable it is not enough to rename it, you should also remove the executable flag.

disable_suffix
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The suffix to add to files when disabling (.cfdisabled)

Example:

     
body rename example
     {
     disable => "true"; 
     disable_suffix => ".nuked";
     }
     

Notes:

To make disabled files in a particular manner, use this string suffix. The default value is .cf-disabled.

newname
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The desired name for the current file

Example:

     
body rename example(s)
     {
     newname => "$(s)";
     }
     

Notes:


rotate
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99

Synopsis: Maximum number of file rotations to keep

Example:

     
body rename example
     {
     rotate => "4";
     }
     

Notes:

Used for log rotation. If the file is named foo and the ‘rotate’ attribute is set to ‘4’, as above, then initially foo is copied to foo.1 and the old file foo is zeroed out (that is, the inode of the original logfile does not change, but the original logfile will be empty after the rotation is complete).

The next time the promise is executed, foo.1 will be renamed foo.2, foo is again copied to foo.1 and the old file foo is again zeroed out.

Each time the promise is executed (and typically, the promise would be executed as guarded by time-based or file-size-based classes), the files are copied/zeroed or rotated as above until there are ‘rotate’ numbered files plus the one "main" file. In the example above, the file foo.3 will be renamed foo.4, but the old version of the file foo.4 will be deleted (that is, it "falls off the end" of the rotation).


Next: , Previous: rename in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.16 repository

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Name of a repository for versioning

Example:

files:

 "/path/file"

   copy_from => source,
   repository => "/var/cfengine/repository";

Notes:

A local repository for this object, overrides the default, See default_repository.

Note that when a repository is specified, the files are stored using the canonified directory name of the original file, concatenated with the name of the file. So, for example, /usr/local/etc/postfix.conf would ordinarily be stored in an alternative repository as _usr_local_etc_postfix.conf.cfsaved.


Next: , Previous: repository in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.17 touch

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Synopsis: true/false whether to touch time stamps on file

Example:

files:

 "/path/file"

   touch => "true";

Notes:


Previous: touch in files, Up: files in agent promises

7.4.18 transformer

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Command (with full path) used to transform current file (no shell wrapper used)

Example:

files:
  "/home/mark/tmp/testcopy"

    file_select => pdf_files,
    transformer => "/usr/bin/gzip $(this.promiser)",
    depth_search => recurse("inf");

 classes:
    "do_update" expression => isnewerthan("/etc/postfix/alias",
                                          "/etc/postfix/alias.cdb");

 files:
    "/etc/postfix/alias.cdb"
       create => "true",		# Must have this!
       transformer => "/usr/sbin/postalias /etc/postfix/alias",
       ifvarclass => "do_update";

Notes:

A command to execute, usually for the promised file to transform it to something else (but possibly to create the promised file based on a different origin file). The examples above show both types of promises.

The promiser file must exist in order to effect the transformer.

In the first example, the promise is made on the file that we wish to transform. If the promised file exists, the transformer will change the file to a compressed version (and the next time CFEngine runs, the promised file will no longer exist, because it now has the ‘.gz’ extension).

In the second example, the promise is made on the file resulting from the transformation (and the promise is conditional on the original file being newer than the result file). In this case, we must specify ‘create => true’. If we do not, then if the promised file is removed, the transformer will not be executed.

Note also that if you use the $(this.promiser) variable or other variable in this command, and the file object contains spaces you should quote the variable, e.g.

    transformer => "/usr/bin/gzip \"$(this.promiser)\"",

Note also that the transformer does not actually need to change the file. You can, for example, simply report on the existence of files with

    transformer => "/bin/echo I found a file named $(this.promiser)",

The file streams stdout and stderr are redirected by CFEngine, and will not appear in any output unless you run cf-agent with the ‘-v’ switch (or enable verbose in an outputs promise).

It is possible to set classes based on the return code of a transformer-command in in a very flexible way. See the kept_returncodes, repaired_returncodes and failed_returncodes attributes.

Finally, you should note that the command is not run in a shell - which means that you cannot perform file redirection or create pipelines.


Next: , Previous: files in agent promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.5 * promises in ‘edit_line


Most promise bodies belong to one and only one type of promise. The generic `*' promises bodies can be added to any promise type in cf-agent, hence the star which means (for this documentation only) `any'.

The body attributes described below can thus be added to any promise rule in the agent. These promises address matters of a completely general nature – how CFEngine behaves as it attempts to keep a promise, comments about the promises etc.


files:

   "/etc/passwd" -> "Security team"

      perms  => p("644"),
      action => justcheck,
      comment => "This was decided in internal procedures XYZ123";



Previous: * in edit_line promises, Up: * in edit_line promises

7.5.1 select_region (body template)

Type: (ext body)

include_start_delimiter
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: Whether to include the section delimiter

Default value: false

Example:

     
body select_region MySection(x)
     {
     select_start => "\[$(x)\]";
     select_end => "\[.*\]";
     include_start_delimiter => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

In a sectioned file, the line that marks the opening of a section is not normally included in the defined region (that is, it is recognized as a delimiter, but it is not included as one of the lines available for editing). Setting this option to true makes it included. e.g. in this example

     [My section]
     one
     two
     three
the section does not normally include the line ‘[My section]’. By setting include_start_delimiter to ‘true’it would be possible for example, to delete the entire section, including the section header. If however include_start_delimiter is ‘false’, the contents of the section could be deleted, but the header would be unaffected by any delete_lines promises. See the next section on include_start_delimiter for further details.

History: This attribute was introduced in CFEngine version 3.0.5 (2010)

include_end_delimiter
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: Whether to include the section delimiter

Default value: false

Example:

     
body select_region BracketSection(x)
     {
     select_start => "$(x) \{";
     select_end => "}";
     include_end_delimiter => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

In a sectioned file, the line that marks the end of a section is not normally included in the defined region (that is, it is recognized as a delimiter, but it is not included as one of the lines available for editing). Setting this option to true makes it included. e.g. in this example

     /var/log/mail.log {
         monthly
         missingok
         notifempty
         rotate 7
         }
the section does not normally include the line containing ‘}’. By setting include_end_delimiter to ‘true’it would be possible for example, to delete the entire section, including the section trailer. If however include_end_delimiter is ‘false’, the contents of the section could be deleted, but the header would be unaffected by any delete_lines promises.

The use of include_start_delimiter and include_end_delimiter depend on the type of sections you are dealing with, and what you want to do with them. Note that sections can be bounded at both the start and end (as in the example above) or just at the start (as in the sample shown in include_start_delimiter).

History: This attribute was introduced in CFEngine version 3.0.5 (2010)

select_start
Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Regular expression matching start of edit region

Example:

     
body select_region example(x)
     
     {
     select_start => "\[$(x)\]";
     select_end => "\[.*\]";
     }
     

Notes:

See also select_end. These delimiters mark out the region of a file to be edited. In the example, it is assumed that the file has section markers.

          [section 1]
          
          lines.
          lines...
          
          
          [section 2]
          
          lines ....
          etc..
          

The start marker includes the first matched line.

select_end
Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Regular expression matches end of edit region from start

Example:

     
body select_region example(x)
     
     {
     select_start => "\[$(x)\]";
     select_end => "\[.*\]";
     }
     

Notes:

See also select_start. These delimiters mark out the region of a file to be edited. In the example, it is assumed that the file has section markes

          [section 1]
          
          lines.
          lines...
          
          
          [section 2]
          
          lines ....
          etc..
          

If you want to match from a starting location to the end of the file (even if there are other lines matching select_start intervening), then just omit the select_end promise and the selected region will run to the end of the file.


Next: , Previous: * in edit_line promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.6 delete_lines promises in ‘edit_line


This promise assures that certain lines matching regular expression patterns exactly will not be present in a text file. If the lines are found, the default promise is to remove them (this behavior may be modified with further pattern matching in delete_select and/or changed with not_matching).


bundle edit_line example
  {
  delete_lines:

    "olduser:.*";

  }

Note that typically, only a single line is specified in each delete_lines promise (you may of course have multiple promises that each delete a line).

It is also possible to specify multi-line delete_lines promises. However, these promises will only delete those lines if all the lines are present in the file in exactly the same order as specified in the promise (with no intervening lines). That is, all the lines must match as a unit for the delete_lines promise to be kept.


If the promiser is contains multiple lines, then CFEngine assumes that all of the lines must exist as a contiguous block in order to be deletes. This gives ‘preserve_block’ semantics to any multiline delete_lines promise.


Next: , Previous: delete_lines in edit_line promises, Up: delete_lines in edit_line promises

7.6.1 delete_select (body template)

Type: (ext body)

delete_if_startwith_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Delete line if it starts with a string in the list

Example:

     
body delete_select example(s)
     {
     delete_if_startwith_from_list => { @(s) };
     }
     

Notes:

Delete lines from a file if they begin with the sub-strings listed. Note that this determination is made only on promised lines (that is, this attribute modifies the selection criteria, it does not make the initial selection). Therefore, if the file contains the following lines:

     start alpha igniter
     start beta igniter
     init alpha burner
     init beta burner
     stop beta igniter
     stop alpha igniter
     stop alpha burner

Then the following promise initially selects the four lines containing ‘alpha’, but is moderated by the delete_select attribute. Thus, the promise will delete only the first and third lines of the file:

     bundle edit_line alpha
     {
     delete_lines:
         ".*alpha.*"
     	delete_select => starters;
     }
     
body delete_select starters
     {
         delete_if_startwith_from_list => { "begin", "start", "init" };
     }

delete_if_not_startwith_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Delete line if it DOES NOT start with a string in the list

Example:

     
body delete_select example(s)
     {
     delete_if_not_startwith_from_list => { @(s) };
     }
     

Notes:

Delete lines from a file unless they start with the sub-strings in the list given. Note that this determination is made only on promised lines (that is, this attribute modifies the selection criteria, it does not make the initial selection).

delete_if_match_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Delete line if it fully matches a regex in the list

Example:

     
body delete_select example(s)
     {
     delete_if_match_from_list => { @(s) };
     }
     

Notes:

Delete lines from a file if the lines completely match any of the regular expressions listed (that is, the regular expression is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

Note that the “match” determination is made only on promised lines (that is, this attribute modifies the selection criteria, it does not make the initial selection).

delete_if_not_match_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Delete line if it DOES NOT fully match a regex in the list

Example:

     
body delete_select example(s)
     {
     delete_if_not_match_from_list => { @(s) };
     }
     

Notes:

Delete lines from a file unless the lines completely match any of the regular expressions listed (that is, the regular expressions are anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

Note that the “match” determination is made only on promised lines (that is, this attribute modifies the selection criteria, it does not make the initial selection).

delete_if_contains_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Delete line if a regex in the list match a line fragment

Example:

     
body delete_select example(s)
     {
     delete_if_contains_from_list => { @(s) };
     }
     

Notes:

Delete lines from a file if they contain the sub-strings listed. Note that this determination is made only on promised lines (that is, this attribute modifies the selection criteria, it does not make the initial selection).

delete_if_not_contains_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Delete line if a regex in the list DOES NOT match a line fragment

Example:

     
body delete_select discard(s)
     {
     delete_if_not_contains_from_list => { "substring1", "substring2" };
     }
     

Notes:

Delete lines from the file which do not contain the sub-strings listed. Note that this determination is made only on promised lines (that is, this attribute modifies the selection criteria, it does not make the initial selection).


Previous: delete_select in delete_lines, Up: delete_lines in edit_line promises

7.6.2 not_matching

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false negate match criterion

Example:

delete_lines:

  # edit /etc/passwd - account names that are not "mark" or "root"


  "(mark|root):.*" not_matching => "true";

Notes:

When this option is true, it negates the pattern match of the promised lines (for convenience). NOTE that this does not negate any condition expressed in delete_select - it only negates the match of the initially promised lines.

Note, this makes no sense for multi-line deletions and is therefore disallowed. Either a multi-line promiser matches and it should be removed (i.e. not_matching is false) or it doesn't match the whole thing and the ordered lines have no meaning anymore as an entity. In this case, the lines can be separately stated.


Next: , Previous: delete_lines in edit_line promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.7 insert_lines promises in ‘edit_line


This promise is part of the line-editing model. It inserts lines into the file at a specified location. The location is determined by body-attributes. The promise object referred to can be a literal line of a file-reference from which to read lines.

     
      insert_lines:
     
        "literal line or file reference"
     
           location => location_body,
           ...;
     


body common control

{
any::

  bundlesequence  => {
                     example
                     };   
}

#######################################################


bundle agent example

{
files:

  "/var/spool/cron/crontabs/root"

     edit_line => addline;
}

#######################################################

# For the library

#######################################################


bundle edit_line addline

{
insert_lines:

 "0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * * /var/cfengine/bin/cf-execd -F";

}


By parameterizing the editing bundle, one can make generic and reusable editing bundles.

Note, when inserting multiple lines anchored to a particular place in a file, be careful with your intuition. If your intention is to insert a set of lines in a given order after a marker, then the following is incorrect:

bundle edit_line x
{
insert_lines:

  "line one" location => myloc;
  "line two" location => myloc;
}

body location myloc

{
select_line_matching => "# Right here.*";
before_after => "after";
}

This will reverse the order of the lines and will not converge, since the anchoring after the marker applies independently for each new line. This is not a bug, but an error of logic.

What was probably intended was to add multiple ordered lines after the marker, which should be a single correlated promise.

bundle edit_line x
{
insert_lines:
 
 "line one$(const.n)line two" location => myloc;

}

Or:
bundle edit_line x
{
insert_lines:
 
  "line one
line two" location => myloc;

}


Next: , Previous: insert_lines in edit_line promises, Up: insert_lines in edit_line promises

7.7.1 expand_scalars

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: Expand any unexpanded variables

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "testbundle"  };
}

########################################################


bundle agent testbundle

{
files:

  "/home/mark/tmp/file_based_on_template"

       create    => "true",
       edit_line => ExpandMeFrom("/tmp/source_template");


}

########################################################


bundle edit_line ExpandMeFrom(template)
{
insert_lines:

   "$(template)"

          insert_type => "file",
       expand_scalars => "true";
}

Notes:

A way of incorporating templates with variable expansion into file operations. Variables should be named and scoped appropriately for the bundle in which this promise is made. i.e. you should qualify the variables with the bundle in which they are defined:

$(bundle.variable)
$(sys.host)
$(mon.www_in)

In CFEngine 2 editfiles this was called ‘ExpandVariables’.


Next: , Previous: expand_scalars in insert_lines, Up: insert_lines in edit_line promises

7.7.2 insert_type

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               literal
               string
               file
               preserve_block

Default value: literal

Synopsis: Type of object the promiser string refers to

Example:

bundle edit_line lynryd_skynyrd
{
 vars:
    "keepers" slist => { "Won't you give me", "Gimme three steps" };

 insert_lines:

     "And you'll never see me no more"
       insert_type => "literal";	# the default

     "/song/lyrics"
       insert_type => "file",		# read selected lines from /song/lyrics
       insert_select => keep("@{keepers}");
}

body insert_select keep(s)
{
insert_if_startwith_from_list => { "@(s)" };
}

This will ensure that the following lines are inserted into the promised file:

And you'll never see me no more
Gimme three steps, Mister
Gimme three steps towards the door
Gimme three steps

Notes:

The default is to treat the promiser as a literal string of convergent lines (the values literal and string are synonymonous).

The value file is used to tell CFEngine that the string is non-literal and should be interpreted as a filename from which to import lines, see insert_select

The default behaviour assumes that multi-line entries are not ordered specifically, and should be treated as a collection of lines of text and not as a single unbroken object. If the option ‘preserve_block’ is used, then CFEngine will not break up multiple lines into individual, non-ordered objects, so that the block of text will be preserved. However, due to convergence constraints, if all the lines exist at the start, CFEngine will not see the need to add any new text. If any one of the lines is missing from the block, then the whole block will be added as a single entity. (This is the only way to achieve convergent behaviour in block editing.)


Next: , Previous: insert_type in insert_lines, Up: insert_lines in edit_line promises

7.7.3 insert_select (body template)

Type: (ext body)

insert_if_startwith_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Insert line if it starts with a string in the list

Example:

     
body insert_select example
     {
     insert_if_startwith_from_list => { "find_me_1", "find_me_2" };
     }
     

Notes:

The list contains literal strings to search for in the secondary file (the file being read via the insert_type attribute, not the main file being edited). If a string with matching starting characters is found, then that line from the secondary file will be inserted at the present location in the primary file.

insert_if_startswith_from_list is ignored unless insert_type is file (see insert_type in insert_lines), or the promiser is a multi-line block.

insert_if_not_startwith_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Insert line if it DOES NOT start with a string in the list

Example:

     
body insert_select example
     {
     insert_if_not_startwith_from_list => { "find_me_1", "find_me_2" };
     }
     

Notes:

The complement of insert_if_startwith_from_list. If the start of a line does not match one of the strings, that line is inserted into the file being edited.

insert_if_not_startswith_from_list is ignored unless insert_type is file (see insert_type in insert_lines), or the promiser is a multi-line block.

insert_if_match_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Insert line if it fully matches a regex in the list

Example:

     
body insert_select example
     {
     insert_if_match_from_list => { ".*find_.*_1.*", ".*find_.*_2.*" };
     }
     

Notes:

The list contains literal strings to search for in the secondary file (the file being read via the insert_type attribute, not the main file being edited). If the regex matches a complete line of the file, that line from the secondary file will be inserted at the present location in the primary file. That is, the regex's in the list are anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

insert_if_match_from_list is ignored unless insert_type is file, see insert_type in insert_lines), or the promiser is a multi-line block.

insert_if_not_match_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Insert line if it DOES NOT fully match a regex in the list

Example:

     
body insert_select example
     {
     insert_if_not_match_from_list => { ".*find_.*_1.*", ".*find_.*_2.*" };
     }
     

Notes:

The complement of insert_if_match_from_list. If the line does not match a line in the secondary file, it is inserted into the file being edited.

insert_if_not_match_from_list is ignored unless insert_type is file (see insert_type in insert_lines), or the promiser is a multi-line block.

insert_if_contains_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Insert line if a regex in the list match a line fragment

Example:

     
body insert_select example
     {
     insert_if_contains_from_list => { "find_me_1", "find_me_2" };
     }
     

Notes:

The list contains literal strings to search for in the secondary file (the file being read via the insert_type attribute, not the main file being edited). If the string is found in a line of the file, that line from the secondary file will be inserted at the present location in the primary file.

insert_if_contains_from_list is ignored unless insert_type is file (see insert_type in insert_lines), or the promiser is a multi-line block.

insert_if_not_contains_from_list
Type: slist

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Insert line if a regex in the list DOES NOT match a line fragment

Example:

     
body insert_select example
     {
     insert_if_not_contains_from_list => { "find_me_1", "find_me_2" };
     }
     

Notes:

The complement of insert_if_contains_from_list. If the line is not found in the secondary file, it is inserted into the file being edited.

insert_if_not_contains_from_list is ignored unless insert_type is file (see insert_type in insert_lines), or the promiser is a multi-line block.


