Chef Certified flashcards
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32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Chef Infra Client convergence
- The run process where chef-client compiles recipes into a resource collection, then executes resources in order, applying actions only when the current state differs from the desired state.
- Delayed notification
- A notification queued by a resource change that runs at the end of the converge phase, not immediately; the default behavior for `notifies` and `subscribes` in recipes.
- Immediate notification
- A notification that runs its target resource at the moment the notifying resource changes, using `:immediately` in the notifies or subscribes attribute.
- Idempotence
- A resource property where repeated execution produces the same result; chef-client compares current and desired state and skips actions when no change is needed.
- Attribute precedence order
- From low to high: default, force_default, normal, override, force_override, automatic. Normal and automatic attributes persist and are indexed for search.
- include_recipe
- A recipe method that inserts another recipe's resources into the current run at compile time; the cookbook must be declared with `depends` in metadata.rb.
- chef-zero
- An in-memory Chef Infra Server implementation used by `chef-client -z` and local development, allowing convergence without a remote server.
- Chef Habitat supervisor
- A runtime process that starts and monitors a Habitat service, applies configuration updates, and connects service bindings between packages.
- Node object
- The JSON representation of a managed host stored on the Chef Infra Server, containing attributes, run list, environment, and policy settings.
- Search index
- A Solr-backed index on the Chef Infra Server containing node, role, environment, and data bag objects, queried with the `search` method in recipes.
- Environments
- JSON definitions that pin cookbook version constraints and set attributes for a group of nodes, such as production or staging.
- Roles
- JSON definitions that bundle a run list and default or override attributes, applied to nodes to assign a consistent configuration purpose.
- Data bags
- Server-stored JSON objects organized in bags, loaded with `data_bag_item`, and optionally encrypted with a shared secret file.
- knife bootstrap
- A command that installs chef-client on a target over SSH or WinRM, registers the node, and optionally sets its name and initial run list.
- Policyfile
- A single file replacing roles and environments, resolved into a lockfile with `chef install` and applied to nodes via policy groups.
- Bookshelf
- The Chef Infra Server component that stores cookbook files and artifacts, accessed through the Erchef API.
- Ohai
- A tool that collects system information such as OS, network, and hardware, producing automatic attributes used during chef-client runs.
- InSpec control
- A test unit in a compliance profile with an impact score, title, description, and describe blocks containing resources and matchers.
- Impact score
- A number from 0.0 to 1.0 assigned to an InSpec control, indicating severity; higher values weight failures more heavily in the compliance score.
- inspec exec
- The command that runs a profile locally, remotely over SSH, or against a container, with reporters for CLI, JSON, and HTML output.
- Compliance waiver
- A YAML file passed with `--waiver-file` that suppresses specified controls or expiration-dated exceptions during an InSpec run.
- Chef Automate compliance
- The dashboard and API that ingest InSpec reports from nodes, showing control status, trends, and profile results across the fleet.
- inspec check
- A command that validates a profile's syntax, metadata, and control structure without executing the tests against a target.
- Audit mode
- A chef-client option that runs compliance profiles during a run without converging resources, used to assess state before changes.
- InSpec profile
- A packaged set of controls and supporting files with an inspec.yml metadata file, distributable as a tarball or from a source URL.
- Chef Automate workflow
- A pipeline engine with stages such as verify, build, unit, lint, publish, provision, deploy, and smoke, defined in a project's delivery configuration.
- delivery review
- A command that creates a review pipeline for a proposed change, running the configured stages before merging to the main pipeline.
- Chef Push Jobs
- A Chef Infra Server add-on that executes whitelisted commands on nodes on demand, using a push-jobs client and server.
- knife job start
- A command that triggers a push job on selected nodes, for example running chef-client immediately on all nodes matching a search query.
- chef-client --once
- A flag that runs a single convergence and exits, used for scheduled orchestration instead of the long-running daemon mode.
- chef-client --why-run
- A simulation mode that reports what resources would change without applying actions, useful for validating orchestration before execution.
- chef-server-ctl
- The command-line tool for managing Chef Infra Server services, including reconfigure, status, tail, restart, and user or org management.