knife-user - The man page for the knife user subcommand.
The knife user subcommand is used to manage the list of
users and their associated RSA public key-pairs.
NOTE:
This subcommand ONLY works when run against the open
source Chef server version 10.x. This subcommand will NOT run against open
source Chef server 11, Enterprise Chef (including hosted Enterprise Chef), or
Private Chef.
The following options may be used with any of the arguments
available to the knife user subcommand:
- --chef-zero-port
PORT
- The port on which chef-zero will listen.
- -c CONFIG_FILE,
--config CONFIG_FILE
- The configuration file to use.
- -d,
--disable-editing
- Use to prevent the $EDITOR from being opened and to accept data
as-is.
- --defaults
- Use to have knife use the default value instead of asking a user to
provide one.
- -e EDITOR, --editor
EDITOR
- The $EDITOR that is used for all interactive commands.
- -E ENVIRONMENT,
--environment ENVIRONMENT
- The name of the environment. When this option is added to a command, the
command will run only against the named environment.
- -F FORMAT, --format
FORMAT
- The output format: summary (default), text, json,
yaml, and pp.
- -h,
--help
- Shows help for the command.
- -k KEY, --key
KEY
- The private key that knife will use to sign requests made by the API
client to the Chef server.
- --[no-]color
- Use to view colored output.
- --print-after
- Use to show data after a destructive operation.
- -s URL, --server-url
URL
- The URL for the Chef server.
- -u USER, --user
USER
- The user name used by knife to sign requests made by the API client to the
Chef server. Authentication will fail if the user name does not match the
private key.
- -V,
--verbose
- Set for more verbose outputs. Use -VV for maximum verbosity.
- -v,
--version
- The version of the chef-client.
- -y,
--yes
- Use to respond to all confirmation prompts with "Yes". knife
will not ask for confirmation.
- -z,
--local-mode
- Use to run the chef-client in local mode. This allows all commands that
work against the Chef server to also work against the local
chef-repo.
The create argument is used to create a user. This process
will generate an RSA key pair for the named user. The public key will be
stored on the Chef server and the private key will be displayed on
STDOUT or written to a named file.
- For the user, the private key should be copied to the system as
/etc/chef/client.pem.
- For knife, the private key is typically copied to
~/.chef/client_name.pem and referenced in the knife.rb
configuration file.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife user create USER_NAME (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
- -a,
--admin
- Use to create a client as an admin client. This is required for any user
to access Open Source Chef as an administrator. This option only works
when used with the open source Chef server and will have no effect when
used with Enterprise Chef.
- -f FILE_NAME, --file
FILE_NAME
- Use to save a private key to the specified file name.
- -p PASSWORD, --password
PASSWORD
- The user password.
- --user-key
FILE_NAME
- All users are assigned a public key. Use to write the public key to a
file.
Examples
$ knife user create "Radio Birdman" -f /keys/user_name
The delete argument is used to delete a registered
user.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife user delete USER_NAME
Options
This command does not have any specific options.
Examples
$ knife user delete "Steve Danno"
The edit argument is used to edit the details of a user.
When this argument is run, knife will open $EDITOR. When finished, knife
will update the Chef server with those changes.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife user edit USER_NAME
Options
This command does not have any specific options.
Examples
None.
The list argument is used to view a list of registered
users.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife user list (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
Examples
None.
The reregister argument is used to regenerate an RSA key
pair for a user. The public key will be stored on the Chef server and the
private key will be displayed on STDOUT or written to a named
file.
NOTE:
Running this argument will invalidate the previous RSA
key pair, making it unusable during authentication to the Chef server.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife user reregister USER_NAME (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
Examples
$ knife user reregister "Robert Younger"
The show argument is used to show the details of a
user.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife user show USER_NAME (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
Examples
To view a user named Dennis Teck, enter:
$ knife user show "Dennis Teck"
to return something like:
chef_type: user
json_class: Chef::User
name: Dennis Teck
public_key:
To view information in JSON format, use the -F common
option as part of the command like this:
$ knife user show "Dennis Teck" -F json
(Other formats available include text, yaml, and
pp, e.g. -F yaml for YAML.)