Next: , Previous: insert_select in insert_lines, Up: insert_lines in edit_line promises

7.7.4 location (body template)

Type: (ext body)

before_after
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    before
                    after

Synopsis: Menu option, point cursor before of after matched line

Default value: after

Example:

     
body location append
     
     {
     #...

     before_after => "before";
     }
     

Notes:

Determines whether an edit will occur before or after the currently matched line.

first_last
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    first
                    last

Synopsis: Menu option, choose first or last occurrence of match in file

Default value: last

Example:

     
body location example
     {
     first_last => "last";
     }
     

Notes:

In multiple matches, decide whether the first or last occurrence of the matching pattern in the case affected by the change. In principle this could be generalized to more cases but this seems like a fragile quality to evaluate, and only these two cases are deemed of reproducible significance.

select_line_matching
Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Regular expression for matching file line location

Example:

     
     # Editing

     
body location example
     {
     select_line_matching => "Expression match.* whole line";
     }
     
     # Measurement promises

     
body match_value example
     {
     select_line_matching => "Expression match.* whole line";
     }
     

Notes:

The expression must match a whole line, not a fragment within a line (that is, it is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

This attribute is mutually exclusive of select_line_number.


Previous: location in insert_lines, Up: insert_lines in edit_line promises

7.7.5 whitespace_policy

Type: (option list)

Allowed input range:

               ignore_leading
               ignore_trailing
               ignore_embedded
               exact_match

Synopsis: Criteria for matching and recognizing existing lines

Example:

bundle edit_line Insert(service, filename)
{
insert_lines:

  "$(service).* $(filename)"

      whitespace_policy => { "ignore_trailing", "ignore_embedded" };

}

Notes:

The white space matching policy applies only to insert_lines, as a convenience. It works by rewriting the insert string as a regular expression when matching lines (that is, when determining if the line is already in the file), but leaving the string as specified when actually inserting it.

Simply put, the `does this line exist' test will be changed to a regexp match. The line being tested will optionally have "\s*" prepended or appended if ignore_leading or ignore_trailing is specified, and if ignore_imbedded is used then all embedded whitespaces are replaced with ‘\s+’. You may specify more than one whitespace_policy – they are additive.

Any regular expression meta-characters that exist in your input line will be escaped, so that you can still, for example, safely insert a line like ‘"authpriv.* /var/log/something"’ into your syslog config file.

History: This attribute was introduced in CFEngine version 3.0.5 (2010)

Default value:

exact_match (so unless you use this new attribute, your insert_line promises should behave as before.


Next: , Previous: insert_lines in edit_line promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.8 field_edits promises in ‘edit_line


Certain types of text file (e.g. the passwd and group files in Unix) are tabular in nature, with field separators (e.g. ‘:’ or ‘,’). This promise assumes a parameterizable model for editing the fields of such files, using a regular expression to separate major fields and a character to separate sub-fields. First you match the line with a regular expression. The regular expression must match the entire line (that is, it is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions). Then a field_edits body describes the separators for fields and one level of sub-fields, along with policies for editing these fields, ordering the items within them etc.

     
     field_edits:
     
         "regex matching line"
     
                   edit_field => body;
     


bundle agent example

{
vars:

 "userset" slist => { "one-x", "two-x", "three-x" };

files:

  "/tmp/passwd"

       create    => "true",
       edit_line => SetUserParam("mark","6","/set/this/shell");

  "/tmp/group"

       create    => "true",
       edit_line => AppendUserParam("root","4","@(userset)");
}

########################################################


bundle edit_line SetUserParam(user,field,val)
  {
  field_edits:

   "$(user):.*"

      # Set field of the file to parameter


      edit_field => col(":","$(field)","$(val)","set");
  }

########################################################


bundle edit_line AppendUserParam(user,field,allusers)
  {
  vars:

    "val" slist => { @(allusers) };

  field_edits:

   "$(user):.*"

      # Set field of the file to parameter


      edit_field => col(":","$(field)","$(val)","alphanum");

  }

########################################

# Bodies

########################################


body edit_field col(split,col,newval,method)

{
field_separator => "$(split)";
select_field    => "$(col)";
value_separator  => ",";
field_value     => "$(newval)";
field_operation => "$(method)";
extend_fields => "true";
}


Field editing allows us to edit tabular files in a unique way, adding and removing data from addressable fields. The passwd and group files are classic examples of tabular files, but there are many ways to use this feature, e.g. edit a string

VARIABLE="one two three"

View this line as a tabular line separated by ‘"’ and with sub-separator given by the space.


Previous: field_edits in edit_line promises, Up: field_edits in edit_line promises

7.8.1 edit_field (body template)

Type: (ext body)

allow_blank_fields
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false allow blank fields in a line (do not purge)

Default value: false

Example:

     
body edit_field example
     {
     # ...

     allow_blank_fields => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

When editing a file using the field or column model, blank fields, especially at the start and end are generally discarded. If this is set to true, CFEngine will retain the blank fields and print the appropriate number of field separators.

extend_fields
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false add new fields at end of line if necessary to complete edit

Default value: false

Example:

     
body edit_field example
     {
     extend_fields => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

If a user specifies a field that does not exist, because there are not so many fields, this allows the number of fields to be extended. Without this setting, CFEngine will issue an error if a non-existent field is referenced. Blank fields in a tabular file can be eliminated or kept depending in this setting. If in doubt, set this to true.

field_operation
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    prepend
                    append
                    alphanum
                    delete
                    set

Synopsis: Menu option policy for editing subfields

Default value: none

Example:

     
body edit_field example
     {
     field_operation => "append";
     }
     

Notes:

The method by which to edit a field in multi-field/column editing of tabular files. The methods mean:

append’ - append the specified value to the end of the field/column, separating (potentially) multiple values with ‘value_separator

prepend’ - prepend the specified value at the beginning of the field/column, separating (potentially) multiple values with ‘value_separator

alphanum’ - insert the specified value into the field/column, keeping all the values (separated by ‘value_separator’) in alphanumerically sorted order)

set’ - replace the entire field/column with the specified value

delete’ - delete the specified value (if present) in the specified field/column

Default value:

append

field_separator
Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: The regular expression used to separate fields in a line

Default value: none

Example:

     
body edit_field example
     {
     field_separator => ":";
     }
     

Notes:

Most tabular files are separated by simple characters, but by allowing a general regular expression one can make creative use of this model to edit all kinds of line-based text files.

field_value
Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Set field value to a fixed value

Example:

     
body edit_field example(s)
     {
     field_value => "$(s)";
     }
     

Notes:

Set a field to a constant value, e.g. reset the value to a constant default, empty the field, or set it fixed list.

select_field
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999

Synopsis: Integer index of the field required 0..n (default starts from 1)

Example:

     
body field_edits example
     {
     select_field => "5";
     }

Notes:

Numbering starts from 1 (not from 0).

start_fields_from_zero
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: If set, the default field numbering starts from 0

Example:

     
body edit_field col(split,col,newval,method)
     
     {
     field_separator    => "$(split)";
     select_field       => "$(col)";
     value_separator    => ",";
     field_value        => "$(newval)";
     field_operation    => "$(method)";
     extend_fields      => "true";
     allow_blank_fields => "true";
     start_fields_from_zero => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0b1,Nova 2.0.0b1 (2010)

The numbering of fields is a matter for consistency and convention. Arrays are usually thought to start with first index equal to zero (0), but the first column in a file would normally be 1. By setting this option, you can tell CFEngine that the first column should be understood as number 0 instead, for consistency with other array functions.

value_separator
Type: string

Allowed input range: ^.$

Synopsis: Character separator for subfields inside the selected field

Default value: none

Example:

     
body field_edit example
     {
     value_separator => ",";
     }
     

Notes:

For example, elements in the group file are separated by ‘:’, but the lists of users in these fields are separated by ‘,’.


Next: , Previous: field_edits in edit_line promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.9 replace_patterns promises in ‘edit_line


This promise refers to arbitrary text patterns in a file. The pattern is expressed as a PCRE regular expression.

     
       replace_patterns:
     
        "search pattern"
     
           replace_with => replace_body,
           ...;
     


bundle edit_line upgrade_cfexecd
{
  replace_patterns:

    "cfexecd" replace_with => value("cf-execd");
}

########################################


body replace_with value(x)
{
replace_value => "$(x)";
occurrences => "all";
}


This is a straightforward search and replace function. Only the portion of the line that matches the pattern in the promise will be replaced - the remainder of the line will not be affected. You can also use PCRE lookbehind and lookahead patterns to restrict the lines upon which the pattern will match.

NOTE: In replace_patterns promises, the regular expression may match a line fragment, that is, it is unanchored, See Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions.


Previous: replace_patterns in edit_line promises, Up: replace_patterns in edit_line promises

7.9.1 replace_with (body template)

Type: (ext body)

occurrences
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    all
                    first

Synopsis: Menu option to replace all occurrences or just first (NB the latter is non-convergent)

Default value: all

Example:

     
body replace_with example
     {
     occurrences => "first";		# Warning! Using "first" is non-convergent
     }
     

Notes:

A policy for string replacement.

Default value:
The default value is "all". Using "first" is generally unwise, as it is possibly non-convergent (it will change a different matching string each time the promise is executed, and may not "catch up" with whatever external action is altering the text the promise applies to).

replace_value
Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Value used to replace regular expression matches in search

Example:

     
body replace_with example(s)
     {
     replace_value => "$(s)";
     }
     

Notes:


Next: , Previous: replace_patterns in edit_line promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.10 interfaces promises in ‘agent


Interfaces promises describe the configurable aspects relating to network interfaces. Most workstations and servers have only a single network interface, but routers and multi-homed hosts often have multiple interfaces. Interface promises include attributes such as the IP address identity, assumed netmask and routing policy in the case of multi-homed hosts. For virtual machines and hosts, the list of interfaces can be quite large.

     
      interfaces:
     
        "interface name"
     
          tcp_ip => tcp_ip_body,
          ...;
     


For future use.


For future use.


Previous: interfaces in agent promises, Up: interfaces in agent promises

7.10.1 tcp_ip (body template)

Type: (ext body)

ipv4_address
Type: string

Allowed input range: [0-9.]+/[0-4]+

Synopsis: IPv4 address for the interface

Example:

     
body tcp_ip example
     {
     ipv4_address => "123.456.789.001";
     }
     

Notes:

The address will be checked and if necessary set. Today few hosts will be managed in this way: address management will be handled by other services like DHCP.

ipv4_netmask
Type: string

Allowed input range: [0-9.]+/[0-4]+

Synopsis: Netmask for the interface

Example:

     
body tcp_ip example
     {
     ipv4_netmask => "255.255.254.0";
     }
     

Notes:

In many cases the CIDR form of address will show the netmask as ‘/23’, but this offers and `old style' alternative.

ipv6_address
Type: string

Allowed input range: [0-9a-fA-F:]+/[0-9]+

Synopsis: IPv6 address for the interface

Example:

     
       "eth0"
     
          ipv6_address => "2001:700:700:3:211:63ff:feeb:5d18/64";
     

Notes:


Next: , Previous: interfaces in agent promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.11 methods promises in ‘agent


Methods are compound promises that refer to whole bundles of promises. Methods may be parameterized. Methods promises are written in a form that is ready for future development. The promiser object is an abstract identifier that refers to a collection (or pattern) of lower level objects that are affected by the promise-bundle. Since the use of these identifiers is for the future, you can simply use any string here for the time being.

     
      methods:
     
        "any"
     
           usebundle => method_id("parameter",...);
     

Methods are useful for encapsulating repeatedly used configuration issues and iterating over parameters.

In CFEngine 2 methods referred to separate sub-programs executed as separate processes. Methods are now implemented as bundles that are run inline.



bundle agent example
{
vars:

 "userlist" slist => { "mark", "jeang", "jonhenrik", "thomas", "eben" };

methods:

 "any" usebundle => subtest("$(userlist)");

}

###########################################


bundle agent subtest(user)

{
commands:

 "/bin/echo Fix $(user)";

reports:

 linux::

  "Finished doing stuff for $(user)";
}



Methods offer powerful ways to encapsulate multiple issues pertaining to a set of parameters.

Because a method is just an encapsulation, there is a subtlety about how to interpret a successful method invocation. Before version 3.1.0, a method was considered repaired if executed (like commands), however this led to unnecessary logging of executions, even if not actual encapsulated promise was kept. In version 3.1.0 this has been changed so that a method promise is considered kept if the method is expanded. A method promise is thus never considered repaired.

Starting from version 3.1.0, methods may be specified using variables. Care should be exercised when using this approach. In order to make the function call uniquely classified, CFEngine requires the promiser to contain the variable name of the method if the variable is a list.

bundle agent default
{
vars:
    "m" slist  => { "x", "y" };
    "p" string => "myfunction";

methods:
    "set of $(m)" usebundle => $(m) ("one");
    "any"         usebundle => $(p)("two");
    
}


Previous: methods in agent promises, Up: methods in agent promises

7.11.1 usebundle

Type: (ext bundle) (Separate Bundle)


Next: , Previous: methods in agent promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.12 outputs promises in ‘agent


Outputs promises are only available in commercial editions of CFEngine. They allow promises to make meta-promises about their output levels. More simply, you can switch on ‘verbose’ or ‘inform’ level output to named promises, or whole bundles for debugging purposes.

If you use the ‘-I’ or ‘-v’ command line options, then CFEngine will generate informative or verbose output for all the promises it is processing. This can be a daunting collection of data when dealing with even a medium-sized set of promises.

Output promises enable you to selectively debug individually named promises (or bundles), thus eliminating the need for scanning unrelated CFEngine output.


outputs:

  "run_agent";		# Promise handle, verbose (default) output

  "web_server"		# Bundle handle, inform output
     output_level => "inform",
     promiser_type => "bundle";

A very handy paradigm is to include outputs promises in every bundle, and guard them with classes. For example:

bundle agent some_function
{
vars:
    ...
classes:
    ...
outputs:
  debug_some_function::
      "some_function"
	 output_level => "verbose",
	 promiser_type => "bundle";
files:
    ...
}

You can then execute your promises normally with no extra output, but should you wish to temporarily enable debugging, you can simply do so from the command line by specifying ‘-D debug_some_function’. You can also supply multiple arguments to ‘-D’ to debug multiple bundles. Of course, you can also provide much finer-grained control by creating outputs promises on specific promise handles.


The default behaviour is to print verbose output for listed promise handles, See handle in *, for bundle names.

History This was introduced in Nova version 1.1.3. (2010)


Next: , Previous: outputs in agent promises, Up: outputs in agent promises

7.12.1 output_level

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               verbose
               debug
               inform

Default value: verbose

Synopsis: Output level to observe for the named promise or bundle (meta-promise)

Example:

commands:

  "/etc/init.d/agent start"

    handle => "run_agent",
    ifvarclass => "need_to_run_agent";

outputs:

  "run_agent"

    output_level => "inform"; 

Notes:

With no attribute, verbose output is assumed.


Previous: output_level in outputs, Up: outputs in agent promises

7.12.2 promiser_type

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               promise
               bundle

Default value: promise

Synopsis: Output level to observe for the named promise or bundle (meta-promise)

Example:

outputs:

  "web_server"

     promiser_type => "bundle";

Notes:

Without this attribute, CFEngine assumes a list of promises to report on (because there may be a promise for a thing that has the same name as a bundle, you must explicitly specify when you want to report on a bundle of promises).


Next: , Previous: outputs in agent promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.13 packages promises in ‘agent


 vars:

  "match_package" slist => { 
                           "apache2", 
                           "apache2-mod_php5",
                           "apache2-prefork",
                           "php5" 
                           };
 packages:

    "$(match_package)"

         package_policy => "add",
         package_method => yum;

Software packaging is a core paradigm in operating system release management today, and CFEngine supports a generic approach to integration with native operating support for packaging. Package promises allow CFEngine to make promises the state of software packages conditionally, given the assumption that a native package manager will perform the actual manipulations. Since no agent can make unconditional promises about another, this is the best that can be achieved.

Packages are treated as black-boxes with three labels:

Package managers are treated as black boxes that may support some or all of the following promise types:

If these services are promised by a package manager, cf-agent promises to use the service and encapsulate it within the overall CFEngine framework. It is possible to set classes based on the return code of a package-manager command in a very flexible way. See the kept_returncodes, repaired_returncodes and failed_returncodes attributes.

Domain knowledge

CFEngine does not maintain operating system specific expert knowledge internally, rather it uses a generic model for dealing with promises about packages (which depend on the behaviour of an external package manager). The approach is to define package system details in body-constraints that can be written once and for all, for each package system.

Package promises are like commands promises in the sense that CFEngine promises nothing about the outcome of executing a command. All it can promise is to interface with it, starting it and using the results in good faith. Packages are basically `outsourced', to invoke IT parlance.

The possibility of a CFEngine package format that enables more guaranteeable behaviour for special purposes has not been excluded for the future, but in any case cf-agent must support native package formats used by operating system maintainers as these are a core part of modern operating systems.

Behaviour

A package promise consists of a name, a version and an architecture, (n,v,a), and behaviour to be promised about packages that match criteria based on these. The components (n,v,a) can be determined in one of two different ways:

When scanning a list of installed packages different managers present the information (n,v,a) in quite different forms and pattern extraction is necessary. When making a promise about a specific package, the CFEngine user may choose one or the other model.

Smart and dumb package systems

Package managers vary enormously in their capabilities and in the kinds of promises they make. There are broadly two types

Normal ordering for packages is the following:

Promise repair logic

We can discuss package promise repair in the following table.

Identified package matches version constraints

add never
delete =,>=,<=
reinstall =,>=,<=
upgrade =,>=,<=
patch =,>=,<=

Identified package matched by name, but not version

Command Dumb manager Smart manager
add unable Never
delete unable Attempt deletion
reinstall unable Attempt delete/add
upgrade unable Upgrade if capable
patch unable Patch if capable

Package not installed

Command Dumb manager Smart manager
add Attempt to install named Install any version
delete unable unable
reinstall Attempt to install named unable
upgrade unable unable
patch unable unable


bundle agent packages
{
vars:

 # Test the simplest case -- leave everything to the yum smart manager


 "match_package" slist => { 
                          "apache2", 
                          "apache2-mod_php5",
                          "apache2-prefork",
                          "php5" 
                          };
packages:

  "$(match_package)"

     package_policy => "add",
     package_method => yum;

}


Packages promises can be very simple if the package manager is of the smart variety that handles details for you. If you need to specify architecture and version numbers of packages, this adds some complexity, but the options are flexible and designed for maximal adaptability.

Patching

Some package systems also support the idea of `patches'. These might be formally different objects to packages. A patch might contain material for several packages and be numbered differently. When you select patching-policy the package name (promiser) can be a regular expression that will match possible patch names, otherwise identifying specific patches can be cumbersome.

Note that patching is a subtle business. There is no simple way using the patch settings to install `all new system patches'. Here's why:

If we specify the name of a patch, then CFEngine will try to see if it exists and/or is installed. If it exists in the pending list, it will be installed. If it exists in the installed list it will not be installed. Now consider the pattern ‘.*’. This will match any installed package, so CFEngine will assume the relevant patch has been installed already. On the other hand, the pattern ‘no match’ will not match an installed patch, but it will not match a named patch either.

Some systems provide a command to do this, which can be specified without specific patch arguments. If so, that command can be called periodically under commands. The main purposes of patching body items are:

Installers without package/patch arguments

CFEngine supports the syntax ‘$’ at the end of a command to mean that no package name arguments should be used or appended after the dollar. This is because some commands require a list of packages, while others require an empty list. The default behaviour is to try to append the name of one or more packages to the command, depending on whether the policy is for individual or bulk installation.

Default pachage method

As of core 3.3.0, if no package_method is defined, CFEngine will look for a method called ‘generic’. Such a method is defined in the standard library for supported operating systems.


Next: , Previous: packages in agent promises, Up: packages in agent promises

7.13.1 package_architectures

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Select the architecture for package selection

Example:

packages:

  "$(exact_package)"

     package_policy => "add",
     package_method => rpm,
     package_architectures => { "x86_64" };

Notes:

It is possible to specify a list of packages of different architectures if it is desirable to install multiple architectures on the host. If no value is specified, CFEngine makes no promise about the result; the package manager's behaviour prevails.


Next: , Previous: package_architectures in packages, Up: packages in agent promises

7.13.2 package_method (body template)

Type: (ext body)

package_add_command
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Command to install a package to the system

Example:

     
body package_method rpm
     {
     package_add_command => "/bin/rpm -i ";
     }
     

Notes:

This command should install a package when appended with the package reference id, formed using the package_name_convention, using the model of (name,version,architecture). If package_file_repositories is specified, the package reference id will include the full path to a repoistory containing the package.

Package managers generally expect the name of a package to be passed as a parameter. However, in some cases we do not need to pass the name of a particular package to the command. Ending the command string with ‘$’ prevents CFEngine from appending the package name to the string.

package_arch_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression with one backreference to extract package architecture string

Example:

     
body package_method rpm
     
     {
     package_list_arch_regex    => "[^.]+\.([^.]+)";
     }
     

Notes:

This is for use when extracting architecture from the name of the promiser, i.e. when the architecture is not specified using the package_architectures list. It is a regular expression that contains exactly one parenthesized back reference which marks the location in the promiser at which the architecture is specified. The regex may match a portion of the string (i.e., it is unanchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions). If no architecture is specified for the given package manager, then do not define this.

package_changes
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    individual
                    bulk

Synopsis: Menu option - whether to group packages into a single aggregate command

Example:

     
body package_method rpm
     
     {
     package_changes => "bulk";
     }
     

Notes:

This indicate whether the package manager is capable of handling package operations in bulk, i.e. with by given multiple arguments. If this is set to ‘bulk’ then multiple arguments will be passed to the package commands. If set to ‘individual’ packages will be handled one by one. This might add a significant overhead to the operations, and also affect the ability of the operating system's package manager to handle dependencies.

package_delete_command
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Command to remove a package from the system

Example:

     
body package_method rpm
     
     {
     package_delete_command => "/bin/rpm -e --nodeps";
     }
     

Notes:

The command that deletes a package from the system when appended with the package reference identifier specified by package_name_convention.

Package managers generally expect the name of a package to be passed as a parameter. However, in some cases we do not need to pass the name of a particular package to the command. Ending the command string with ‘$’ prevents CFEngine from appending the package name to the string.

package_delete_convention
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: This is how the package manager expects the package to be referred to in the deletion part of a package update, e.g. $(name)

Example:

     body package_method freebsd
     
     {
     package_file_repositories => { "/path/to/packages" };
     package_name_convention => "$(name)-$(version).tbz";
     package_delete_convention => "$(name)-$(version)";
     }
     

Notes:

This attribute is used when package_policy is ‘delete’, or package_policy is ‘update’ and package_file_repositories is set and package_update_command is not set. It is then used to set the pattern for naming the package in the way expected by the package manager during the deletion of existing packages.

Three special variables are defined from the extracted data, in a private context for use: ‘$(name)’, ‘$(version)’ and ‘$(arch)’. ‘version’ and ‘arch’ is the version and arch (if package_list_arch_regex is given) of the already installed package. Additionally, if package_file_repositories is defined, ‘$(firstrepo)’ can be prepended to expand the first repository containing the package, e.g. ‘$(firstrepo)$(name)-$(version)-$(arch).msi’.

If this is not defined, it defaults to the value of package_name_convention.

package_file_repositories
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of machine-local directories to search for packages

Example:

     
body package_method filebased
     {
     package_file_repositories => { "/package/repos1", "/packages/repos2" };
     }
     

Notes:

If specified, CFEngine will assume that the package installation occurs by filename and will search the named paths for a package matching the pattern package_name_convention. If found the name will be prefixed to the package name in the package commands.

package_installed_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression which matches packages that are already installed

Example:

     
body package_method yum
     {
     package_installed_regex => ".*installed.*";
     }
     

Notes:

This regular expression must match complete lines in the output of the list command that are actually installed packages (that is, the regex is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions). If all the lines match then the regex can be set of ‘.*’, however most package systems output prefix lines and a variety of human padding that needs to be ignored.

package_list_arch_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression with one backreference to extract package architecture string

Example:

     
body package_method rpm
     {
     package_list_arch_regex    => "[^|]+\|[^|]+\|[^|]+\|[^|]+\|\s+([^\s]+).*";
     }
     

Notes:

A regular expression that contains exactly one parenthesized back reference which marks the location in the listed package at which the architecture is specified. The regular expression may match a portion of the string (that is, it is unanchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions). If no architecture is specified for the given package manager, then do not define this regex.

package_list_command
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Command to obtain a list of available packages

Example:

     
body package_method rpm
     
     {
     package_list_command => "/bin/rpm -qa --queryformat \"%{name} %{version}-%{release}\n\"";
     }
     

Notes:

This command should provide a complete list of the packages installed on the system. It might also list packages that are not installed. Those should be filtered out using the package_installed_regex.

Package managers generally expect the name of a package to be passed as a parameter. However, in some cases we do not need to pass the name of a particular package to the command. Ending the command string with ‘$’ prevents CFEngine from appending the package name to the string.

package_list_name_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression with one backreference to extract package name string

Example:

     
body package_method rpm
     
     {
     package_list_name_regex    => "([^\s]+).*";
     }
     

Notes:

A regular expression that contains exactly one parenthesized back reference which marks the name of the package from the package listing. The regular expression may match a portion of the string (that is, it is unanchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

package_list_update_command
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Command to update the list of available packages (if any)

Example:

     body package_method xyz
     {
     debian|ubuntu::
     
     package_list_update_command => "/usr/bin/apt-get update";
     package_list_update_ifelapsed => "240";		# 4 hours
     }

Notes:

Not all package managers update their list information from source automatically. This command allows a separate update command to be executed at intervals determined by package_list_update_ifelapsed.

package_list_update_ifelapsed
Type: int

Allowed input range: -99999999999,9999999999

Synopsis: The ifelapsed locking time in between updates of the package list

Example:

     body package_method xyz
     {
     debian|ubuntu::
     
     package_list_update_command => "/usr/bin/apt-get update";
     package_list_update_ifelapsed => "240";		# 4 hours
     }

Notes:

Not all package managers update their list information from source automatically. This command allows a separate update command to be executed at intervals determined by package_list_update_ifelapsed.

package_list_version_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression with one backreference to extract package version string

Example:

     body package_method rpm
     
     {
     package_list_version_regex => "[^\s]+ ([^.]+).*";
     }
     

Notes:

This regular expression should containe exactly one parenthesized back-reference that marks the version string of packages listed as installed. The regular expression may match a portion of the string (that is, it is unanchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions)

package_name_convention
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: This is how the package manager expects the package to be referred to, e.g. $(name).$(arch)

Example:

     body package_method rpm
     
     {
     package_name_convention => "$(name).$(arch).rpm";
     }
     

Notes:

This sets the pattern for naming the package in the way expected by the package manager. Three special variables are defined from the extracted data, in a private context for use: ‘$(name)’, ‘$(version)’ and ‘$(arch)’. Additionally, if package_file_repositories is defined, ‘$(firstrepo)’ can be prepended to expand the first repository containing the package, e.g. ‘$(firstrepo)$(name)-$(version)-$(arch).msi’.

When package_policy is ‘update’, and package_file_repositories is specified, package_delete_convention may be used to specify a different convention for the delete command.

If this is not defined, it defaults to the value ‘$(name)’.

package_name_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression with one backreference to extract package name string

Example:

     
body package_method rpm
     {
     package_name_regex => "([^\s]).*";
     }
     

Notes:

This regular expression is only used when the promiser contains not only the name of the package, but its version and archiecture also. In that case, this expression should contain a single parenthesized back-reference to extract the name of the package from the string. The regex may match a portion of the string (that is, it is unanchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions)

package_noverify_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression to match verification failure output

Example:

     body package_method xyz
     
     {
     package_noverify_regex => "Package .* is not installed.*";
     package_verify_command => "/usr/bin/dpkg -s";
     }
     

Notes:

A regular expression to match output from a package verification command. If the output string matches this expression, the package is deemed broken. The regex must match the entire line (that is, it is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions)

package_noverify_returncode
Type: int

Allowed input range: -99999999999,9999999999

Synopsis: Integer return code indicating package verification failure

Example:

     body package_method xyz
     {
     package_noverify_returncode => "-1";
     package_verify_command => "/bin/rpm -V";
     }

Notes:

For use if a package verification command uses the return code as the signal for a failed package verification.

package_patch_arch_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression with one backreference to extract update architecture string

Example:

     
body package_method zypper
     {
     package_patch_arch_regex => "";
     }
     

Notes:

A few package managers keep a separate notion of patches, as opposed to package updates. OpenSuSE, for example, is one of these. This provide an analogous command struct to the packages for patch updates. The regular expression must match the entire line (that is, it is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

package_patch_command
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Command to update to the latest patch release of an installed package

Example:

     body package_method zypper
     
     {
     package_patch_command => "/usr/bin/zypper -non-interactive patch";
     }

Notes:

If the package manager supports patching, this command should patch a named package. If only patching of all packages is supported then consider running that as a batch operation in commands. Alternatively one can end the command string with a ‘$’ symbol, which CFEngine will interpret as an instruction to not append package names.

Package managers generally expect the name of a package to be passed as a parameter. However, in some cases we do not need to pass the name of a particular package to the command. Ending the command string with ‘$’ prevents CFEngine from appending the package name to the string.

package_patch_installed_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression which matches packages that are already installed

Example:

     
body package_method zypper
     {
     package_patch_installed_regex => ".*(Installed|Not Applicable).*";
     }
     

Notes:

A few package managers keep a separate notion of patches, as opposed to package updates. OpenSuSE, for example, is one of these. This provide an analogous command struct to the packages for patch updates. The regular expression must match the entire string (that is, it is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

package_patch_list_command
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Command to obtain a list of available patches or updates

Example:

     
      package_patch_list_command => "/usr/bin/zypper patches";
     

Notes:

This command, if it exists at all, is presumed to generate a list of available patches in a format analogous to (but not necessarily the same as) the package-list command, of patches that are available on the system. Patches might formally be available in the packagae manager's view, but if they have already been installed, CFEngine will ignore them.

Package managers generally expect the name of a package to be passed as a parameter. However, in some cases we do not need to pass the name of a particular package to the command. Ending the command string with ‘$’ prevents CFEngine from appending the package name to the string.

package_patch_name_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression with one backreference to extract update name string

Example:

     
body package_method zypper
     {
     package_patch_name_regex    => "[^|]+\|\s+([^\s]+).*";
     }

Notes:

A few package managers keep a separate notion of patches, as opposed to package updates. OpenSuSE, for example, is one of these. This provide an analogous command struct to the packages for patch updates. The regular expression may match a partial string (that is, it is unanchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

package_patch_version_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression with one backreference to extract update version string

Example:

     
body package_method zypper
     {
     package_patch_version_regex => "[^|]+\|[^|]+\|\s+([^\s]+).*";
     }
     

Notes:

A few package managers keep a separate notion of patches, as opposed to package updates. OpenSuSE, for example, is one of these. This provide an analogous command struct to the packages for patch updates. The regular expression may match a partial string (that is, it is unanchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

package_update_command
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Command to update to the latest version a currently installed package

Example:

     
body package_method zypper
     {
     package_update_command => "/usr/bin/zypper -non-interactive update";
     }
     

Notes:

If supported this should be a command that updates the version of a single currently installed package. If only bulk updates are supported, consider running this as a single command under commands. The package reference id is appended, with the pattern of package_name_convention.

When package_file_repositories is specified, the package reference id will include the full path to a repoistory containing the package. If package_policy is ‘update’, and this command is not specified, the package_delete_command and package_add_command will be executed to carry out the update.

package_verify_command
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Command to verify the correctness of an installed package

Example:

     body package_method rpm
     
     {
     package_verify_command => "/bin/rpm -V";
     package_noverify_returncode => "-1";
     }
     
     

Notes:

If available, this is a command to verify an already installed package. It is required only when package_policy is ‘verify’.

The outcome of the command is compared with package_noverify_returncode or package_noverify_regex, one of which has to be set when using this command. If the package is not installed, the command will not be run — the promise gets flagged as not kept before the verify command executes.

In order for the promise to be considered kept, the package must be installed, and the verify command must be successful according to package_noverify_returncode xor package_noverify_regex.

Package managers generally expect the name of a package to be passed as a parameter. However, in some cases we do not need to pass the name of a particular package to the command. Ending the command string with ‘$’ prevents CFEngine from appending the package name to the string.

package_version_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression with one backreference to extract package version string

Example:

     
body package_method rpm
     {
     package_version_regex => "[^\s]+ ([^.]+).*";
     }
     

Notes:

If the version of a package is not specified separately using package_version, then this should be a regular expression that contains exactly one parenthesized back-reference that matches the version string in the promiser. The regular expression may match a partial string (that is, it is unanchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

package_multiline_start
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression which matches the start of a new package in multiline output

Example:

     
body package_method solaris
     {
     package_changes => "individual";
     package_list_command => "/usr/bin/pkginfo -l";
     package_multiline_start    =>  "\s*PKGINST:\s+[^\s]+";
     ...
     }
     

Notes:

This pattern is used in determining when a new package record begins. It is used when package managers (like the solaris package manager) use multi-line output formats. This pattern matches the first line of a new record.


Next: , Previous: package_method in packages, Up: packages in agent promises

7.13.3 package_policy

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               add
               delete
               reinstall
               update
               addupdate
               patch
               verify

Default value: verify

Synopsis: Criteria for package installation/upgrade on the current system

Example:

packages:

  "$(match_package)"

     package_policy => "add",
     package_method => "xyz";

Notes:

This decides what fate is intended for the named package.

•add
Ensure that a package is present (this is the default setting from 3.3.0).
•delete
Ensure that a package is not present.
•reinstall
Delete then add package (warning, non-convergent).
•update
Update the package if an update is available (manager dependent).
•addupdate
Equivalent to ‘add’ if the package is not installed, and ‘update’ if it is installed.
•patch
Install one or more patches if available (manager dependent).
•verify
Verify the correctness of the package (manager dependent). The promise is kept if the package is installed correctly, not kept otherwise. Requires setting package_verify_command.


Next: , Previous: package_policy in packages, Up: packages in agent promises

7.13.4 package_select

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               >
               <
               ==
               !=
               >=
               <=

Synopsis: A criterion for first acceptable match relative to "package_version"

Example:

packages:

  "$(exact_package)"

     package_policy => "add",
     package_method => xyz,
     package_select => ">=",
     package_architectures => { "x86_64" },
     package_version => "1.2.3-456";

Notes:

This selects the operator that compares the promiser to the state of the system packages currently installed. If the criterion matches, the policy action is scheduled for promise-keeping.


Previous: package_select in packages, Up: packages in agent promises

7.13.5 package_version

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Version reference point for determining promised version

Example:

packages:

  "mypackage"

     package_policy => "add",
     package_method => rpm,
     package_select => "==",
     package_version => "1.2.3";

Notes:

Used for specifying the targeted package version when the version is written separately from the name of the command.


Next: , Previous: packages in agent promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.14 processes promises in ‘agent


Process promises refer to items in the system process table. Note that this is not the same as commands (which are instructions that CFEngine will execute). A process is a command in some state of execution (with a Process Control Block). Promiser objects here are patterns that match line fragments in the system process table (that is, the patterns are unanchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions). Take care to note that process table formats differ between operating systems, and the use of simple patterns such as program-names is recommended. For more sophisticated matches, users should use the process_select feature. For example, on many systems, the process pattern "^cp" may not match any processes, even though "cp" is running! This is because the process table entry may list "/bin/cp". However, the process pattern "cp" will also match a process containing "scp", so take care not to oversimplify your patterns (the PCRE pattern anchors "\b" and "\B" may prove very useful to you).

     
      processes:
     
        "regex contained in process line"
     
            process_select => process_filter_body,
            restart_class => "activation class for process",
            ..;
     

In CFEngine 2 there was a restart clause for directly executing a command to restart a process. In CFEngine 3 there is instead a class to activate. You must then desribe a command in that class to restart the process.

commands:

  restart_me::

   "/path/executable" ... ;

This rationalizes complex restart-commands and avoids unnecessary overlap between processes and commands.

The process_stop is also arguably a command, but it should be an ephemeral command that does not lead to a persistent process. It is intended only for commands of the form ‘/etc/inetd service stop’, not for processes that persist. Processes are restarted at the end of a bundle's execution, but stop commands are executed immediately.

Note: process_select was previously called process filters in CFEngine 2 and earlier.


bundle agent example
{
processes:

 ".*"

    process_count   => anyprocs,
    process_select  => proc_finder;

reports:

 any_procs::

   "Found processes out of range";
}

########################################################


body process_select proc_finder

{
# Processes started between 5.5 hours and 20 minutes ago

stime_range => irange(ago(0,0,0,5,30,0),ago(0,0,0,0,20,0));
process_result => "stime";
}

########################################################


body process_count anyprocs

{
match_range => "0,0";
out_of_range_define => { "any_procs" };
}


In CFEngine 3 we have

      processes
      commands

so that there is a clean separation between detection (promises about the process table) and certain repairs (promises to execute commands that start processes). Let's see why.

Executions are about jobs, services, scripts etc. They are properties of an executable file. The referring `promiser' is a file object. On the other hand a process is a property of a "process identifier" which is a kernel instantiation, a quite different object altogether. So it makes sense to say that

Neither the file nor the pid necessarily promise to respond to these activations, but they are nonetheless physically meaningful phenomena or attributes associated with these objects.

Executions lead to processes for the duration of their lifetime, so these two issues are related, although the promises themselves are not.


Services verus processes:

A service is an abstraction that requires processes to run and files to be configured. It makes a lot of sense to wrap services in modular bundles. Starting and stopping a service can be handled in at least two ways. Take the web service as an example.

We can start the service by promising an execution of a daemon (e.g. httpd). Normally this execution does not terminate without intervention. We can terminate it in one of two ways:

The first case makes sense if we need to qualify the termination by searching for the processes. The processes section of a CFEngine 3 policy includes a control promise to search for matching processes. If matches are found, signals can be sent to precisely each specific process.

Classes can also be defined, in principle triggering an execution of the stop script, but then the class refers only to the presence of matching pids, not to the individual pids concerned. So it becomes the responsibility of the execution to locate and interact with the pids necessary.


Want it running?:

How do we say simply that we want a service running? In the agent control promises, we could check each service individually.

bundlesequence => { Update, Service("apache"), Service("nfsd") };
or
bundlesequence => { Update, @(globals.all_services)  };

The bundle for this can look like this:

bundle agent Service(service")
{
processes:

  "$(service)" 

      process_count => up("$(service)");

commands:

   "$daemons[$(service)]"  

      ifvarclass => "$(service)_up",
      args       => "$args[$(service)]";

}

An alternative would be self-contained:

bundle agent Service
{
vars:

  "service" slist => { "apache", "nfsd", "bind" };

processes:

  "$(service)" 

      process_count => up("$(service)");

commands:

   "$daemons[$(service)]"  

      ifvarclass => "$(service)_up",
      args       => "$args[$(service)]";

}

######################

# Parameterized body

######################


body process_count("$(s)") 

{
match_range => "[0,10]";
out_of_range_define => "$(s)_up";
}


Next: , Previous: processes in agent promises, Up: processes in agent promises

7.14.1 process_count (body template)

Type: (ext body)

in_range_define
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of classes to define if the matches are in range

Example:

     
body process_count example
     {
     in_range_define => { "class1", "class2" };
     }
     

Notes:

Classes are defined if the processes that are found in the process table satisfy the promised process count, i.e. if the promise about the number of processes matching the other criteria is kept.

match_range
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Integer range for acceptable number of matches for this process

Example:

     
body process_count example
     {
     match_range => irange("10","50");
     }
     

Notes:

This is a numerical range for the number of occurrences of the process in the process table. As long as it falls within the specified limits, the promise is considered kept.

out_of_range_define
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of classes to define if the matches are out of range

Example:

     
body process_count example(s)
     {
     out_of_range_define => { "process_anomaly", "anomaly_$(s)"};
     }
     

Notes:

Classes to activate remedial promises conditional on this promise failure to be kept.


Next: , Previous: process_count in processes, Up: processes in agent promises

7.14.2 process_select (body template)

Type: (ext body)

command
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression matching the command/cmd field of a process

Example:

     
body process_select example
     
     {
     command => "cf-.*";
     
     process_result => "command";
     }
     

Notes:

This expression should match the entire COMMAND field of the process table (not just a fragment). This field is usually the last field on the line and thus starts with the first non-space character and ends with the end of line.

pid
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Range of integers matching the process id of a process

Example:

     
body process_select example
     {
     pid => irange("1","10");
     process_result => "pid";
     }
     

Notes:


pgid
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Range of integers matching the parent group id of a process

Example:

     
body process_select example
     {
     pgid => irange("1","10");
     process_result => "pgid";
     }
     

Notes:


ppid
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Range of integers matching the parent process id of a process

Example:

     
body process_select example
     {
     ppid => irange("407","511");
     process_result => "ppid";
     }
     

Notes:


priority
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: -20,+20

Synopsis: Range of integers matching the priority field (PRI/NI) of a process

Example:

     
body process_select example
     {
     priority => irange("-5","0");
     }
     

Notes:


process_owner
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of regexes matching the user of a process

Example:

     
body process_select example
     {
     process_owner => { "wwwrun", "nobody" };
     }
     

Notes:

Regular expression should match a legal user name on the system. The regex must match the entire name (that is, it is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

process_result
Type: string

Allowed input range: [(process_owner|pid|ppid||pgid|rsize|vsize|status|command|ttime|stime|tty|priority|threads)[|&!.]*]*

Synopsis: Boolean class expression returning the logical combination of classes set by a process selection test

Example:

     
body process_select proc_finder(p)
     
     {
     process_owner  => { "avahi", "bin" };
     command        => "$(p)";
     pid            => irange("100","199");
     vsize          => irange("0","1000");
     process_result => "command.(process_owner|vsize).!pid";
     }
     

Notes:

A logical combination of the process selection classifiers. The syntax is the same as that for class expressions. There should be no spaces in the expressions.

rsize
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Range of integers matching the resident memory size of a process, in kilobytes

Example:

     
body process_select 
     {
     rsize => irange("4000","8000");
     }
     
     

Notes:


status
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression matching the status field of a process

Example:

     
body process_select example
     {
     status => "Z";
     }
     

Notes:

For instance, characters in the set ‘NRS<sl+..’. Windows processes do not have status fields.

stime_range
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,2147483647

Synopsis: Range of integers matching the start time of a process

Example:

     
body process_select example
     {
     stime_range => irange(ago(0,0,0,1,0,0),now);
     }
     

Notes:

The calculation of time from process table entries is sensitive to Daylight Savings Time (Summer/Winter Time) so calculations could be a hour off. This is for now a bug to be fixed.

ttime_range
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,2147483647

Synopsis: Range of integers matching the total elapsed time of a process

Example:

     
body process_select example
     {
     ttime_range => irange(0,accumulated(0,1,0,0,0,0));
     }
     

Notes:

This is total accumulated time for a process.

tty
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression matching the tty field of a process

Example:

     
body process_select example
     {
     tty => "pts/[0-9]+";
     }
     

Notes:

Windows processes are not regarded as attached to any terminal, so they all have tty '?'.

threads
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Range of integers matching the threads (NLWP) field of a process

Example:

     
body process_select example
     {
     threads => irange(1,5);
     }
     

Notes:


vsize
Type: irange [int,int]

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Range of integers matching the virtual memory size of a process, in kilobytes

Example:

     
body process_select example
     {
     vsize => irange("4000","9000");
     }
     

Notes:

On Windows, the virtual memory size is the amount of memory that cannot be shared with other processes. In Task Manager, this is called Commit Size (Windows 2008), or VM Size (Windows XP).


Next: , Previous: process_select in processes, Up: processes in agent promises

7.14.3 process_stop

Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: A command used to stop a running process

Example:

processes:

 "snmpd"

        process_stop => "/etc/init.d/snmp stop";


Notes:

As an alternative to sending a termination or kill signal to a process, one may call a `stop script' to perform a graceful shutdown.


Next: , Previous: process_stop in processes, Up: processes in agent promises

7.14.4 restart_class

Type: string

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A class to be defined globally if the process is not running, so that a command: rule can be referred to restart the process

Example:

processes:

   "cfservd"

     restart_class => "start_cfserv";

commands:

  start_cfserv::

    "/usr/local/sbin/cfservd";

Notes:

This is a signal to restart a process that should be running, if it is not running. Processes are signalled first and then restarted later, at the end of bundle execution, after all possible corrective actions have been made that could influence their execution.

Windows does not support that processes start themselves in the background, like Unix daemons usually do (i.e. fork off a child process). Therefore, it may be useful to specify an action bodypart that sets background to true in a commands promise that is invoked by the class set by restart_class. See the commands promise type for more information.


Previous: restart_class in processes, Up: processes in agent promises

7.14.5 signals

Type: (option list)

Allowed input range:

               hup
               int
               trap
               kill
               pipe
               cont
               abrt
               stop
               quit
               term
               child
               usr1
               usr2
               bus
               segv

Synopsis: A list of menu options representing signals to be sent to a process

Example:

processes:

 cfservd_out_of_control::

   "cfservd"

        signals         => { "stop" , "term" },
        restart_class   => "start_cfserv";

 any::

   "snmpd"

        signals         => { "term" , "kill" };
   

Notes:

Signals are presented as an ordered list to the process. On windows, only the kill signal is supported, which terminates the process.


Next: , Previous: processes in agent promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.15 services promises in ‘agent


A service is a set of zero or more processes. It can be zero if the service is not currently running. Services run in the background, and do not require user intervention.

Service promises may be viewed as an abstraction of process and commands promises. An important distinguiser is however that a single service may consist of multiple processes. Additionally, services are registered in the operating system in some way, and gets a unique name. Unlike processes and commands promises, this makes it possible to use the same name both when it is running and not.

Some operating systems are bundled with a lot of unused services that are running as default. At the same time, faulty or inherently insecure services are often the cause of security issues. With CFEngine, one can create promises stating services that should be stopped and disabled.

The operating system may start a service at boot time, or it can be started by CFEngine. Either way, CFEngine will ensure that the service maintains the correct state (started, stopped, or disabled). On some operating systems, CFEngine also allows services to be started on demand, i.e. when they are needed. This is implemented though the inetd or xinetd daemon on Unix. Windows does not support this.

CFEngine also allows for the concept of dependencies between services, and can automatically start or stop these, if desired. Parameters can be passed to services that are started by CFEngine.


bundle agent example
{
services:

  "Dhcp"
    service_policy => "start",
    service_dependencies => { "Alerter", "W32Time" },
    service_method => winmethod;
}
 
########################################################


body service_method winmethod
{
  service_type => "windows";
  service_args => "--netmask=255.255.0.0";
  service_autostart_policy => "none";
  service_dependence_chain => "start_parent_services";
}


Services promises for Windows are only available in CFEngine Nova and above. Windows Vista/Server 2008 and later introduced new complications to the service security policy. Therefore, when testing services promises from the command line, CFEngine may not be given proper access rights, which gives errors like "Access is denied". However, when running through the CFEngine Nova Executor service, typical for on production machines, CFEngine has sufficent rights.

Services of type ‘generic’ promises are implemented for all operating systems and are merely as a convenient front-end to processes and commands. If nothing else is specified, CFEngine looks for an special reserved agent bundle called

bundle agent standard_services(service,state)
{
...
}

This bundle is called with two parameters: the name if the service and a start/stop state variable. The CFEngine standard library defines many common services for standard operating systems for convenience. If no service_bundle is defined in a service_method body, then CFEngine assumes the ‘standard_services’ bundle to be the default source of action for the services. This is executed just like a methods promise on the service bundle, so this is merely a front-end.

The standard bundle can be replaced with another, as follows, e.g. for testing purposes:

body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "test" };
}

#


bundle agent test
{
vars:

 "mail" slist => { "spamassassin", "postfix" };


services:

  "www" service_policy => "start",
        service_method => service_test;


  "$(mail)" service_policy => "stop",
        service_method => service_test;
}

#


body service_method service_test
{
service_bundle => non_standard_services("$(this.promiser)","$(this.service_policy)");
}

#


bundle agent non_standard_services(service,state)
{
reports:

  !done::

    "Test service promise for \"$(service)\" -> $(state)";
}

Note that the special variables $(this.promiser) and $(this.service_policy) may be used to fill in the service and state parameters from the promise definition. The $(this.service_policy) variable is only defined for services promises.


Next: , Previous: services in agent promises, Up: services in agent promises

7.15.1 service_policy

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               start
               stop
               disable

Synopsis: Policy for cfengine service status

Example:

services:
  
  "Telnet"
     service_policy => "disable";

Notes:

If set to start, CFEngine Nova will keep the service in a running state, while stop means that the service is kept in a stopped state. disable implies stop, and ensures that the service can not be started directly, but needs to be enabled somehow first (e.g. by changing file permissions).


Next: , Previous: service_policy in services, Up: services in agent promises

7.15.2 service_dependencies

Type: slist

Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Synopsis: A list of services on which the named service abstraction depends

Example:

services:
  
  "ftp"
    service_policy => "start",
    service_dependencies => { "network", "logging" };

Notes:

A list of services that must be running before the service can be started. These dependencies can be started automatically by CFEngine Nova if they are not running — see service_dependence_chain. However, the dependencies will never be implicitly stopped by CFEngine Nova. Specifying dependencies is optional.

Note that the operating system may keep an additional list of dependencies for a given service, defined during installation of the service. CFEngine Nova requires these dependencies to be running as well before starting the service. The complete list of dependencies is thus the union of service_dependencies and the internal operating system list.


Previous: service_dependencies in services, Up: services in agent promises

7.15.3 service_method (body template)

Type: (ext body)

service_args
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Parameters for starting the service as command

Example:

     
body service_method example
     {
       service_args => "-f filename.conf --some-argument";
     }
     

Notes:

These arguments will only be passed if CFEngine Nova starts the service. Thus, set service_autostart_policy to none to ensure that the arguments are always passed.

Escaped quoutes can be used to pass an argument contianing spaces as a single argument, e.g. "-f \"file name.conf\"". Passing arguments is optional.

service_autostart_policy
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    none
                    boot_time
                    on_demand

Synopsis: Should the service be started automatically by the OS

Example:

     
body service_method example
     {
       service_autostart_policy => "boot_time";
     }
     

Notes:

Defaults to none, which means that the service is not registered for automatic startup by the operating system in any way. It must be none if service_policy is not start. boot_time means the service is started at boot time, while on_demand means that the service is dispatched once it is being used.

on_demand is not supported by Windows, and is implemented through inetd or xinetd on Unix.

service_bundle
Type: (ext bundle) (Separate Bundle)
service_dependence_chain
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    ignore
                    start_parent_services
                    stop_child_services
                    all_related

Synopsis: How to handle dependencies and dependent services

Example:

     
body service_method example
     {
       service_dependence_chain => "start_parent_services";
     }
     

Notes:

The service dependencies include both the dependencies defined by the operating system and in service_dependencies, as described there.

Defaults to ignore, which means that CFEngine Nova will never start or stop dependencies or dependent services, but fail if dependencies are not satisfied. start_parent_services means that all dependencies of the service will be started if they are not already running. When stopping a service, stop_child_services means that other services that depend on this service will be stopped also. all_related means both start_parent_services and stop_child_services.

Note that this setting also affects dependencies of dependencies and so on.

For example, consider the case where service A depends on B, which depends on C. If we want to start B, we must first make sure A is running. If start_parent_services or all_related is set, CFEngine Nova will start A, if it is not running. On the other hand, if we want to stop B, C needs to be stopped first. stop_child_services or all_related means that CFEngine Nova will stop C, if it is running.

service_type
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    windows
                    generic

Synopsis: Service abstraction type

Example:

     
body service_method example
     {
       type => "windows";
     }
     

Notes:

On Windows this defaults to, and must be windows. Unix systems can however have multiple means of registering services, but the choice must be available on the given system.


Previous: services in agent promises, Up: Bundles for agent

7.16 storage promises in ‘agent


Storage promises refer to disks and filesystem properties.

     
      storage:
     
         "/disk volume or mountpoint"
     
           volume => volume_body,
           ...;
     

In CFEngine 2, storage promises were divided into disks or required, and misc_mounts types. The old mount-models for binary and home servers has been deprecated and removed from CFEngine 3. Users who use these models can reconstruct them from the low-level tools.


bundle agent storage

{
storage:

  "/usr" volume  => mycheck("10%");
  "/mnt" mount   => nfs("nfsserv.example.org","/home");

}

#######################################################


body volume mycheck(free)

{
check_foreign  => "false";
freespace      => "$(free)";
sensible_size  => "10000";
sensible_count => "2";
}

body mount nfs(server,source)

{
mount_type => "nfs";
mount_source => "$(source)";
mount_server => "$(server)";
edit_fstab => "true";
}



Next: , Previous: storage in agent promises, Up: storage in agent promises

7.16.1 mount (body template)

Type: (ext body)

edit_fstab
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false add or remove entries to the file system table ("fstab")

Default value: false

Example:

     
body mount example
     {
     edit_fstab => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

The default behaviour is to not place edits in the file system table.

mount_type
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    nfs
                    nfs2
                    nfs3
                    nfs4

Synopsis: Protocol type of remote file system

Example:

     
body mount example
     {
     mount_type => "nfs3";
     }
     

Notes:

This field is mainly for future extensions.

mount_source
Type: string

Allowed input range: "?(/.*)

Synopsis: Path of remote file system to mount

Example:

     
body mount example
     {
     mount_source "/location/disk/directory";
     }
     

Notes:

This is the location on the remote device, server, SAN etc.

mount_server
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Hostname or IP or remote file system server

Example:

     
body mount example
     {
     mount_server => "nfs_host.example.org";
     }
     

Notes:

Hostname or IP address, this could be on a SAN.

mount_options
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of option strings to add to the file system table ("fstab")

Example:

     body mount example
     {
     mount_options => { "rw", "acls" };
     }
     

Notes:

This list is concatenated in a form appropriate for the filesystem. The options must be legal options for the system mount commands.

unmount
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false unmount a previously mounted filesystem

Default value: false

Example:

     
body mount example
     {
     unmount => "true";
     }
     

Notes:


Previous: mount in storage, Up: storage in agent promises

7.16.2 volume (body template)

Type: (ext body)

check_foreign
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false verify storage that is mounted from a foreign system on this host

Default value: false

Example:

     
body volume example
     
     {
     #..

     check_foreign  => "false";
     }
     

Notes:

CFEngine will not normally perform sanity checks on filesystems which are not local to the host. If true it will ignore a partition's network location and ask the current host to verify storage located physically on other systems.

freespace
Type: string

Allowed input range: [0-9]+[MBkKgGmb%]

Synopsis: Absolute or percentage minimum disk space that should be available before warning

Example:

     
body volume example1
     {
     freespace => "10%";
     }
     
body volume example2
     {
     freespace => "50M";
     }
     

Notes:

The amount of freespace that is promised on a storage device. Once this promise is found not to be kept (that is, if the free space falls below the promised value), warnings are generated. You may also want to use the results of this promise to control other promises, See classes in *.

sensible_size
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Minimum size in bytes that should be used on a sensible-looking storage device

Example:

     
body volume example
     {
     sensible_size => "20K";
     }
     

Notes:

     
body volume control
     {
     sensible_size => "20K";
     }
     

sensible_count
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Minimum number of files that should be defined on a sensible-looking storage device

Example:

     
body volume example
     {
     sensible_count => "20";
     }
     

Notes:

Files must be readable by the agent, i.e. it is assumed that the agent has privileges on volumes being checked.

scan_arrivals
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: true/false generate pseudo-periodic disk change arrival distribution

Default value: false

Example:

     
body volume example
     {
     scan_arrivals => "true";
     }
     

Notes:

This operation should not be left `on' for more than a single run (maximum once per week). It causes CFEngine to perform an extensive disk scan noting the schedule of changes between files. This can be used for a number of analyses including optimum backup schedule computation.


Next: , Previous: Bundles for agent, Up: Top

8 Bundles of server


     
     bundle server access_rules()
     
     {
     access:
     
       "/home/mark/PrivateFiles"
     
         admit   => { ".*\.example\.org" };
     
       "/home/mark/\.cfagent/bin/cf-agent"
     
         admit   => { ".*\.example\.org" };
     
     roles:
     
       ".*"  authorize => { "mark" };
     }
     
     


Bundles in the server describe access promises on specific file and class objects supplied by the server to clients.


Next: , Previous: Bundles for server, Up: Bundles for server

8.1 access promises in ‘server


Access promises are conditional promises made by the server about file objects. The promise has two consequences. For file copy requests, the file becomes transferrable to the remote client according to the conditions specified in the server promse (i.e. if the connection encryption requirements are met, and if the client has been granted appropriate privileges with maproot (like its NFS counterpart) to be able to see file objects not owned by the server process owner).

The promise has two mutally exclusive attributes ‘admit’ and ‘deny’. Use of ‘admit’ is preferred as mistakes and omissions can easily be made when excluding from a group.

When access is granted to a directory, the promise is automatically given about all of its contents and sub-directories. The access promise allows overlapping promises to be made, and these are kept in a first-come-first-served fashion. Thus file objects (promisers) should be listed in order of most-specific file first. In this way, specific promises will override less specific ones.

     
      access:
     
         "/path/file_object"
     
           admit   => { "hostname", "ipv4_address", "ipv6_address"  };
     
     



Next: , Previous: access in server promises, Up: access in server promises

8.1.1 Access Example

#########################################################

# Server config

#########################################################


body server control

{
allowconnects         => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" };
allowallconnects      => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" };
trustkeysfrom         => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" };
}

#########################################################


bundle server access_rules()

{
access:

  "/home/mark/LapTop"

    admit   => { "127.0.0.1" };
}


Entries may be literal addresses of IPv4 or IPv6, or any name registered in the POSIX gethostbyname service.


Next: , Previous: Access Example, Up: access in server promises

8.1.2 admit

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of host names or IP addresses to grant access to file objects

Example:

access:

  "/home/mark/LapTop"

    admit   => { "127.0.0.1", "192.168.0.1/24", ".*\.domain\.tld"  };

Notes:

Admit promises grant access to file objects on the server. Arguments may be IP addresses or hostnames, provided DNS name resolution is active. In order to reach this stage, a client must first have passed all of the standard connection tests in the control body.

The lists may contain network addresses in CIDR notation or regular expressions to match the IP address or name of the connecting host.


Next: , Previous: admit in access, Up: access in server promises

8.1.3 deny

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of host names or IP addresses to deny access to file objects

Example:

bundle server access_rules()

{
access:

  "/path"

    admit   => { ".*\.example\.org" },
    deny    => { "badhost_1\.example\.org", "badhost_1\.example\.org" };
}

Notes:

Denial is for special exceptions. A better strategy is always to grant on a need to know basis. A security policy based on exceptions is a weak one.

Note that only regular expressions or exact matches are allowed in this list, as non-specific matches are too greedy for denial.


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8.1.4 maproot

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of host names or IP addresses to grant full read-privilege on the server

Example:

access:

 "/home"

       admit => { "backup_host.example.org" },
 ifencrypted => "true",

     # Backup needs to have access to all users


     maproot => { "backup_host.example.org" };

Notes:

Normally users authenticated by the server are granted access only to files owned by them and no-one else. Even if the cf-serverd process runs with root privileges on the server side of a client-server connection, the client is not automatically granted access to download files owned by non-privileged users. If maproot is true then remote root users are granted access to all files.

A typical case where mapping is important is in making backups of many user files. On the Windows cf-serverd, maproot is required to read files if the connecting user does not own the file on the server.


Next: , Previous: maproot in access, Up: access in server promises

8.1.5 ifencrypted

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               true
               false
               yes
               no
               on
               off

Default value: false

Synopsis: true/false whether the current file access promise is conditional on the connection from the client being encrypted

Example:

access:

   "/path/file"

    admit     => { ".*\.example\.org" },
    ifencrypted => "true";

Notes:

If this flag is true a client cannot access the file object unless its connection is encrypted.


Previous: ifencrypted in access, Up: access in server promises

8.1.6 resource_type

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               path
               literal
               context
               query

Synopsis: The type of object being granted access (the default grants access to files)

Example:


bundle server access_rules()

{
vars:

  "localvar" string => "literal string";

access:

  "This is a $(localvar) for remote access"
 
        handle  => "test_scalar",
  resource_type => "literal",
        admit   => { "127.0.0.1" };
}

Notes:

By default, access to resources granted by the server are files. However, sometimes it is useful to cache literal strings, hints and data in the server, e.g. the contents of variables, hashed passwords etc for easy access. In the case of literal data, the promise handle serves as the reference identifier for queries. Queries are instigated by function calls by any agent.

The term query may also be used in commercial versions of CFEngine to query the server for data from embedded databases. This is currently for internal use only, and is used to grant access to report `menus'.


Previous: access in server promises, Up: Bundles for server

8.2 roles promises in ‘server


Roles promises are server-side decisions about which users are allowed to define soft-classes on the server's system during remote invocation of cf-agent. This implements a form of Role Based Access Control (RBAC) for pre-assigned class-promise bindings. The user names cited must be attached to trusted public keys in order to be accepted. The regular expression must match the entire name (that is, they are anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

     
      roles:
     
        "regex"
     
           authorize => { "usernames", ... };
     

It is worth re-iterating here that it is not possible to send commands or modify promise definitions by remote access. At best users may try to send classes when using cf-runagent in order to activate sleeping promises. This mechanism limits their ability to do this.


bundle server access_rules()

{
roles:

  # Allow mark


  "Myclass_.*"  authorize => { "mark" };
}


In this example user ‘mark’ is granted permission to remotely activate classes matching the regular expression when ‘Mark_.*’ using the cf-runagent to activate CFEngine. In this way one can implement a form of Role Based Access Control (RBAC), provided users do not have privileged access on the host directly.


Previous: roles in server promises, Up: roles in server promises

8.2.1 authorize

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of public-key user names that are allowed to activate the promised class during remote agent activation

Example:

roles:

  ".*"  authorize => { "mark", "marks_friend" };

Notes:

Part of Role Based Access Control (RBAC) in CFEngine. The users listed in this section are granted access to set certain classes by using the remote cf-runagent. The user-names will refer to public key identities already trusted on the system.


Next: , Previous: Bundles for server, Up: Top

9 Bundles of knowledge


     
     bundle knowledge system
     
     {
     topics:
     
      Troubleshooting::
     
       "Segmentation fault"
            association => a("is caused by","Bad memory reference","can cause");
     
       "Remote connection problem";
       "Web server not running";
       "Print server not running";
       "Bad memory reference";
     }
     


Knowledge bundles describe topic maps, i.e. Topics, Associations and Occurrences (of topics in documents). This is for knowledge modelling and has no functional effect on a system.


Next: , Previous: Bundles for knowledge, Up: Bundles for knowledge

9.1 inferences promises in ‘knowledge



inferences:

  "is close to" 
           comment => "Cluster property",
         precedent => { "is close to" },
         qualifier => { "is close to" };

  "is far from" 
           comment => "Remote cluster property",
         precedent => { "is far from" },
         qualifier => { "is close to" };


History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2010)

Inference promises are used to perform simple contextual reasoning in the knowledge map. This feature is currently only supported in commercial versions of CFEngine as it is developed.

The promiser of an inference promise is the result of the inference, i.e. the conclusion to be drawn from combining two knowledge assertions. The body specifies what existing associations must be in place between topics in order to draw the conclusion between the start and the end.

     
                 precedent                 qualifier
       TOPIC 1 --------------> TOPIC 2 ---------------> TOPIC 3
     
                         promised inference
       TOPIC 1 ---------------------------------------> TOPIC 3
     

For example,

     
              is mother to          is married to
       ALICE --------------> BOB -----------------> CAROL
     
                     is mother in law to
       ALICE ---------------------------------------> CAROL
     

Note that, like all promises, they are expected to be unique. Multiple promisers promising different bodies is potentially inconsistent. However, inference is inherently ambiguous and we need to accomodate multiple patterns. To this end, lists of regular expressions may be used to match multiple instances.


Next: , Previous: inferences in knowledge promises, Up: inferences in knowledge promises

9.1.1 precedents

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The foundational vector for a trinary inference

Example:

inferences:

  "is far from" 
           comment => "Remote cluster property",
         precedent => { "is far from"},
         qualifier => { "is close to", "is far from" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0b3,Nova 2.0.0b1 (2010)

A general regular expression may be used to match suitable alternatives, so as to make the promise unique.


Previous: precedents in inferences, Up: inferences in knowledge promises

9.1.2 qualifiers

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The second vector in a trinary inference

Example:

inferences:

  "is far from" 
           comment => "Remote cluster property",
         precedent => { "is far from" },
         qualifier => { "is close to|is far from" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2010)

A general regular expression may be used to match suitable alternatives, so as to make the promise unique.


Next: , Previous: inferences in knowledge promises, Up: Bundles for knowledge

9.2 things promises in ‘knowledge


History: Was introduced in version 3.2, Nova 2.1, Constellation 1.0 (2011)

Things are a special subset of topics that behave like objects in the world. We have separated out things from more abstract topics to make it easier to talk about the. Things are typically objects we make inventories of, that influence one another and might be connected. We interact with things in IT management much more concretely than we do with abstract topics.

To make it simpler to talk about things, we there introduce things promises.


body knowledge TheRealWorld
{
things:

  networks::

     "10.20.30.40"  is_connected_to => { "router 46", "computers::computer 23" };

  computers::

     "computer 23" belongs_to => { "Phileas Phogg", "ACME punchcard agency" };

}


Things promises are in every way equivalent to the more general topics promises. Things can be extended as topics. The contexts are interchangeable between things and topics. The only purpose of things is to make plainer a description of the `physical' configurations of regular worldly things.


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9.2.1 synonyms

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of words to be treated as equivalents in the defined context

Example:

 mathematics::

   "tree" synonyms => { "DAG", "directed acyclic graph" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.3a1,Nova 2.0.2a1 (2010)

This may be used to simplify the identification of synonyms during topic searches.


Next: , Previous: synonyms in things, Up: things in knowledge promises

9.2.2 affects

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Special fixed relation for describing topics that are things

Example:

things:

   "The Moon"   affects => {  "surf", "tides" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.2, Nova 2.1, Constellation 1.0 (2011)


Next: , Previous: affects in things, Up: things in knowledge promises

9.2.3 belongs_to

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Special fixed relation for describing topics that are things

Example:

things:

  "router-123" 

           comment => "Located at 23 Marlborough Street",
        belongs_to => { "company::cfengine" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.2, Nova 2.1, Constellation 1.0 (2011)


Next: , Previous: belongs_to in things, Up: things in knowledge promises

9.2.4 caused_by

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Special fixed relation for describing topics that are things

Example:

bundle knowledge test
{
things:

  "core dump" is_caused_by => { "memory fault" },
                     certainty => "certain";

}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.2.0, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

The complement of `causes' for convenience of expression.


Next: , Previous: caused_by in things, Up: things in knowledge promises

9.2.5 causes

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Special fixed relation for describing topics that are things

Example:

bundle knowledge test
{
things:

  "program crash" causes => { "rootprocs_low_anomaly" },
                     certainty => "possible";

}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.2.0, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

The complement of `is_caused_by' for convenience.


Next: , Previous: causes in things, Up: things in knowledge promises

9.2.6 certainty

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               certain
               uncertain
               possible

Synopsis: Selects the level of certainty for the proposed knowledge, for use in inferential reasoning

Example:

bundle knowledge test
{
things:

  "router one" is_connected_to => { "computer one" },
                     certainty => "uncertain";

  "router"             affects => { "network services" },
                     certainty => "possible";
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5, Nova 2.1, Constellation 1.0 (2011)

Certainty is used in automated reasoning about knowledge. It modifies the relationships between things. For example, the certain relationship `is affected by' would become `can be affected by' (possible) or `might be affected by' (uncertain).


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9.2.7 determines

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Special fixed relation for describing topics that are things

Example:

things:

  "router one" determines => { "network connectivity" },
                certainty => "uncertain";

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5, Nova 2.1, Constellation 1.0 (2011)


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9.2.8 generalizations

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of words to be treated as super-sets for the current topic, used when reasoning

Example:

 topics:

  persons::

     "mark"  generalizations => { "person", "staff", "human being" };

  any::

     "10.10.10.10/24" generalizations => { "network", "CIDR format" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.2, Nova 2.1, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

Generalizations are ways of thinking about topics in more general terms. They are somewhat like container `types' or `classes' in hierarchical modelling, but they need not be mutually exclusive categories.

Generalizations may be used in topic-lifting, a kind of brain-storming about issues, when searching for diagnostic explanations.


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9.2.9 is_connected_to

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Special fixed relation for describing topics that are things

Example:

things:

 networks::

  "192.23.45.0/24"         comment => "Secure network, zone 0. Single octet for corporate offices",
                   is_connected_to => { "oslo-hub-123" };

  "192.12.74.0/23"         comment => "Zone 1, double octet for the London office developer network",
                   is_connected_to => { "oslo-hub-123" };

  "192.12.74.0/23"         comment => "Secure, single octet for the NYC office",
                   is_connected_to => { "nyc-hub-456" };


Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0 (2011)


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9.2.10 is_located_in

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Special fixed relation for describing topics that are things

Example:

things:

 countries::

   "UK"                 synonyms => { "Great Britain" },
                   is_located_in => { "EMEA", "Europe" };

   "Singapore"     is_located_in => { "APAC", "Asia" };


Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.2, Nova 2.1, Constellation 1.0 (2011)


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9.2.11 is_part_of

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Special fixed relation for describing topics that are things

Example:

things:

  "host 1" is_part_of => { "123.456.789.0/24" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5, Nova 2.1, Constellation 1.0 (2011)


Next: , Previous: is_part_of in things, Up: things in knowledge promises

9.2.12 needs

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Special fixed relation for describing topics that are things

Example:

things:

  "rack 123"     needs => { "power", "cooling" };

  "computer"     needs => { "cleaning", "monitoring" },
             certainty => "possible";

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5, Nova 2.1, Constellation 1.0 (2011)


Next: , Previous: needs in things, Up: things in knowledge promises

9.2.13 provides

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Special fixed relation for describing topics that are things

Example:

things:

   "host 23" provides => { "www", "email" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.2, Nova 2.1, Constellation 1.0 (2011)


Previous: provides in things, Up: things in knowledge promises

9.2.14 uses

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Special fixed relation for describing topics that are things

Example:

things:

  "apache 2.3" uses => { "mysql 4.5" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.2, Nova 2.1 Constellation 1.0 (2011)


Next: , Previous: things in knowledge promises, Up: Bundles for knowledge

9.3 topics promises in ‘knowledge


Topic promises are part of the knowledge management engine. A topic is any string that refers to a concept or subject that we wish to include in a knowledge base. If a topic has a very long name, it is best to made the promiser object a short name and use the comment field to add the long explanation (e.g. unique acronym and full text).

     
      topics:
     
       "topic string"
     
        comment => "long name..",
        ...;
     

Topics form associative structures based entirely on an abstract space of natural language. Actually, this is only slightly more abstract than files, processes and commands etc. The main difference in knowledge management is that there are no corrective or maintenance operations associated with knowledge promises.

Class membership in knowledge management is subtly different from other parts of CFEngine. If a topic lies in a certain class context, the topic uses it as a type-label. This is used for disambiguation of subject-area in searches rather than for disambiguation of rules between physical environments.


bundle knowledge example
{
topics:

   "Distro"
      comment     => "Distribution of linux",              
      association => a("is a packaging of","Linux","is packaged as a");
}


Topics are basically identifiers, where the comment field here is a long form of the subject string. Associations form semantic links between topics. Topics can appear multiple times in order to form multiple associations.


Next: , Previous: topics in knowledge promises, Up: topics in knowledge promises

9.3.1 association (body template)

Type: (ext body)

forward_relationship
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Name of forward association between promiser topic and associates

Example:

     
body association example
     {
     forward_relation => "is bigger than";
     }
     

Notes:


backward_relationship
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Name of backward/inverse association from associates to promiser topic

Example:

     body association example
     {
     # ..

     backward_relationship => "is less than";
     }
     

Notes:

Denotes the inverse name which is used to `moralizing' the association graph.

associates
Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of associated topics by this forward relationship

Example:

     
body association example(literal,scalar,list)
     
     {
     #...

     associates => { "literal", $(scalar),  @(list)};
     }
     

Notes:

An element of an association which is a list of topics to which the current topic is associated.


Next: , Previous: association in topics, Up: topics in knowledge promises

9.3.2 synonyms

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of words to be treated as equivalents in the defined context

Example:

 mathematics::

   "tree" synonyms => { "DAG", "directed acyclic graph" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.3a1,Nova 2.0.2a1 (2010)

This may be used to simplify the identification of synonyms during topic searches.


Previous: synonyms in topics, Up: topics in knowledge promises

9.3.3 generalizations

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: A list of words to be treated as super-sets for the current topic, used when reasoning

Example:

 topics:

  persons::

     "mark"  generalizations => { "person", "staff", "human being" };

  any::

     "10.10.10.10/24" generalizations => { "network", "CIDR format" };

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.2, Nova 2.1, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

Generalizations are ways of thinking about topics in more general terms. They are somewhat like container `types' or `classes' in hierarchical modelling, but they need not be mutually exclusive categories.

Generalizations may be used in topic-lifting, a kind of brain-storming about issues, when searching for diagnostic explanations.


Previous: topics in knowledge promises, Up: Bundles for knowledge

9.4 occurrences promises in ‘knowledge


Occurrences are documents or information resources that discuss topics. An occurrence promise asserts that a particular document of text resource in fact represents information about one or more topics. This is used to construct references to actual information in a topic map.

     
      occurrences:
     
        topic_name::
     
          "URL reference or literal string"
     
              represents => { "sub-topic disambiguator", ... },
              representation => "literal or url";
     


 Mark_Burgess::

     "http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark"
            represents => { "Home Page" };

 lvalue::

     "A variable identifier, i.e. the left hand side of an '=' association. The promiser in a variable promise."
            represents => { "Definitions" },
            representation => "literal";

 Editing_Files::

 "http://www.cfengine.org/confdir/customizepasswd.html" 
   represents => { "Setting up users" };



Occurrences are pointers to information about topics. This might be a literal text string or a URL reference to an external document.


Next: , Previous: occurrences in knowledge promises, Up: occurrences in knowledge promises

9.4.1 represents

Type: slist

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: List of subtopics that explains the type(s) of information represented by the occurrence

Example:

occurrences:

  Promise_Theory::

    "A theory of autonomous actors that offer certainty through promises"

      represents     => { "Definitions" },
      representation => "literal";

Notes:

The sub-topic or occurrence-type represented by the document reference in a knowledge base. This string is intended as an annotation to the reader about the nature of the inforation located in the occurrence document. It should be used `creatively'.

If the document type is an image and one of the items in this list is a url, beginning with either ‘/’ or ‘http’, then cf-know treats the reference as a url to be reached when the image is clicked on.


Next: , Previous: represents in occurrences, Up: occurrences in knowledge promises

9.4.2 representation

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               literal
               url
               db
               file
               web
               image
               portal

Synopsis: How to interpret the promiser string e.g. actual data or reference to data

Example:

occurrences:

  Promise_Theory::

    "A theory of autonomous actors that offer certainty through promises"

      represents     => { "Definitions" },
      representation => "literal";


Notes:

The form of knowledge representation in a topic map occurrence reference. If the type portal is used it assumes that a new website should open in a new target window.


Next: , Previous: representation in occurrences, Up: occurrences in knowledge promises

9.4.3 web_root

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Base URL of the occurrence when rendered as a web-URL (deprecated)

Example:

bundle knowledge demo
{
occurrences:

 mytopic:

   "reports/(.*)/mytopic_file.html"

            represents => { "found in directory $(match.1)" },
            representation => "file",
            path_root => "$(enterprise_start.doc_root)",
            web_root => "";
}

Notes:

When identifying occurrences by searching for files on the local file system, the web root provides the HTTP prefix for the document root under which we are searching so that path names can be mapped into URLs, See path_root in occurrences.


Previous: web_root in occurrences, Up: occurrences in knowledge promises

9.4.4 path_root

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Base path of the occurrence when locating file (deprecated)

Example:



bundle knowledge demo
{
occurrences:

 mytopic:

   "reports/(.*)/mytopic_file.html"

            represents => { "found in directory $(match.1)" },
            representation => "file",
            path_root => "$(enterprise_start.doc_root)",
            web_root => "";
}    

Notes:

When searching a local file system for document occurrences, the path_root points to the local file system's name for the document root. This will be translated into the URL prefix defined by web_root, See web_root in occurrences.


Next: , Previous: Bundles for knowledge, Up: Top

10 Bundles of monitor


     
     bundle monitor example
     {
     measurements:
     
          # Discover disk device information
     
       "/bin/df"
     
           handle => "free_diskspace_watch",
           stream_type => "pipe",
           data_type => "slist",
           history_type => "static",
           units => "device",
           match_value => file_systems;
     
     
     }
     

Monitor bundles contain user defined promises for system discovery and monitoring.



Previous: Bundles for monitor, Up: Bundles for monitor

10.1 measurements promises in ‘monitor


These features are available only in Enterprise versions of CFEngine.

CFEngine's monitoring component cf-monitord records a number of performance data about the system by default. These include process counts, service traffic, load average and cpu utilization and temperature when available.

CFEngine Nova extends this in two ways. First it adds a three year trend summary based any `shift'-averages. Second, it adds customizable promises to monitor or log very specific user data through a generic interface. The end result is to either generate a periodic time series, like the above mentioned values, or to log the results to custom-defined reports.

CFEngine Nova adds a new promise type in bundles for the monitoring agent. These are written just like all other promises within a bundle destined for the agent concerned (however, you do not need to add them to the bundlesequence – they are executed by cf-monitord because they are bundles of type monitor). In this case:

bundle monitor watch

{
measurements:

  # promises ...


}

It is important to specificy a promise handle for measurement promises, as the names defined in the handle are used to determine the name of the log file or variable to which data will be reported. Log files are created under WORKDIR/state. Data that have no history type are stored in a special variable context called ‘mon’, analogous to the system variables in ‘sys’. Thus the values may be used in other promises in the form $(mon.handle).


  # Follow a special process over time

  # using CFEngine's process cache to avoid resampling


   "/var/cfengine/state/cf_rootprocs"

      handle => "monitor_self_watch",
      stream_type => "file",
      data_type => "int",
      history_type => "weekly",
      units => "kB",
      match_value => proc_value(".*cf-monitord.*",
         "root\s+[0-9.]+\s+[0-9.]+\s+[0-9.]+\s+[0-9.]+\s+([0-9]+).*");


  # Discover disk device information


  "/bin/df"

      handle => "free_diskspace_watch",
      stream_type => "pipe",
      data_type => "slist",
      history_type => "static",
      units => "device",
      match_value => file_systems;
      # Update this as often as possible


}

##########################################################


body match_value proc_value(x,y)
{
select_line_matching => "$(x)";
extraction_regex => "$(y)";
}

body match_value file_systems
{
select_line_matching => "/.*";
extraction_regex => "(.*)";
}



Notes:

The general pattern of these promises is to decide the source of the information either file or pipe, determine the data type (integer, string etc.), specify a pattern to match the result in the file stream and then specify what to do with the result afterwards.

Standard measurements:

The cf-monitord service monitors a number of variables as standard on Unix and Windows systems. Windows is fundamentally different from Unix and currently has less support for out-of-the-box probes.

  1. users: Users logged in
  2. rootprocs: Privileged system processes
  3. otherprocs: Non-privileged process
  4. diskfree: Free disk on / partition
  5. loadavg: % kernel load utilization
  6. netbiosns_in: netbios name lookups (in)
  7. netbiosns_out: netbios name lookups (out)
  8. netbiosdgm_in: netbios name datagrams (in)
  9. netbiosdgm_out: netbios name datagrams (out)
  10. netbiosssn_in: netbios name sessions (in)
  11. netbiosssn_out: netbios name sessions (out)
  12. irc_in: IRC connections (in)
  13. irc_out: IRC connections (out)
  14. cfengine_in: CFEngine connections (in)
  15. cfengine_out: CFEngine connections (out)
  16. nfsd_in: nfs connections (in)
  17. nfsd_out: nfs connections (out)
  18. smtp_in: smtp connections (in)
  19. smtp_out: smtp connections (out)
  20. www_in: www connections (in)
  21. www_out: www connections (out)
  22. ftp_in: ftp connections (in)
  23. ftp_out: ftp connections (out)
  24. ssh_in: ssh connections (in)
  25. ssh_out: ssh connections (out)
  26. wwws_in: wwws connections (in)
  27. wwws_out: wwws connections (out)
  28. icmp_in: ICMP packets (in)
  29. icmp_out: ICMP packets (out)
  30. udp_in: UDP dgrams (in)
  31. udp_out: UDP dgrams (out)
  32. dns_in: DNS requests (in)
  33. dns_out: DNS requests (out)
  34. tcpsyn_in: TCP sessions (in)
  35. tcpsyn_out: TCP sessions (out)
  36. tcpack_in: TCP acks (in)
  37. tcpack_out: TCP acks (out)
  38. tcpfin_in: TCP finish (in)
  39. tcpfin_out: TCP finish (out)
  40. tcpmisc_in: TCP misc (in)
  41. tcpmisc_out: TCP misc (out)
  42. webaccess: Webserver hits
  43. weberrors: Webserver errors
  44. syslog: New log entries (Syslog)
  45. messages: New log entries (messages)
  46. temp0: CPU Temperature core 0
  47. temp1: CPU Temperature core 1
  48. temp2: CPU Temperature core 2
  49. temp3: CPU Temperature core 3
  50. cpu: %CPU utilization (all)
  51. cpu0: %CPU utilization core 0
  52. cpu1: %CPU utilization core 1
  53. cpu2: %CPU utilization core 2
  54. cpu3: %CPU utilization core 3

Slots with a higher number are used for custom measurement promises in CFEngine Nova.

These values collected and analysed by cf-monitord are transformed into agent variables in the $(mon.name) context.

Measurement promise syntax:


Next: , Previous: measurements in monitor promises, Up: measurements in monitor promises

10.1.1 stream_type

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               pipe
               file

Synopsis: The datatype being collected.

Example:

stream_type => "pipe";

Notes:

CFEngine treats all input using a stream abstraction. The preferred interface is files, since they can be read without incurring the cost of a process. However pipes from executed commands may also be invoked.


Next: , Previous: stream_type in measurements, Up: measurements in monitor promises

10.1.2 data_type

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               counter
               int
               real
               string
               slist

Synopsis: The datatype being collected.

Example:

  "/bin/df"

      handle => "free_disk_watch",
      stream_type => "pipe",

      data_type => "slist",

      history_type => "static",
      units => "device",
      match_value => file_systems,
      action => sample_min(10,15);


Notes:

When CFEngine (Nova) observes data, such as the attached partitions in the example above, the datatype determines how that data will be handled. Integer and real values, counters etc., are recorded as time-series if the history type is `weekly', or as single values otherwise. If multiple items are matched by an observation, e.g. several lines in a file match the given regular expression, then these can be made into a list by choosing slist, else the first matching item will be selected.


Next: , Previous: data_type in measurements, Up: measurements in monitor promises

10.1.3 history_type

Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

               weekly
               scalar
               static
               log

Synopsis: Whether the data can be seen as a time-series or just an isolated value

Example:

 "/proc/meminfo"

      handle => "free_memory_watch",
      stream_type => "file",
      data_type => "int",
      history_type => "weekly",
      units => "kB",
      match_value => free_memory;

Notes:

scalar
A single value, with compressed statistics is retained. The value of the data is not expected to change much for the lifetime of the daemon (and so will be sampled less often by ‘cf-monitord’).
static
A synonym for `scalar'.
log
The measured value is logged as an infinite time-series in ‘$(sys.workdir)/state’.
weekly
A standard CFEngine two-dimensional time average (over a weekly period) is retained.


Next: , Previous: history_type in measurements, Up: measurements in monitor promises

10.1.4 units

Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: The engineering dimensions of this value or a note about its intent used in plots

Example:

   "/var/cfengine/state/cf_rootprocs"

      handle => "monitor_self_watch",
      stream_type => "file",
      data_type => "int",
      history_type => "weekly",
      units => "kB",
      match_value => proc_value(".*cf-monitord.*",
        
         "root\s+[0-9.]+\s+[0-9.]+\s+[0-9.]+\s+[0-9.]+\s+([0-9]+).*");

Notes:

This is an arbitary string used in documentation only.


Previous: units in measurements, Up: measurements in monitor promises

10.1.5 match_value (body template)

Type: (ext body)

select_line_matching
Type: string

Allowed input range: .*

Synopsis: Regular expression for matching line location

Example:

     
     # Editing

     
body location example
     {
     select_line_matching => "Expression match.* whole line";
     }
     
     # Measurement promises

     
body match_value example
     {
     select_line_matching => "Expression match.* whole line";
     }
     

Notes:

The expression must match a whole line, not a fragment within a line (that is, it is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

This attribute is mutually exclusive of select_line_number.

select_line_number
Type: int

Allowed input range: 0,99999999999

Synopsis: Read from the n-th line of the output (fixed format)

Example:

     
body match_value find_line
     {
     select_line_number => "2";
     }
     

Notes:

This is mutually exclusive of select_line_matching.

extraction_regex
Type: string

Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)

Synopsis: Regular expression that should contain a single backreference for extracting a value

Example:

     
body match_value free_memory
     {
     select_line_matching => "MemFree:.*";
     extraction_regex => "MemFree:\s+([0-9]+).*";
     }
     

Notes:

A single parenthesized backreference should be given to lift the value to be measured out of the text stream. The regular expression may match a partial string (that is, it is unanchored see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).

track_growing_file
Type: (menu option)

Allowed input range:

                    true
                    false
                    yes
                    no
                    on
                    off

Synopsis: If true, cfengine remembers the position to which is last read when opening the file, and resets to the start if the file has since been truncated

Example:

     bundle monitor watch
     {
     measurements:
     
        "/home/mark/tmp/file"
     
              handle => "line_counter",
         stream_type => "file",
           data_type => "counter",
         match_value => scan_log("MYLINE.*"),
        history_type => "log",
              action => sample_rate("0");
     
     }
     
     #

     
body match_value scan_log(x)
     {
     select_line_matching => "^$(x)$";
     track_growing_file => "true";
     }
     
     #

     
body action sample_rate(x)
     {
     ifelapsed => "$(x)";
     expireafter => "10";
     }

Notes:

This option applies only to file based input streams. If this is ‘true’, CFEngine treats the file as if it were a log file, growing continuously. Thus the monitor reads all new entries since the last sampling time on each invocation. In this way, the monitor does not count lines in the log file redundantly.

This makes a log pattern promise equivalent to something like ‘tail -f logfile | grep pattern’ in Unix parlance.


Next: , Previous: Bundles for monitor, Up: Top

11 Special functions


Next: , Previous: Special functions, Up: Special functions

11.1 Introduction to functions


There is a large number of functions built into CFEngine, and finding the right one to use can be a daunting task. The following tables are designed to make it easier for you to find the function you need, based on the value or type that the function returns or processes as inputs.

11.1.1 Functions listed by return value

Functions which return class

accessedbefore and changedbefore classify classmatch
concat fileexists filesexist groupexists hashmatch
hostinnetgroup hostrange iprange isdir isexecutable
isgreaterthan islessthan islink isnewerthan isplain
isvariable ldaparray or not regarray
regcmp regextract regldap regline reglist
remoteclassesmatching returnszero splayclass strcmp usemodule
userexists

Functions which return (i,r,s)list

getindices getusers grep ldaplist peerleaders
peers readintlist readreallist readstringlist splitstring

Functions which return int

accumulated ago countlinesmatching diskfree getfields
getgid getuid now on randomint
readintarray readrealarray readstringarray readstringarrayidx selectservers

Functions which return (i,r)range

irange rrange

Functions which return real

product sum

Functions which return string

canonify escape execresult getenv hash
host2ip hostsseen join lastnode ldapvalue
peerleader readfile readtcp registryvalue remotescalar
translatepath

11.1.2 Functions which fill arrays

The following functions all fill arrays, although they return values which depend on the number of items processed.

getfields readintarray readrealarray readstringarray readstringarrayidx
regextract

11.1.3 Functions which read “large” data

The following functions read data from inside CFEngine (from classes, lists, strings, etc.) and outside of CFEngine (from files, databases, arrays, etc.)

Functions which read arrays

getindices
getvalues regarray

Functions which read disk data

diskfree

Functions which read from a remote-CFEngine

remoteclassesmatching remotescalar

Functions which read classes

and classify classmatch concat not
or

Functions which read command output

execresult returnszero usemodule

Functions which read the environment

getenv

Functions which read files

countlinesmatching getfields getusers hashmatch peerleader
peerleaders peers readfile readintarray readintlist
readrealarray readreallist readstringarray readstringarrayidx readstringlist
regline

Functions which read LDAP data

ldaparray ldaplist ldapvalue regldap

Functions which read from the network

readtcp selectservers

Functions which read the Windows registry

registryvalue

Functions which read (i,r,s)lists

grep join
product
reglist
sum

Functions which read strings

hash lastnode regcmp regextract splitstring
strcmp translatepath

11.1.4 Functions which look at file metadata

The following functions examine file metadata, but don't use the contents of the file.

accessedbefore changedbefore fileexists filesexist isdir
islink isnewerthan isplain

11.1.5 Functions which look at variables

isgreaterthan islessthan isvariable

11.1.6 Functions involving date or time

The following functions all do date or time computation

accessedbefore accumulated ago changedbefore isnewerthan
now on splayclass

11.1.7 Functions which work with or on regular expressions

classmatch countlinesmatching escape getfields grep
readintarray readintlist readrealarray readreallist readstringarray
readstringarrayidx readstringlist regarray regcmp regextract
regldap regline reglist splitstring


Next: , Previous: Introduction to functions, Up: Special functions

11.2 Function accessedbefore

Synopsis: accessedbefore(arg1,arg2) returns type class


arg1 : Newer filename, in the range "?(/.*)
arg2 : Older filename, in the range "?(/.*)

True if arg1 was accessed before arg2 (atime)

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "do_it" and => { accessedbefore("/tmp/earlier","/tmp/later"), "linux" }; 

reports:

  do_it::

    "The secret changes have been accessed after the reference time";

}

Notes:

The function accesses the atime fields of a file and makes a comparison.

     
      touch /tmp/reference
      touch /tmp/secretfile
     
      /usr/local/sbin/cf-agent -f ./unit_accessed_before.cf -K
      R: The secret changes have been accessed after the reference time
     


Next: , Previous: Function accessedbefore, Up: Special functions

11.3 Function accumulated

Synopsis: accumulated(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6) returns type int


arg1 : Years, in the range 0,1000
arg2 : Months, in the range 0,1000
arg3 : Days, in the range 0,1000
arg4 : Hours, in the range 0,1000
arg5 : Minutes, in the range 0,1000
arg6 : Seconds, in the range 0,40000

Convert an accumulated amount of time into a system representation

Example:

bundle agent testbundle

{
processes:

 ".*"

    process_count   => anyprocs,
    process_select  => proc_finder;

reports:

 any_procs::

   "Found processes in range";
}

########################################################


body process_select proc_finder

{
ttime_range => irange(accumulated(0,0,0,0,2,0),accumulated(0,0,0,0,20,0));
process_result => "ttime";
}

########################################################


body process_count anyprocs

{
match_range => "0,0";
out_of_range_define => { "any_procs" };
}

Notes:

In the example we look for processes that have accumulated between 2 and 20 minutes of total run time.

ARGUMENTS:

The accumulated function measures total accumulated runtime. Arguments are applied additively, so that accumulated(0,0,2,27,90,0) means "2 days, 27 hours and 90 minutes of runtime" " – however, you are strongly encouraged to keep your usage of accumulated sensible and readable, e.g., accumulated(0,0,0,48,0,0) or accumulated(0,0,0,0,90,0).

Years
Years of run time. For convenience in conversion, a year of runtime is always 365 days (one year equals 31,536,000 seconds).
Month
Months of run time. For convenience in conversion, a month of runtime is always equal to 30 days of runtime (one month equals 2,592,000 seconds).
Day
Days of runtime (one day equals 86,400 seconds)
Hours
Hours of runtime
Minutes
Minutes of runtime 0-59
Seconds
Seconds of runtime


Next: , Previous: Function accumulated, Up: Special functions

11.4 Function ago

Synopsis: ago(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6) returns type int


arg1 : Years, in the range 0,1000
arg2 : Months, in the range 0,1000
arg3 : Days, in the range 0,1000
arg4 : Hours, in the range 0,1000
arg5 : Minutes, in the range 0,1000
arg6 : Seconds, in the range 0,40000

Convert a time relative to now to an integer system representation

Example:

bundle agent testbundle

{
processes:

 ".*"

    process_count   => anyprocs,
    process_select  => proc_finder;

reports:

 any_procs::

   "Found processes out of range";
}

########################################################


body process_select proc_finder

{
# Processes started between 5.5 hours and 20 minutes ago

stime_range => irange(ago(0,0,0,5,30,0),ago(0,0,0,0,20,0));
process_result => "stime";
}

########################################################


body process_count anyprocs

{
match_range => "0,0";
out_of_range_define => { "any_procs" };
}

Notes:

The ago function measures time relative to now. Arguments are applied in order, so that ago(0,18,55,27,0,0) means "18 months, 55 days, and 27 hours ago" – however, you are strongly encouraged to keep your usage of ago sensible and readable, e.g., ago(0,0,120,0,0,0) or ago(0,0,0,72,0,0).

ARGUMENTS:

Years
Years ago. If today is February 29, and "n years ago" is not within a leap-year, February 28 will be used.
Month
Months ago. If the current month has more days that "n months ago", the last day of "n months ago" will be used (e.g., if today is April 31 and you compute a date 1 month ago, the resulting date will be March 30). equal to 30 days of runtime (one month equals 2,592,000 seconds).
Day
Days ago (you may, for example, specify 120 days)
Hours
Hours ago. Since all computation are done using "Epoch time", 1 hour ago will alway result in a time 60 minutes in the past, even during the transition from Da ylight time to Standard time.
Minutes
Minutes ago 0-59
Seconds
Seconds ago


Next: , Previous: Function ago, Up: Special functions

11.5 Function and

Synopsis: and(...) returns type string


Calculate whether all arguments evaluate to true

Example:

commands:
  "/usr/bin/generate_config $(config)"
    ifvarclass => and(not(fileexists("/etc/config/$(config)")), "generating_configs");

Notes:

History: Was introduced in 3.2.0, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)


Next: , Previous: Function and, Up: Special functions

11.6 Function canonify

Synopsis: canonify(arg1) returns type string


arg1 : String containing non-identifier characters, in the range .*

Convert an abitrary string into a legal class name

Example:

commands:

   "/var/cfengine/bin/$(component)"

       ifvarclass => canonify("start_$(component)");

Notes:

This is for use in turning arbitrary text into class data, See Function classify.


Next: , Previous: Function canonify, Up: Special functions

11.7 Function concat

Synopsis: concat(...) returns type string


Concatenate all arguments into string

Example:

commands:
  "/usr/bin/generate_config $(config)"
    ifvarclass => concat("have_config_", canonify("$(config)"));

Notes:

History: Was introduced in 3.2.0, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)


Next: , Previous: Function concat, Up: Special functions

11.8 Function changedbefore

Synopsis: changedbefore(arg1,arg2) returns type class


arg1 : Newer filename, in the range "?(/.*)
arg2 : Older filename, in the range "?(/.*)

True if arg1 was changed before arg2 (ctime)

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "do_it" and => { changedbefore("/tmp/earlier","/tmp/later"), "linux" }; 

reports:

  do_it::

    "The derived file needs updating";

}

Notes:

Change times include both file permissions and file contents. Comparisons like this are normally used for updating files (like the `make' command).


Next: , Previous: Function changedbefore, Up: Special functions

11.9 Function classify

Synopsis: classify(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : Input string, in the range .*

True if the canonicalization of the argument is a currently defined class

Example:

classes:

 "i_am_the_policy_host" expression => classify("master.example.org");

Notes:

This function returns true if the canonical form of the argument is already a defined class. This is useful, for example, transforming variables into classes, See Function canonify.


Next: , Previous: Function classify, Up: Special functions

11.10 Function classmatch

Synopsis: classmatch(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : Regular expression, in the range .*

True if the regular expression matches any currently defined class

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "do_it" and => { classmatch(".*_cfengine_com"), "linux" }; 

reports:

  do_it::

    "Host matches pattern";

}

Notes:

The regular expression is matched against the current list of defined classes. The regular expression must match a complete class for the expression to be true, that is, the regex is anchored, See Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions.


Next: , Previous: Function classmatch, Up: Special functions

11.11 Function countclassesmatching

Synopsis: countclassesmatching(arg1) returns type int


arg1 : Regular expression, in the range .*

Count the number of defined classes matching regex arg1

Example:

bundle agent example
{
vars:

  "num" int => countclassesmatching("entropy.*low");

reports:

  cfengine_3::

    "Found $(num) classes matching";

}

Notes:

This function matches classes, using a regular expression that should match the whole line.

regex
A regular expression matching zero or more classes in the current list of defined classes. The regular expression must match a complete class, that is, it is anchored, See Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions.

The function returns the number of classes matched.


Next: , Previous: Function countclassesmatching, Up: Special functions

11.12 Function countlinesmatching

Synopsis: countlinesmatching(arg1,arg2) returns type int


arg1 : Regular expression, in the range .*
arg2 : Filename, in the range "?(/.*)

Count the number of lines matching regex arg1 in file arg2

Example:

bundle agent example
{     
vars:

  "no" int => countlinesmatching("m.*","/etc/passwd");

reports:

  cfengine_3::

    "Found $(no) lines matching";

}

Notes:

This function matches lines in the named file, using a regular expression that should match the whole line.

regex
A regular expression matching zero or more lines. The regular expression must match a complete line (that is, it is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).
filename
The name of the file to be examined.

The function returns the number of lines matched.


Next: , Previous: Function countlinesmatching, Up: Special functions

11.13 Function dirname

Synopsis: dirname(arg1) returns type string


arg1 : File path, in the range .*

Return the parent directory name for given path

Example:

vars:
  "apache_dir" string => dirname("/etc/apache2/httpd.conf");

Notes:

History: Was introduced in 3.3.0, Nova 2.2.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

This function returns directory name for the argument. If directory name is provided, name of parent directory is returned.


Next: , Previous: Function dirname, Up: Special functions

11.14 Function diskfree

Synopsis: diskfree(arg1) returns type int


arg1 : File system directory, in the range "?(/.*)

Return the free space (in KB) available on the directory's current partition (0 if not found)

Example:

bundle agent example
{     
vars:

  "free" int => diskfree("/tmp"); 

reports:

  cfengine_3::

    "Freedisk $(free)";

}

Notes:

Values returned in kilobytes.


Next: , Previous: Function diskfree, Up: Special functions

11.15 Function escape

Synopsis: escape(arg1) returns type string


arg1 : IP address or string to escape, in the range .*

Escape regular expression characters in a string

Example:

bundle server control
{
allowconnects         => { "127\.0\.0\.1", escape("192.168.2.1") };
}

Notes:

This function is useful for making inputs readable when a regular expression is required, but the literal string contains special characters. The function simply 'escapes' all the regular expression characters, so that you don't have to.

This in the example above, the string "192.168.2.1" is "escaped" to be equivalent to "192\.168\.2\.1" (because without the backslashes, the regular expression "192.168.2.1" will also match the IP ranges "192.168.201", "192.168.231", etc - since the dot character means "match any character" when used in a regular expression).

History: This function was introduced in CFEngine version 3.0.4 (2010)


Next: , Previous: Function escape, Up: Special functions

11.16 Function execresult

Synopsis: execresult(arg1,arg2) returns type string


arg1 : Fully qualified command path, in the range "?(/.*)
arg2 : Shell encapsulation option, in the range useshell,noshell

Execute named command and assign output to variable

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
vars:

  "my_result" string => execresult("/bin/ls /tmp","noshell");

reports:

  linux::

    "Variable is $(my_result)";

}

Notes:

The second argument (‘useshell’/‘noshell’) decides whether a shell will be used to encapsulate the command. This is necessary in order to combine commands with pipes etc, but remember that each command requires a new process that reads in files beyond CFEngine's control. Thus using a shell is both a performance hog and a potential security issue.

Note: you should never use this function to execute comands that make changes to the system, or perform lengthy computations. Such an operation is beyond CFEngine's ability to guarantee convergence, and on multiple passes and during syntax verification, these function calls are executed resulting in system changes that are `covert'. Calls to execresult should be for discovery and information extraction only.

Note: if the command is not found, the result will be the empty string!

Change: policy change in CFEngine 3.0.5. Previously newlines were changed for spaces, now newlines are preserved.


Next: , Previous: Function execresult, Up: Special functions

11.17 Function fileexists

Synopsis: fileexists(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : File object name, in the range "?(/.*)

True if the named file can be accessed

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "exists" expression => fileexists("/etc/passwd");

reports:

  exists::

    "File exists";

}

Notes:

The user must have access permissions to the file for this to work faithfully.


Next: , Previous: Function fileexists, Up: Special functions

11.18 Function filesexist

Synopsis: filesexist(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : Array identifier containing list, in the range @[(][a-zA-Z0-9]+[)]

True if the named list of files can ALL be accessed

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
vars:

  "mylist" slist => { "/tmp/a", "/tmp/b", "/tmp/c" };

classes:

  "exists" expression => filesexist("@(mylist)");

reports:

  exists::

    "Files exist";

  !exists::

    "Do not exist";

}



Notes:

The user must have access permissions to the file for this to work faithfully.


Next: , Previous: Function filesexist, Up: Special functions

11.19 Function filesize

Synopsis: filesize(arg1) returns type int


arg1 : File object name, in the range "?(/.*)

Returns the size in bytes of the file

Example:

bundle agent example
{     
vars:

  "exists" int => filesize("/etc/passwd");
  "nexists" int => filesize("/etc/passwdx");

reports:

  !xyz::

    "File size $(exists)";
    "Does not exist $(nexists)";

}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.3,Nova 2.0.2 (2010)

If the file object does not exist, the function call fails and the variable does not expand.


Next: , Previous: Function filesize, Up: Special functions

11.20 Function getenv

Synopsis: getenv(arg1,arg2) returns type string


arg1 : Name of environment variable, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+
arg2 : Maximum number of characters to read , in the range 0,99999999999

Return the environment variable named arg1, truncated at arg2 characters

Example:

bundle agent example
{
vars:

   "myvar" string => getenv("PATH","20");

classes:

  "isdefined" not => strcmp("$(myvar)","");

reports:

  isdefined::

   "The path is $(myvar)";

  !isdefined::

   "The named variable PATH does not exist";

}

Notes:

Returns an empty string if the environment variable is not defined. Arg2 is used to avoid unexpectedly large return values, which could lead to security issues. Choose a reasonable value based on the environment variable you are querying.

History: This function was introduced in CFEngine version 3.0.4 (2010)


Next: , Previous: Function getenv, Up: Special functions

11.21 Function getfields

Synopsis: getfields(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4) returns type int


arg1 : Regular expression to match line, in the range .*
arg2 : Filename to read, in the range "?(/.*)
arg3 : Regular expression to split fields, in the range .*
arg4 : Return array name, in the range .*

Get an array of fields in the lines matching regex arg1 in file arg2, split on regex arg3 as array name arg4

Example:

bundle agent example

{     
vars:

  "no" int => getfields("mark:.*","/etc/passwd",":","userdata");

reports:

  cfengine_3::

    "Found $(no) lines matching";
    "Mark's homedir = $(userdata[6])";

}

Notes:

This function matches lines (using a regular expression) in the named file, and splits the first matched line into fields (using a second) regular expression), placing these into a named array whose elements are array[1],array[2],... This is useful for examining user data in the Unix password or group files.

regex
A regular expression matching one or more lines. The regular expression must match the entire line (that is, it is anchored, see Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions).
filename
The name of the file to be examined.
split
A regex pattern which is used to parse the field separator(s) to split up the file into items
array_lval
The base name of the array that returns the values.

The function returns the number of lines matched. This function is most useful when you want only the first matching line (e.g., to mimic the behavior of the getpwnam(3) on the file /etc/passwd). If you want to examine all matching lines, See Function readstringarray, instead.


Next: , Previous: Function getfields, Up: Special functions

11.22 Function getgid

Synopsis: getgid(arg1) returns type int


arg1 : Group name in text, in the range .*

Return the integer group id of the named group on this host

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
vars:

  "gid" int => getgid("users");

reports:

  Yr2008::

    "Users gid is $(gid)";

}

Notes:

If the named group does not exist, the variable will not be defined. On windows, which does not support group ids, the variable will not be defined.


Next: , Previous: Function getgid, Up: Special functions

11.23 Function getindices

Synopsis: getindices(arg1) returns type slist


arg1 : Cfengine array identifier, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Get a list of keys to the array whose id is the argument and assign to variable

Example:

body common control

{
any::

  bundlesequence  => { "testsetvar" };   
}


#######################################################


bundle agent testsetvar

{
vars:

  "v[index_1]" string => "value_1";
  "v[index_2]" string => "value_2";

  "parameter_name" slist => getindices("v");

reports:

  Yr2008::

   "Found index: $(parameter_name)";

}

Notes:

Make sure you specify the correct scope when supplying the name of the variable.


Next: , Previous: Function getindices, Up: Special functions

11.24 Function getuid

Synopsis: getuid(arg1) returns type int


arg1 : User name in text, in the range .*

Return the integer user id of the named user on this host

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{
vars:

  "uid" int => getuid("mark");

reports:

  Yr2008::

    "Users uid is $(uid)";

}

Notes:

If the named user is not registered the variable will not be defined. On windows, which does not support user ids, the variable will not be defined.


Next: , Previous: Function getuid, Up: Special functions

11.25 Function getusers

Synopsis: getusers(arg1,arg2) returns type slist


arg1 : Comma separated list of User names, in the range .*
arg2 : Comma separated list of UserID numbers, in the range .*

Get a list of all system users defined, minus those names defined in arg1 and uids in arg2

Example:

vars:
  "allusers" slist => getusers("zenoss,mysql,at","12,0");

reports:

 linux::

  "Found user $(allusers)";

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0b1,Nova 2.0.0b1 (2010) This function is only available on Unix-like systems in the present version.

The function has two arguments, both are comma separated lists. The first argument is a list of user names that should be excluded from the output. The second is a list of integrer UIDs that should be excluded.


Next: , Previous: Function getusers, Up: Special functions

11.26 Function getvalues

Synopsis: getvalues(arg1) returns type slist


arg1 : Cfengine array identifier, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Get a list of values corresponding to the right hand sides in an array whose id is the argument and assign to variable

Example:

body common control

{
any::

  bundlesequence  => { "testsetvar" };   
}


#######################################################


bundle agent testsetvar

{
vars:

  "v[index_1]" string => "value_1";
  "v[index_2]" string => "value_2";

  "parameter_name" slist => getvalues("v");

reports:

  Yr2008::

   "Found index: $(parameter_name)";

}

Notes:

Make sure you specify the correct scope when supplying the name of the variable. If the array contains list elements on the right hand side then all of the list elements are flattened into a single list to make the return value a list.


Next: , Previous: Function getvalues, Up: Special functions

11.27 Function grep

Synopsis: grep(arg1,arg2) returns type slist


arg1 : Regular expression, in the range .*
arg2 : Cfengine array identifier, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Extract the sub-list if items matching the regular expression in arg1 of the list named in arg2

Example:

bundle agent test

{
vars:

  "mylist" slist => { "One", "Two", "Three", "Four", "Five" };

  "sublist" slist => grep("T.*","mylist");

  "empty_list" slist => grep("ive","mylist");

reports:

 linux::

  "Item: $(sublist)";

}

Notes:

Extracts a sublist of elements matching the regular expression in arg1 from a list variable specified in arg2. The regex is anchored. See Anchored vs. unanchored regular expressions.


Next: , Previous: Function grep, Up: Special functions

11.28 Function groupexists

Synopsis: groupexists(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : Group name or identifier, in the range .*

True if group or numerical id exists on this host

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "gname" expression => groupexists("users");
  "gid"   expression => groupexists("100");

reports:

  gname::

    "Group exists by name";

  gid::

    "Group exists by id";

}

Notes:

The group may be specified by name or number.


Next: , Previous: Function groupexists, Up: Special functions

11.29 Function hash

Synopsis: hash(arg1,arg2) returns type string


arg1 : Input text, in the range .*
arg2 : Hash or digest algorithm, in the range md5,sha1,sha256,sha512,sha384,crypt

Return the hash of arg1, type arg2 and assign to a variable

Example:


body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
vars:

  "md5" string => hash("CFEngine is not cryptic","md5");

reports:

  Yr2008::

    "Hashed to: $(md5)";

}

Notes:

Hash functions are extremely sensitive to input. You should not expect to get the same answer from this function as you would from every other tool, since it depends on how whitespace and end of file characters are handled.

Valid hash types (depending on availablity) include: md5, sha1, sha256, sha512 ,sha384, crypt.


Next: , Previous: Function hash, Up: Special functions

11.30 Function hashmatch

Synopsis: hashmatch(arg1,arg2,arg3) returns type class


arg1 : Filename to hash, in the range "?(/.*)
arg2 : Hash or digest algorithm, in the range md5,sha1,crypt,cf_sha224,cf_sha256,cf_sha384,cf_sha512
arg3 : ASCII representation of hash for comparison, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Compute the hash of arg1, of type arg2 and test if it matches the value in arg3

Example:

bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "matches" expression => hashmatch("/etc/passwd","md5","c5068b7c2b1707f8939b283a2758a691");

reports:

  matches::

    "File has correct version";

}

Notes:

     
     (class) hashmatch(file,md5|sha1|crypt,hash-comparison);
     

This function may be used to determine whether a system has a particular version of a binary file (e.g. software patch).

ARGUMENTS:


Next: , Previous: Function hashmatch, Up: Special functions

11.31 Function host2ip

Synopsis: host2ip(arg1) returns type string


arg1 : Host name in ascii, in the range .*

Returns the primary name-service IP address for the named host

Example:

bundle server control
{
allowconnects         => { escape(host2ip("www.example.com")) };
}

Notes:

Uses whatever configured name service is used by the resolver library to translate a hostname into an IP address. It will return an IPv6 address by preference if such an address exists. This function uses the standard lookup procedure for a name, so it mimics internal processes and can therefore be used not only to cache multiple lookups in the configuration, but to debug the behaviour of the resolver.

History: This function was introduced in CFEngine version 3.0.4 (2010)


Next: , Previous: Function host2ip, Up: Special functions

11.32 Function ip2host

Synopsis: ip2host(arg1) returns type string


arg1 : IP address (IPv4 or IPv6), in the range .*

Returns the primary name-service host name for the IP address

Example:

bundle agent reverse_lookup
{
vars:
 "local4" string => ip2host("127.0.0.1");
 "local6" string => ip2host("::1");


reports:
cfengine_3::
  "local4 is $(local4)";
  "local6 is $(local6)";
}

Notes:

Uses whatever configured name service is used by the resolver library to translate an IP address to a hostname. IPv6 addresses will also resolve, if supported by the resolver library.

Note that DNS lookups may take time and thus cause CFEngine agents to wait for responses, slowing their progress significantly.

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.3, Nova 2.0.2 (2010)


Next: , Previous: Function ip2host, Up: Special functions

11.33 Function hostinnetgroup

Synopsis: hostinnetgroup(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : Netgroup name, in the range .*

True if the current host is in the named netgroup

Example:

classes:

  "ingroup" expression => hostinnetgroup("my_net_group");

Notes:


Next: , Previous: Function hostinnetgroup, Up: Special functions

11.34 Function hostrange

Synopsis: hostrange(arg1,arg2) returns type class


arg1 : Hostname prefix, in the range .*
arg2 : Enumerated range, in the range .*

True if the current host lies in the range of enumerated hostnames specified

Example:


body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "compute_nodes" expression => hostrange("cpu-","01-32");

reports:

  compute_nodes::

    "No computer is a cluster";

}

Notes:

This is a pattern matching function for non-regular (enumerated) expressions.


Next: , Previous: Function hostrange, Up: Special functions

11.35 Function hostsseen

Synopsis: hostsseen(arg1,arg2,arg3) returns type slist


arg1 : Horizon since last seen in hours, in the range 0,99999999999
arg2 : Complements for selection policy, in the range lastseen,notseen
arg3 : Type of return value desired, in the range name,address

Extract the list of hosts last seen/not seen within the last arg1 hours

Example:

bundle agent test

{
vars:

  "myhosts" slist => { hostsseen("inf","lastseen","address") };

reports:

  cfengine_3::

    "Found client/peer: $(myhosts)";

}

Notes:

Finds a list of hosts seen by a CFEngine remote connection on the current host within the number of hours specified by argument 1. Argument 2 may be ‘lastseen’ or ‘notseen’, the latter being all hosts not observed to have connected within the specified time. Argument 3 may be ‘address’ or ‘name’, to return ip address or hostname form.


Next: , Previous: Function hostsseen, Up: Special functions

11.36 Function hubknowledge

Synopsis: hubknowledge(arg1) returns type string


arg1 : Variable identifier, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Read global knowledge from the hub host by id (commercial extension)

Example:

vars:

  guard::

   "global_number" string => hubknowledge("number_variable");

Notes:

This function is only available in commercial releases of CFEngine. It is intended for use in distributed orchestration. It is recommended that you use this function sparingly with guards, as it contributes to network traffic and depends on the network for its function. Unlike remotescalar(), the value of hub-knowledge is not cached.

This function behaves is essentially similar to the remotescalar function, except that it always gets its information from the policy server hub by an encrypted connection. It is designed for spreading globally calibrated information about a CFEngine swarm back to the client machines. The data available through this channel are generated automatically by discovery, unlike remotescalar which accesses user defined data.


Next: , Previous: Function hubknowledge, Up: Special functions

11.37 Function iprange

Synopsis: iprange(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : IP address range syntax, in the range .*

True if the current host lies in the range of IP addresses specified

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "adhoc_group_1" expression => iprange("128.39.89.10-15");
  "adhoc_group_2" expression => iprange("128.39.74.1/23");

reports:

  adhoc_group_1::

    "Some numerology";

  adhoc_group_2::

    "The masked warriors";
}

Notes:

Pattern matching based on IP addresses.


Next: , Previous: Function iprange, Up: Special functions

11.38 Function irange

Synopsis: irange(arg1,arg2) returns type irange [int,int]


arg1 : Integer, in the range -99999999999,9999999999
arg2 : Integer, in the range -99999999999,9999999999

Define a range of integer values for cfengine internal use

Example:

irange("1","100");

irange(ago(0,0,0,1,30,0), "0");

Notes:

Used for any scalar attribute which requires an integer range. You can generally interchangeably say ‘"1,10"’ or ‘irange("1","10")’ (however, if you want to create a range of dates or times, you must use irange if you also use the functions ‘ago’, ‘now’, ‘accumulated’, etc).


Next: , Previous: Function irange, Up: Special functions

11.39 Function isdir

Synopsis: isdir(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : File object name, in the range "?(/.*)

True if the named object is a directory

Example:


body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "isdir" expression => isdir("/etc");

reports:

  isdir::

    "Directory exists..";

}

Notes:

The CFEngine process must have access to the object concerned in order for this to work.


Next: , Previous: Function isdir, Up: Special functions

11.40 Function isexecutable

Synopsis: isexecutable(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : File object name, in the range "?(/.*)

True if the named object has execution rights for the current user

Example:

classes:

  "yes" expression => isexecutable("/bin/ls");

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.0b1,Nova 2.0.0b1 (2010)


Next: , Previous: Function isexecutable, Up: Special functions

11.41 Function isgreaterthan

Synopsis: isgreaterthan(arg1,arg2) returns type class


arg1 : Larger string or value, in the range .*
arg2 : Smaller string or value, in the range .*

True if arg1 is numerically greater than arg2, else compare strings like strcmp

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "test"  };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent test

{
classes:

  "ok" expression => isgreaterthan("1","0");

reports:

  ok::

    "Assertion is true";

 !ok::

  "Assertion is false";

}

Notes:

The comparison is made numerically if possible. If the values are strings, the result is identical to that of comparing with ‘strcmp()’.


Next: , Previous: Function isgreaterthan, Up: Special functions

11.42 Function islessthan

Synopsis: islessthan(arg1,arg2) returns type class


arg1 : Smaller string or value, in the range .*
arg2 : Larger string or value, in the range .*

True if arg1 is numerically less than arg2, else compare strings like NOT strcmp

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "test"  };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent test

{
classes:

  "ok" expression => islessthan("0","1");

reports:

  ok::

    "Assertion is true";

 !ok::

  "Assertion is false";

}

Notes:

The complement of isgreaterthan. The comparison is made numerically if possible. If the values are strings, the result is identical to that of comparing with ‘strcmp()’.


Next: , Previous: Function islessthan, Up: Special functions

11.43 Function islink

Synopsis: islink(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : File object name, in the range "?(/.*)

True if the named object is a symbolic link

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "isdir" expression => islink("/tmp/link");

reports:

  isdir::

    "Directory exists..";

}

Notes:

The link node must both exist and be a symbolic link. Hard links cannot be detected using this function. A hard link is a regular file or directory.


Next: , Previous: Function islink, Up: Special functions

11.44 Function isnewerthan

Synopsis: isnewerthan(arg1,arg2) returns type class


arg1 : Newer file name, in the range "?(/.*)
arg2 : Older file name, in the range "?(/.*)

True if arg1 is newer (modified later) than arg2 (mtime)

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "do_it" and => { isnewerthan("/tmp/later","/tmp/earlier"), "linux" }; 

reports:

  do_it::

    "The derived file needs updating";

}

Notes:

This function compares the modification time of the file, referring to changes of content only.


Next: , Previous: Function isnewerthan, Up: Special functions

11.45 Function isplain

Synopsis: isplain(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : File object name, in the range "?(/.*)

True if the named object is a plain/regular file

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
classes:

  "isplain" expression => isplain("/etc/passwd");

reports:

  isplain::

    "File exists..";

}

Notes:


Next: , Previous: Function isplain, Up: Special functions

11.46 Function isvariable

Synopsis: isvariable(arg1) returns type class


arg1 : Variable identifier, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

True if the named variable is defined

Example:

body common control

{
bundlesequence  => { "example" };
}

###########################################################


bundle agent example

{     
vars:

  "bla" string => "xyz..";

classes:

  "exists" expression => isvariable("bla");

reports:

  exists::

    "Variable exists: \"$(bla)\"..";

}

Notes:

The variable need only exist. This says nothing about its value. Use regcmp to check variable values.


Next: , Previous: Function isvariable, Up: Special functions

11.47 Function join

Synopsis: join(arg1,arg2) returns type string


arg1 : Join glue-string, in the range .*
arg2 : Cfengine array identifier, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Join the items of arg2 into a string, using the conjunction in arg1

Example:

bundle agent test

{
vars:

  "mylist" slist => { "one", "two", "three", "four", "five" };

  "scalar" string => join("<->","mylist");

reports:

 linux::

  "Concatenated $(scalar)";

}

Notes:

Converts a string of type list into a scalar variable using the join string in first argument.


Next: , Previous: Function join, Up: Special functions

11.48 Function lastnode

Synopsis: lastnode(arg1,arg2) returns type string


arg1 : Input string, in the range .*
arg2 : Link separator, e.g. /,:, in the range .*

Extract the last of a separated string, e.g. filename from a path

Example:

bundle agent yes
{
vars:

  "path1" string => "/one/two/last1";
  "path2" string => "one:two:last2";

  "last1" string => lastnode("$(path1)","/");
  "last2" string => lastnode("$(path2)",":");

  "last3" string => lastnode("$(path2)","/");

reports:

  Yr2009::

    "Last = $(last1),$(last2),$(last3)";

}

Notes:

This function returns the final node in a chain, given a regular expression to split on. This is mainly useful for finding leaf-names of files, from a fully qualified path name.


Next: , Previous: Function lastnode, Up: Special functions

11.49 Function laterthan

Synopsis: laterthan(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6) returns type class


arg1 : Years, in the range 0,1000
arg2 : Months, in the range 0,1000
arg3 : Days, in the range 0,1000
arg4 : Hours, in the range 0,1000
arg5 : Minutes, in the range 0,1000
arg6 : Seconds, in the range 0,40000

True if the current time is later than the given date

Example:

classes:

  "after_deadline" expression => laterthan(2000,1,1,0,0,0);

Notes:

The arguments are standard time, See Function on.


Next: , Previous: Function laterthan, Up: Special functions

11.50 Function ldaparray

Synopsis: ldaparray(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6,arg7) returns type class


arg1 : Array name, in the range .*
arg2 : URI, in the range .*
arg3 : Distinguished name, in the range .*
arg4 : Filter, in the range .*
arg5 : Record name, in the range .*
arg6 : Search scope policy, in the range subtree,onelevel,base
arg7 : Security level, in the range none,ssl,sasl

Extract all values from an ldap record

Example:

classes:

   "gotdata" expression => ldaparray(
                                    "myarray",
                                    "ldap://ldap.example.org",
                                    "dc=cfengine,dc=com",
                                    "(uid=mark)",
                                    "subtree",
                                    "none");

Notes:

     
     (class) ldaparray (array,uri,dn,filter,scope,security)
     

This function retrieves an entire record with all elements and populates an associative array with the entries. It returns a class which is true if there was a match for the search and false if nothing was retrieved.

ARGUMENTS:

array
String name of the array to populate with the result of the search
uri
String value of the ldap server. e.g. "ldap://ldap.cfengine.com.no"
dn
Distinguished name, an ldap formatted name built from components, e.g. "dc=cfengine,dc=com".
filter
String filter criterion, in ldap search, e.g. "(sn=User)".
scope
Menu option, the type of ldap search, from
              subtree
              onelevel
              base

security
Menu option indicating the encryption and authentication settings for communication with the LDAP server. These features might be subject to machine and server capabilites.
               none
               ssl
               sasl


Next: , Previous: Function ldaparray, Up: Special functions

11.51 Function ldaplist

Synopsis: ldaplist(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6) returns type slist


arg1 : URI, in the range .*
arg2 : Distinguished name, in the range .*
arg3 : Filter, in the range .*
arg4 : Record name, in the range .*
arg5 : Search scope policy, in the range subtree,onelevel,base
arg6 : Security level, in the range none,ssl,sasl

Extract all named values from multiple ldap records

Example:

vars:

   # Get all matching values for "uid" - should be a single record match


  "list" slist =>  ldaplist(
                           "ldap://ldap.example.org",
                           "dc=cfengine,dc=com",
                           "(sn=User)",
                           "uid",
                           "subtree",
                           "none"
                           );

Notes:

     
     (slist) ldaplist(uri,dn,filter,name,scope,security)
     

This function retrieves a single field from all matching LDAP records identified by the search parameters.

ARGUMENTS:

uri
String value of the ldap server. e.g. "ldap://ldap.cfengine.com.no"
dn
Distinguished name, an ldap formatted name built from components, e.g. "dc=cfengine,dc=com".
filter
String filter criterion, in ldap search, e.g. "(sn=User)".
name
String value, the name of a single record to be retrieved, e.g. uid.
scope
Menu option, the type of ldap search, from the specified root. May take values:
              subtree
              onelevel
              base

security
Menu option indicating the encryption and authentication settings for communication with the LDAP server. These features might be subject to machine and server capabilites.
               none
               ssl
               sasl


Next: , Previous: Function ldaplist, Up: Special functions

11.52 Function ldapvalue

Synopsis: ldapvalue(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6) returns type string


arg1 : URI, in the range .*
arg2 : Distinguished name, in the range .*
arg3 : Filter, in the range .*
arg4 : Record name, in the range .*
arg5 : Search scope policy, in the range subtree,onelevel,base
arg6 : Security level, in the range none,ssl,sasl

Extract the first matching named value from ldap

Example:

vars:

   # Get the first matching value for "uid" in schema


  "value" string => ldapvalue(
                             "ldap://ldap.example.org", 
                             "dc=cfengine,dc=com",
                             "(sn=User)",
                             "uid",
                             "subtree",
                             "none"
                             );

Notes:

     
     (string) ldapvalue(uri,dn,filter,name,scope,security)
     

This function retrieves a single field from a single LDAP record identified by the search parameters. The first matching value it taken.

ARGUMENTS:

uri
String value of the ldap server. e.g. "ldap://ldap.cfengine.com.no"
dn
Distinguished name, an ldap formatted name built from components, e.g. "dc=cfengine,dc=com".
filter
String filter criterion, in ldap search, e.g. "(sn=User)".
name
String value, the name of a single record to be retrieved, e.g. uid.
scope
Menu option, the type of ldap search, from the specified root. May take values:
              subtree
              onelevel
              base


Next: , Previous: Function ldapvalue, Up: Special functions

11.53 Function lsdir

Synopsis: lsdir(arg1,arg2,arg3) returns type slist


arg1 : Path to base directory, in the range .+
arg2 : Regular expression to match files or blank, in the range .*
arg3 : Include the base path in the list, in the range true,false,yes,no,on,off

Return a list of files in a directory matching a regular expression

Example:

vars:
  "listfiles" slist => lsdir("/etc", "(passwd|shadow).*", "true");

Notes:

History: Was introduced in 3.3.0, Nova 2.2.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

This function returns list of files in directory specified in arg1, matched with regular expression in arg2. In case arg3 is true, full paths are returned, otherwise only names relative to the the directory are returned.


Next: , Previous: Function lsdir, Up: Special functions

11.54 Function maplist

Synopsis: maplist(arg1,arg2) returns type slist


arg1 : Pattern based on $(this) as original text, in the range .*
arg2 : The name of the list variable to map, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+

Return a list with each element modified by a pattern based $(this)

Example:

bundle agent test
{
vars:

  "oldlist" slist => { "a", "b", "c" };
  "newlist" slist => maplist("Element ($(this))","oldlist");

reports:
 linux::
  "Transform: $(newlist)";
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in 3.3.0, Nova 2.2.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

This is essentially like the map() function in Perl, and applies to lists.


Next: , Previous: Function maplist, Up: Special functions

11.55 Function not

Synopsis: not(arg1) returns type string


arg1 : Class value, in the range .*

Calculate whether argument is false

Example:

commands:
  "/usr/bin/generate_config $(config)"
    ifvarclass => not(fileexists("/etc/config/$(config)"));

Notes:

History: Was introduced in 3.2.0, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)


Next: , Previous: Function not, Up: Special functions

11.56 Function now

Synopsis: now() returns type int


Convert the current time into system representation

Example:

body file_select zero_age
{
mtime       => irange(ago(1,0,0,0,0,0),now);
file_result => "mtime";
}

Notes:


Next: , Previous: Function now, Up: Special functions

11.57 Function on

Synopsis: on(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6) returns type int


arg1 : Year, in the range 1970,3000
arg2 : Month, in the range 1,12
arg3 : Day, in the range 1,31
arg4 : Hour, in the range 0,23
arg5 : Minute, in the range 0,59
arg6 : Second, in the range 0,59

Convert an exact date/time to an integer system representation

Example:

body file_select zero_age
{
mtime       => irange(on(2000,1,1,0,0,0),now);
file_result => "mtime";
}

Notes:

An absolute date in the local timezone. Note that in process matching dates could be wrong by an hour depending on Daylight Savings Time / Summer Time. This is a known bug to be fixed.

ARGUMENTS:

Years
The year, e.g. 2009
Month
The Month, 1-12
Day
The day 1-31
Hours
The hour 0-23
Minutes
The minutes 0-59
Seconds
The number of seconds 0-59


Next: , Previous: Function on, Up: Special functions

11.58 Function or

Synopsis: or(...) returns type string


Calculate whether any argument evaluates to true

Example:

commands:
  "/usr/bin/generate_config $(config)"
    ifvarclass => or(not(fileexists("/etc/config/$(config)")), "force_configs");

Notes:

History: Was introduced in 3.2.0, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)


Next: , Previous: Function or, Up: Special functions

11.59 Function parseintarray

Synopsis: parseintarray(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6) returns type int


arg1 : Array identifier to populate, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+
arg2 : A string to parse for input data, in the range "?(/.*)
arg3 : Regex matching comments, in the range .*
arg4 : Regex to split data, in the range .*
arg5 : Maximum number of entries to read, in the range 0,99999999999
arg6 : Maximum bytes to read, in the range 0,99999999999

Read an array of integers from a file and assign the dimension to a variable

Example:

bundle agent test(f)
{
vars:

 #######################################

 # Define data inline for convenience

 #######################################


  "table"   string => 

"1:2
3:4
5:6";

#######################################


 "dim" int => parseintarray(
	                      "items",
			      "$(table)",
			      "\s*#[^\n]*",
			      ":",
			      "1000",
			      "200000"
			      );

 "keys" slist => getindices("items");

reports:
  cfengine_3::
	"$(keys)";
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5a1, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

This function mirrors the exact behaviour of readintarray(), but reads data from a variable instead of a file see Function readintarray. By making data readable from a variable, data driven policies can be kept inline. This means that they will be visible in the CFEngine Knowledge Management portal.


Next: , Previous: Function parseintarray, Up: Special functions

11.60 Function parserealarray

Synopsis: parserealarray(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6) returns type int


arg1 : Array identifier to populate, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+
arg2 : A string to parse for input data, in the range "?(/.*)
arg3 : Regex matching comments, in the range .*
arg4 : Regex to split data, in the range .*
arg5 : Maximum number of entries to read, in the range 0,99999999999
arg6 : Maximum bytes to read, in the range 0,99999999999

Read an array of real numbers from a file and assign the dimension to a variable

Example:

bundle agent test(f)
{
vars:

 #######################################

 # Define data inline for convenience

 #######################################


  "table"   string => 

"1:1.6
2:2.5
3:3.4";

#######################################


 "dim" int => parserealarray(
	                      "items",
			      "$(table)",
			      "\s*#[^\n]*",
			      ":",
			      "1000",
			      "200000"
			      );

 "keys" slist => getindices("items");

reports:
  cfengine_3::
	"$(keys)";
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

This function mirrors the exact behaviour of readrealarray(), but reads data from a variable instead of a file see Function readrealarray. By making data readable from a variable, data driven policies can be kept inline. This means that they will be visible in the CFEngine Knowledge Management portal.


Next: , Previous: Function parserealarray, Up: Special functions

11.61 Function parsestringarray

Synopsis: parsestringarray(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6) returns type int


arg1 : Array identifier to populate, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+
arg2 : A string to parse for input data, in the range "?(/.*)
arg3 : Regex matching comments, in the range .*
arg4 : Regex to split data, in the range .*
arg5 : Maximum number of entries to read, in the range 0,99999999999
arg6 : Maximum bytes to read, in the range 0,99999999999

Read an array of strings from a file and assign the dimension to a variable

Example:

bundle agent test(f)
{
vars:

 #######################################

 # Define data inline for convenience

 #######################################


  "table"   string => 

"one: a
two: b
three: c";

#######################################


 "dim" int => parsestringarray(
	                      "items",
			      "$(table)",
			      "\s*#[^\n]*",
			      ":",
			      "1000",
			      "200000"
			      );

 "keys" slist => getindices("items");

reports:
  cfengine_3::
	"$(keys)";
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0.0 (2011)

This function mirrors the exact behaviour of readstringarray(), but reads data from a variable instead of a file see Function readstringarray. By making data readable from a variable, data driven policies can be kept inline. This means that they will be visible in the CFEngine Knowledge Management portal.


Next: , Previous: Function parsestringarray, Up: Special functions

11.62 Function parsestringarrayidx

Synopsis: parsestringarrayidx(arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6) returns type int


arg1 : Array identifier to populate, in the range [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].]+
arg2 : A string to parse for input data, in the range "?(/.*)
arg3 : Regex matching comments, in the range .*
arg4 : Regex to split data, in the range .*
arg5 : Maximum number of entries to read, in the range 0,99999999999
arg6 : Maximum bytes to read, in the range 0,99999999999

Read an array of strings from a file and assign the dimension to a variable with integer indeces

Example:

bundle agent test(f)
{
vars:

 #######################################

 # Define data inline for convenience

 #######################################


  "table"   string => 

"one: a
two: b
three: c";

#######################################


 "dim" int => parsestringarrayidx(
	                      "items",
			      "$(table)",
			      "\s*#[^\n]*",
			      ":",
			      "1000",
			      "200000"
			      );

 "keys" slist => getindices("items");

reports:
  cfengine_3::
	"$(keys)";
}

Notes:

History: Was introduced in version 3.1.5, Nova 2.1.0, Constellation 1.0 (2011)

This function mirrors the exact behaviour of readstringarrayidx(), but reads data from a variable instead of a file see Function readstringarrayidx. By making data readable from a variable, data driven policies can be kept inline. This means that they will be visible in the CFEngine Knowledge Management portal.


Next: , Previous: Function parsestringarrayidx, Up: Special functions

11.63 Function peers

Synopsis: peers(arg1,arg2,arg3) returns type slist


arg1 : File name of host list, in the range "?(/.*)
arg2 : Comment regex pattern, in the range .*
arg3 : Peer group size, in the range 0,99999999999

Get a list of peers (not including ourself) from the partition to which we belong

Example:

bundle agent peers
{
vars:

  "mygroup" slist => peers("/tmp/hostlist","#.*",4);

  "myleader" string => peerleader("/tmp/hostlist","#.*",4);

  "all_leaders" slist => peerleaders("/tmp/hostlist","#.*",4);

reports: