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 version 3 of cfengine, which is a radical departure from earlier versions. It is both simpler and more powerful. Cfengine 3 will exist in four versions, each of which adds to the fo
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
Cfengine 3 consists of a number of components:
cf-agentcf-execdcf-graphcf-knowcf-monitordcf-promisescf-runagentcf-serverdcf-reportThe starred components are new. The daemon formally called
cfenvd in previous versions of cfengine is now called
cf-monitord.
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.
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 is will be a springboard into the future of system management.
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.
In order to install cfengine, you should first ensure that the following packages are installed.
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.
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.
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:
ultrix, sun4, etc.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, ..).
Hr00, Hr01 ... Hr23).
GMT_Hr00, GMT_Hr01 ... GMT_Hr23).
This is consistent the world over, in case you need virtual simulteneity of change
coordination.
Min00, Min17 ... Min45).
Min00_05, Min05_10 ... Min55_00)
Day1, Day2, ... Day31).
January, February, ... December).
Yr1997, Yr2004).
Night,Morning,Afternoon,Evening, which fall into six hour blocks
starting at 00:00 hours.
ipv4_192_0_0_1,
ipv4_192_0_0, ipv4_192_0, ipv4_192).
To see all of the classes define 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 cfenvd, 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.
Classes are defined in bundles. 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.
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 while classes ‘two’ and ‘three’ are local. The report `Success' result is therefore true because only ‘one’ and ‘three’ are in scope.
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:/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.
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.
cfexecd or cfagent to crontabs etc. Cfengine 3
will handle this from now on and encapsulate old cfengine 2 scripts.
cd your-path/inputs.
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.
cfservd and replace them with rules to run
cf-serverd at your own pace.
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:
host$ mkdir -p ~/.cfagent/inputs
host$ mkdir -p ~/.cfagent/bin
host$ cd src
host$ cp cf-* ~/.cfagent/bin
host$ cd ../inputs
host$ cp *.cf ~/.cfagent/inputs
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
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.
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 cfenvd...
cf3 Unable to detect environment from cfMonitord
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
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$
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:
skipidentify and skipverify to decouple DNS from the
the authentication.
body server control
{
allowconnects => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" ...etc };
allowallconnects => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" ...etc };
trustkeysfrom => { "127.0.0.1" , "::1" ...etc };
}
cf-key.
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’.
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. 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:
encrypt).
Because there are two clients for connecting to cf-serverd
(cf-agent and cf-runagent), there are also two ways on
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)
-->
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 at some point in time. 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.
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.
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 encrypted for authentication, so none of the encryption settings affect the security of authentication.
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.
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",
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 is some way, you can make the affected
promise one of the promisees, like this:
access:
"/master/cfengine/inputs" -> { "update_policy", "other_promisee" },
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"
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.
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"
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.
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:
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.
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:
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";
}
or locally in the transaction bodies:
body action example
{
ifelapsed => "60";
}
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.
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:
bundle TYPE name # matches TYPE to running agent
{
}
lvalues => rvalue constraints:
body TYPE name # matches TYPE => name in promise
{
}
Check these by identifying the words ‘agent’ and ‘copy_from’ in the examples above. Types are there to make configuration more robust.
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.
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.
Scalar variables are written ‘$(name)’ and they represent a single value at a time.
vars:
"longlist" slist => { @(shortlist), "plus", "plus" };
"shortlist" slist => { "you", "me" };
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)";
}
Arrays 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 executionist";
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:
bundle agent array
{
vars:
"v[index_1]" string => "value_1";
"v[index_2]" string => "value_2";
"parameter_name" slist => getindices("v");
reports:
Yr2008::
"Found index: $(parameter_name)";
}
Ordering of promise verification within cfengine takes a pragmatic approach. In the absence of dependencies (independent) promises can be checked in any order. However, one can encode both implicit and explicit ordering dependency.
Cfengine takes a pragmatic point of view to ordering, since certain data structures require ordering to be preserved, e.g. editing in files. The rules are as follows:
bundlesequence.
vars
classes
interfaces
processes
storage
packages
commands
methods
files
reports
Within line_editing bundles, the normal ordering is:
vars
classes
delete_lines
field_edits
insert_lines
replace_patterns
reports
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 excepts 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 executionist";
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 executionist -> Last 1 QUOTEed lines were generated by "/bin/echo cf-execd is The executor, not executionist"
One of the strengths of cfengine 3 is the ability to recognize and exploit patterns. All string patterns in cfengine 3 are matched using regular expressions. The preferred regular expression library is the Perl Compatible Regular Expression library. This is more powerful and more reliable than the default POSIX regular expression code and all users should make the PCRE library available during compilation if possible.
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 parentheses, which respectively match the fragments `has 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:
# The back reference in a path only applies to the last link
# of the pathname, so the (tmp) gets ignored
"/home/mark/(tmp)/(cf3)_(.*)"
create => "true",
edit_line => myedit("second $(match.2)");
# but ...
"/home/mark/(tmp)/cf3_test"
create => "true",
edit_line => myedit("second $(match.1)");
}
If there were to exist a file /home/mark/tmp/cf3_test,
then we would have:
Now look at the edit bundle. This uses back references to replace shell comment lines with C comment lines. (The same approach is used to hash-comment lines in files).
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 0
occurrences => "all"; # first, last 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 /* cf3 */ six [final] seven eleven private edit variable is second test
Be careful when using patterns to search for files that are altered by cfengine
is 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.
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) $(match.1)";
occurrences => "all";
}
Cfengine's philosophy and modus operandi is to make machines as self-reliant as possible. This is the path to scalability. Sometimes we want machines to be able to detect one another and sample each others' behaviour. This can be accomplished using probes and server functions.
For example, testing whether services are up and running can be a useful probe even from a local host. Cfengine has in-built functions for generically probing the environment; these are designed to encourage decentralized monitoring.
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "test" };
}
###########################################################
bundle agent test
{
vars:
"hosts" slist => { "server1.example.org", "server2", "server3" };
"up_servers" int => selectservers("@(hosts)","80","","","100","alive_servers");
classes:
"someone_alive" expression => isgreaterthan("$(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 $(alive_servers[1])";
}
Developers may note that the internal data-types follow a simple set of internal linked lists, as in the diagram below.
The cfengine tests directory contains a multitude of examples of cfengine 3 code. These instructions assume that you have all of your configuration in a single test file, such as the example in the distribution directory tests/units.
cf-promises. This requires no privileges.
An cf-agent will not execute a configuration that has not passed this test.
host$ cf-promises -f ./inputfile.cf
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.
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.
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. It should 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 will want to have a different bundlesequence for different classes of host. Use list variables to paste in list fragments to describe the make-up of each class.
#######################################################
#
# 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 this for long jobs
ifelapsed => "15";
}
#######################################################
body monitor control
{
forgetrate => "0.7";
histograms => "true";
}
#######################################################
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 -f failsafe.cf && $(sys.workdir)/bin/cf-agent";
allowusers => { "root" };
}
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 $(bundle.variable).
#######################################################
#
# site.cf
#
#######################################################
bundle common g
{
vars:
SuSE::
"crontab" string => "/var/spool/cron/tabs/root";
!SuSE::
"crontab" string => "/var/spool/cron/crontabs/root";
}
The cfengine bundle below detects whether cfengine 2 is already
running on the host or not, and if so attempts to kill off old daemon
processes and encapsulate the agent. It also looks for rules in the
old cfengine configuration that would potentially spoil cfengine 3's
control of the system: the last thing we want is for cfengine 2 and
cfengine 3 to fight each other for control of the system. Cfengine 3
tries to edit an existing crontab entry to replace any references to
cfexecd with cf-execd; if none are found it will add a 5
minute run schedule. You should never put cf-agentor
cf-agent directly inside cron without the cf-execd
wrapper.
#######################################################
# Start with cfengine itself
#######################################################
bundle agent cfengine
{
classes:
"integrate_cfengine2"
and => {
fileexists("$(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";
expireafter => "240";
}
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 $(mon.dev_icmp_in)"
showstate => { "incoming.icmp" };
}
Server access rules are a touchy business. In an enterprise setting you generally want every host to allow a monitoring host to be able to download data, and a backup host to be able to access important data on every host. On a laptop or personal workstation, there might not be any reason to run a server for external use; however you might configure it as below to allow localhost access for testing.
#######################################################
# Server configuration
#######################################################
bundle server access_rules()
{
access:
"/home/mark/test_area"
admit => { "127.0.0.1" };
# Rule for cf-runagent
"/home/mark/.cfagent/bin/cf-agent"
admit => { "127.0.0.1" };
# New in cf3 - RBAC with cf-runagent
roles:
".*" authorize => { "mark" };
}
This file should never change. If you ever change it, or when you upgrade cfengine, make sure the old and the new cfengine can parse and execute this file. If not, you risk losing control of your system.
#########################################################
#
# update.cf
#
#########################################################
bundle agent update
{
vars:
"master_location" string => "/your/master/cfengine-inputs";
files:
# Update the configuration
"/var/cfengine/inputs"
perms => system("600"),
copy_from => mycopy("$(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";
}
This file should never change. If you ever change it, or when you upgrade cfengine, make sure the old and the new cfengine can parse and execute this file. If not, you risk losing control of your system.
#########################################################
#
# Failsafe file
#
#########################################################
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "update" };
inputs => { "update.cf" };
}
############################################
body depth_search recurse(d)
{
depth => "$(d)";
}
The failsafe.cf file is to make sure that your system can upgrade gracefully to new versions even when mistakes are made.
As a general rule:
A cfengine configuration will fail-over to the failsafe configuration if it is unable to read or parse the contents successfully. That means that any new features you try in a configuration will cause a fail-over, because the parser will not be able to interpret the new features until the software itself has been updated.
The failsafe.cf file should be able to download the latest master configuration from source always.
#######################################################
#
# failsafe.cf
#
#######################################################
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "update" };
}
#########################################################
bundle agent update
{
files:
"/var/cfengine/inputs"
perms => system,
copy_from => mycopy("/home/mark/cfengine-inputs","localhost"),
depth_search => recurse("inf");
"/var/cfengine/bin"
perms => system,
copy_from => mycopy("/usr/local/sbin","localhost"),
depth_search => recurse("inf");
}
#########################################################
body perms system
{
mode => "0700";
}
#########################################################
body depth_search recurse(d)
{
depth => "$(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.
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";
}
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.
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.
bundlesequenceType: 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 whether 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 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 agent control
{
webservers::
bundlesequence => { @(g.bs), "web" };
others::
bundlesequence => { @(g.bs), "otherstuff" };
}
bundle common g
{
vars:
"bs" slist => { "main", "basic_stuff" };
}
inputsType: slist
Allowed input range: .*
Synopsis: List of filenames to parse for promises
Example:
body common control
{
inputs => {
"update.cf",
"library.cf"
};
}
Notes:
versionType: 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.
lastseenexpireafterType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Number of minutes after which last-seen entries are purged
Example:
Notes:
body common control
{
lastseenexpireafter => "72";
}
output_prefixType: string
Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: The string prefix for standard output
Example:
body common control
{
output_prefix => "my_cf3";
}
Notes:
domainType: 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.
require_commentsType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
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. For example:
abortclassesType: 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 classes that cf-agent will watch out for. If any of
these classes becomes defined, it will cause the current execution of
cf-agent to be aborted. This may be used for validation, for
example.
abortbundleclassesType: 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("$(userlist)");
}
###########################################
bundle agent subtest(user)
{
classes:
"invalid" not => regcmp("[a-z][a-z][a-z][a-z]","$(user)");
reports:
!invalid::
"User name $(user) is valid at 4 letters";
}
Notes:
A list of classes 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.
addclassesType: 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.
agentaccessType: 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.
agentfacilityType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
LOG_USERLOG_DAEMONLOG_LOCAL0LOG_LOCAL1LOG_LOCAL2LOG_LOCAL3LOG_LOCAL4LOG_LOCAL5LOG_LOCAL6LOG_LOCAL7
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.
auditingType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
binarypaddingcharType: string
Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: Character used to pad unequal replacements in binary editing
Example:
body agent control
{
binarypaddingchar => "$(const.0)";
}
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.
bindtointerfaceType: 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.
hashupdatesType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
childlibpathType: 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.
defaultcopytypeType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
mtimeatimectimedigesthashbinary
Synopsis: (null)
Example:
body agent control
{
#...
defaultcopytype => "digest";
}
Notes:
Sets the global default policy for comparing source and image in copy transactions.
dryrunType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
editbinaryfilesizeType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Integer limit on maximum binary file size to be edited
Example:
body agent control
{
edibinaryfilesize => "10M";
}
Notes:
The limit on editing binary files should generally be higher than for text files. Note the use of units allowed in the integer type.
editfilesizeType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
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. Note the use of special units is allowed.
environmentType: slist
Allowed input range: [A-Za-z_]+=.*
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"};
exclamationType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false print exclamation marks during security warnings
Example:
body agent control
{
exclamation => "false";
}
Notes:
This affects only the output format of warnings.
expireafterType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Global default for time before on-going promise repairs are interrupted
Example:
body action example
{
ifelapsed => "120";
expireafter => "240";
}
Notes:
The locking time after which cfengine will attempt to kill and restart its attempt to keep a promise.
files_single_copyType: 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.
files_auto_defineType: 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.
fullencryptionType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: Full encryption mode in server connections, includes directory listings
Example:
body agent control
{
fullencryption => "true";
}
Notes:
If true this encrypts all levels of the queries to the server during file transfers. The default is to not encrypt all aspects, since this can slow down transfer and basically only contributes to global warming for most users.
hostnamekeysType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
ifelapsedType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Global default for time that must elapse before promise will be rechecked
Example:
#local
body action example
{
ifelapsed => "120";
expireafter => "240";
}
# global
body agent control
{
ifelapsed => "120";
}
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.
informType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false set inform level default
Example:
body agent control
{
inform => "true";
}
Notes:
Equivalent to or overrides the command line option ‘-I’. Sets the default output level `permanently' within the class context indicated.
lastseenType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false record last observed time for all client-server connections (true)
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, references to the external peer will be purged from this host's database.
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.
intermittencyType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false store detailed recordings of last observed time for all client-server connections for reliability assessment (false)
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.
max_childrenType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
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.
maxconnectionsType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
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.
mountfilesystemsType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
nonalphanumfilesType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false warn about filenames with no alphanumeric content
Example:
body agent control
{
nonalphanumericfiles => "true";
}
Notes:
This test is applied in all recursive/depth searches.
repcharType: string
Allowed input range: .
Synopsis: The character used to canonize pathnames in the file repository
Example:
body agent control
{
repchar => "_";
}
Notes:
default_repositoryType: string
Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
Synopsis: Path to the default file repository
Example:
body agent control
{
default_respository => "/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.
secureinputType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
sensiblecountType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Minimum number of files a mounted filesystem is expected to have
Example:
body agent control
{
sensiblecount => "20";
}
Notes:
sensiblesizeType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Minimum number of bytes a mounted filesystem is expected to have
Example:
body agent control
{
sensiblesize => "20K";
}
Notes:
skipidentifyType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
suspiciousnamesType: slist
Allowed input range: List of names to warn about if found during any file search
Synopsis: (null)
Example:
body agent control
{
suspiciousnames => { ".mo", "lrk3", "rootkit" };
}
Notes:
If cfengine sees these names during recursive (depth) file searches it will warn about them.
syslogType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false switches on output to syslog at the inform level
Example:
body agent example
{
syslog => "true";
}
Notes:
timezoneType: 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:
default_timeoutType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
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.
verboseType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false switches on verbose standard output
Example:
body agent control
{
verbose => "true";
}
Notes:
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" };
}
|
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.
cfruncommandType: string
Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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 at
your own risk.
maxconnectionsType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
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.
denybadclocksType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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. This serves as a warning about clock asynchronization and also a protection against Denial of Service attempts based on clock corruption.
allowconnectsType: 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",
"2001.10.*" ,
"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.
denyconnectsType: 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" };
}
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.
allowallconnectsType: 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",
"2001.10.*" ,
"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 reconnction can be attempted).
In cfengine 2 this corresponds to AllowMultipleConnectionsFrom.
trustkeysfromType: slist
Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: List of IPs or hostnames from whom we accept public keys on trust
Example:
body server control
{
trustkeysfrom => {"hosts.*", "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.
allowusersType: 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.
dynamicaddressesType: 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.
skipverifyType: 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.
logallconnectionsType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
logencryptedtransfersType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
hostnamekeysType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
auditingType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
bindtointerfaceType: 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.
serverfacilityType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
LOG_USERLOG_DAEMONLOG_LOCAL0LOG_LOCAL1LOG_LOCAL2LOG_LOCAL3LOG_LOCAL4LOG_LOCAL5LOG_LOCAL6LOG_LOCAL7
Synopsis: Menu option for syslog facility level
Example:
body server control
{
serverfacility => "LOG_USER";
}
Notes:
See syslog notes.
portType: int
Allowed input range: 1024,99999
Synopsis: Default port for cfengine server
Example:
body runagent 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.
monitor control promises
body monitor control()
{
#version => "1.2.3.4";
threshold => "0.3";
forgetrate => "0.7";
histograms => "true";
tcpdump => "false";
tcpdumpcommand => "/usr/sbin/tcpdump -i eth1 -n -t -v";
}
|
The system defaults will be sufficient for most users. This configurability potential will be a key to developing the integrated monitoring capabilities of cfengine however.
forgetrateType: real
Allowed input range: 0,1
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";
histograms => "true";
}
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.
monitorfacilityType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
LOG_USERLOG_DAEMONLOG_LOCAL0LOG_LOCAL1LOG_LOCAL2LOG_LOCAL3LOG_LOCAL4LOG_LOCAL5LOG_LOCAL6LOG_LOCAL7
Synopsis: Menu option for syslog facility
Example:
body monitor control
{
monitorfacility => "LOG_USER";
}
Notes:
See notes for syslog.
histogramsType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false store signal histogram data
Example:
body monitor control
{
histograms => "true";
}
Notes:
This is like the ‘-H’ option to cfenvd in cfengine 2. It
causes cfengine to learn the conformally transformed distributions of
fluctuations about the mean.
tcpdumpType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false use tcpdump if found
Example:
body monitor control
{
tcpdump => "true";
}
Notes:
Interface with TCP stream if possible.
tcpdumpcommandType: string
Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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.
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";
}
|
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.
hostsType: 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.
portType: int
Allowed input range: 1024,99999
Synopsis: Default port for cfengine server
Example:
body runagent 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.
force_ipv4Type: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
trustkeyType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
encryptType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
background_childrenType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
max_childrenType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
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.
output_to_fileType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
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.
splaytimeType: int
Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Time in minutes to splay this host based on its name hash
Example:
body executor control
{
splaytime => "2";
}
Notes:
A rough rule of thumb for scaling of small updates is set the splay time by:
splaytime = 1 + Number of clients / 50
mailfromType: string
Allowed input range: .*.*
Synopsis: Email-address cfengine mail appears to come from
Example:
body executor control
{
mailfrom => "MrCfengine@example.org";
}
Notes:
mailtoType: 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.
smtpserverType: 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.
mailmaxlinesType: int
Allowed input range: 0,1000
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.
scheduleType: slist
Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: The class schedule for activating cf-execd
Example:
body executor control
{
schedule => { "Min00_05", "Min05_20", "Min30_35", "Min45_50" };
}
Notes:
The list should contain classes which are visible to the cf-execd
daemon. In principle any defined class will cause the daemon to wake up
and schedule the execution of the cf-agent.
executorfacilityType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
LOG_USERLOG_DAEMONLOG_LOCAL0LOG_LOCAL1LOG_LOCAL2LOG_LOCAL3LOG_LOCAL4LOG_LOCAL5LOG_LOCAL6LOG_LOCAL7
Synopsis: Menu option for syslog facility level
Example:
body executor control
{
executorfacility => "LOG_USER";
}
Notes:
See the syslog manual pages.
exec_commandType: string
Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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.
knowledge control promises
body knowledge control
{
build_directory => ".";
sql_database => "my_knowledge";
sql_owner => "db_user";
sql_passwd => ""; # No passwd
sql_type => "mysql";
query_output => "html";
style_sheet => "http://www.example.org/css/style.css";
html_banner =>
"
<ul>
<li>Item 1
<li>Item 2
</ul>
";
}
|
These parameters control the way in which knowledge data are stored and retrieved from a relational database and the output format of the queries.
id_prefixType: 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.
build_directoryType: string
Allowed input range: .*
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-know.
This includes manual generation, ontology and topic map data.
sql_typeType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
mysqlpostgres
Synopsis: Menu option for supported database type
Example:
body knowledge control
{
sql_type => "mysql";
}
Notes:
sql_databaseType: 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.
sql_ownerType: 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.
sql_passwdType: 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.
sql_serverType: 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.
sql_connection_dbType: 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.
query_outputType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
htmltext
Synopsis: Menu option for generated output format
Example:
body knowledge control
{
query_output => "html";
}
Notes:
query_engineType: 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.
style_sheetType: 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.
html_bannerType: 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.
html_footerType: 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.
graph_outputType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
graph_directoryType: string
Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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.
generate_manualType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
manual_source_directoryType: string
Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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.
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.
aggregation_pointType: string
Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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.
auto_scalingType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
build_directoryType: string
Allowed input range: .*
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-know.
This includes manual generation, ontology and topic map data.
csv2xmlType: 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>
error_barsType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
html_bannerType: 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.
html_embedType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
html_footerType: 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.
query_engineType: 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.
reportsType: (option list)
Allowed input range:
auditperformanceall_locksactive_lockshashesclasseslast_seenmonitor_nowmonitor_historymonitor_summarycompliancesetuidfile_changesinstalled_softwaresoftware_patchesvariables
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.
report_outputType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
csvhtmltextxml
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.
style_sheetType: 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.
time_stampsType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false whether to generate timestamps on the output directory
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.
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.
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 listed below.
stringType: 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.
intType: 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:
Integer values may use suffices ‘k’, ‘K’, ‘m’, ‘M’, etc
The value ‘inf’ may also be used to represent an umlimited positive value.
realType: real
Allowed input range: -9.99999E100,9.99999E100
Synopsis: A scalar real number
Example:
vars: "scalar" real => "0.5";
Notes:
Real numbers are not used in many places in cfengine, but they are useful for representing probabilties and performance data.
slistType: 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:
ilistType: 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.
rlistType: 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:
policyType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
freeoverridableconstant
Synopsis: The policy for (dis)allowing redefinition 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.
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 listed below.
orType: 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.
andType: clist
Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_!&@$|.()]+
Synopsis: Combine class sources with AND
Example:
classes:
"compound_class" and => { classmatch("host[0-9].*"), "Monday", "Hr02" };
Notes:
If an expression contains a mixture of different object types that need to be ANDed together, this list form is more convenient than providing an expression.
xorType: clist
Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_!&@$|.()]+
Synopsis: Combine class sources with XOR
Example:
classes:
"another_global" xor => { "any", "linux", "solaris"};
Notes:
distType: rlist
Allowed input range: -9.99999E100,9.99999E100
Synopsis: Generate a probabilistic class distribution (strategy in cfengine 2)
Example:
classes:
"my_dist"
dist => { "10", "20", "40", "50" };
Notes:
Assign one exclusive class randomly weighted on a probability distribution. 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.
expressionType: class
Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_!&@$|.()]+
Synopsis: Evaluate string expression of classes in normal form
Example:
classes: "class_name" expression => "solaris|(linux.specialclass)";
Notes:
A way of aliasing class combinations.
notType: class
Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_!&@$|.()]+
Synopsis: Evaluate the negation of string expression in normal form
Example:
classes: "others" not => "linux|solaris";
Notes:
In file editing, this negates the effect of the promiser-pattern regular expression.
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 listed below.
friend_patternType: 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_patten => "host1|host2|.*\.domain\.tld";
Notes:
This regular expression should match hosts we want to exclude from friend reports.
intermittencyType: real
Allowed input range: 0,1
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.
lastseenType: 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, references to the external peer will be purged from this host's database.
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.
printfile (compound body)Type: (ext body)
file_to_print’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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’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:
report_to_fileType: string
Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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.
showstateType: 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:
* promises in ‘agent’
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 `any'.
The body attributes described below can 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";
action (compound body)Type: (ext body)
action_policy’Allowed input range:
fixwarnnop
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’Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Number of minutes before next allowed assessment of promise
Example:
#local
body action example
{
ifelapsed => "120";
expireafter => "240";
}
# global
body agent control
{
ifelapsed => "120";
}
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’Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Number of minutes before a repair action is interrupted and retried
Example:
body action example
{
ifelapsed => "120";
expireafter => "240";
}
Notes:
The locking time after which cfengine will attempt to kill and restart
its attempt to keep a promise.
log_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 $(this.promiser)");
# ..
body action log_me(s)
{
log_string => "$(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.
log_level’Allowed input range:
informverboseerrorlog
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.
log_kept’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: This should be filename of a file to which log_string will be saved, if undefined it goes to syslog
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) $(x) promise status";
}
Notes:
If this option is specified together with log_string, the
current promise will log promise-kept status using the log string to
this named file. If these log names are absent, the default logging
destination for the log string is syslog, but only for non-kept
promises. Only the log_string is affected by this setting. Other messages
destined for logging are sent to syslog.
It is intended that named file logs should be different for the three
cases: promise kept, promise not kept and promise repaired.
log_repaired’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: This should be filename of a file to which log_string will be saved, if undefined it goes to syslog
Example:
bundle agent test
{
vars:
"software" slist => { "/root/xyz", "/tmp/xyz" };
files:
"$(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) $(x) promise status";
}
Notes:
This may be the name of a log to which the log_string is written if a promise is repaired.
log_failed’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: This should be filename of a file to which log_string will be saved, if undefined it goes to syslog
Example:
bundle agent test
{
vars:
"software" slist => { "/root/xyz", "/tmp/xyz" };
files:
"$(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) $(x) promise status";
}
Notes:
If this option is specified together with log_string, the
current promise will log promise-kept status using the log string to
this named file. If these log names are absent, the default logging
destination for the log string is syslog, but only for non-kept
promises. Only the log_string is affected by this setting. Other messages
destined for logging are sent to syslog.
It is intended that named file logs should be different for the three
cases: promise kept, promise not kept and promise repaired.
audit’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false switch for detailed audit records of this promise
Example:
body action example
{
# ...
audit => "true";
}
Notes:
If this is set, cfengine will perform auditing on this specific
promise. This means that all details surrounding the verification of
the current promise will be recorded in the audit database. The
database may be inspected with cf-report, or cfshow in
cfengine 2.
background’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false switch for parallelizing the promise repair
Example:
body action example
{
background => "true";
}
Notes:
If possible, background the verification of the current promise. This
is advantageous only if the verification might take a significant
amount of time, e.g. in remote copying of filesystem/disk scans.
report_level’Allowed input range:
informverboseerrorlog
Synopsis: The reporting level for standard output
Example:
body action example
{
report_level => "verbose";
}
Notes:
In cfengine 2 one would say ‘inform=true’ or ‘syslog=true’, etc.
This replaces these levels since they act as encapsulating super-sets.
measurement_class’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: If set performance will be measured and recorded under this identifier
Example:
body action measure
{
measurement_class => "$(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.
classes (compound body)Type: (ext body)
promise_repaired’Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$.]+
Synopsis: A list of classes to be defined
Example:
body classes example
{
promise_repaired => { "change_happened" };
}
Notes:
If a promise is `repaired' it means that a corrective action had to be taken to keep the promise.
Important: complex promises, e.g. files promises that set
multiple parameters on a file simultaneously can report misleadingly.
The classes for different parts of a promise are not separable. Thus,
if you promise to create and file and change its permissions, when the
file exists with incorrect permissions, cf-agent will report
that the ‘promise_kept’ for the file existence, but
‘promise_repaired’ for the permissions. If you need separate
reports, you should code two separate promises rather than `overloading'
a single one.
repair_failed’Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$.]+
Synopsis: A list of classes to be defined
Example:
body classes example
{
repair_failed => { "unknown_error" };
}
Notes:
A promise could not be repaired because the corrective
action failed for some reason.
repair_denied’Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$.]+
Synopsis: A list of classes to be defined
Example:
body classes example
{
repair_denied => { "permission_failure" };
}
Notes:
A promise could not be kept because access to a key resource
was denied.
repair_timeout’Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$.]+
Synopsis: A list of classes to be defined
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’Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$.]+
Synopsis: A list of classes to be defined
Example:
body classes example
{
promise_kept => { "success", "kaplah" };
}
Notes:
This class is set if no action was necessary by cf-agent
because the promise concerned was aready kept without further action
required.
Important: complex promises, e.g. files promises that set
multiple parameters on a file simultaneously can report misleadingly.
The classes for different parts of a promise are not separable. Thus,
if you promise to create and file and change its permissions, when the
file exists with incorrect permissions, cf-agent will report
that the ‘promise_kept’ for the file existence, but
‘promise_repaired’ for the permissions. If you need separate
reports, you should code two separate promises rather than `overloading'
a single one.
persist_time’Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: A number of minutes the specified classes should remain active
Example:
body classes example
{
persist_time => "10";
}
Notes:
By default classes are ephemeral entities that disappear when cf-agent
terminates. By setting a persistence time, they can last even when the agent
is not running.
timer_policy’Allowed input range:
absolutereset
Synopsis: Whether a persistent class restarts its counter when rediscovered
Example:
body classes example
{
timer_policy => "reset";
}
Notes:
The in most cases resetting a timer will give a more honest appraisal of which classes are currently important, but if we want to activate a response of limited duration as a rare event then an asbolute time limit is useful.
ifvarclassType: string
Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: Extended classes ANDed with context
Example:
The generic example has the form:
promise-type:
"promiser"
ifvarclass => "$(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_$(component)");
Notice that the function canonify() is provided to convert a
general variable input into a string composed only of legal
characters, using the same algorithm that cfengine uses.
handleType: string
Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$.]+
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.
depends_onType: 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"
builds_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.
commentType: 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.
* 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 `any'.
The body attributes described below can 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";
select_region (compound body)Type: (ext body)
select_start’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’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 file, then just omit
the select_end promise and it will run to the end of file.
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.
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.
Commands were called shellcommands in cfengine previously.
Modules were
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;
}
argsType: 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
contain (compound body)Type: (ext body)
useshell’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false embed the command in a shell environment (true)
Example:
body contain example
{
useshell => "true";
}
Notes:
The default is to use a shell when executing commands, but this 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.
umask’Allowed input range:
077222772077022027072
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’;
exec_owner’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.
exec_group’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 user, or a user with privileges.
exec_timeout’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’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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.
preview’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false preview command when running in dry-run mode (with -n)
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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false discard all output from the command
Example:
body contain example
{
no_output => "true";
}
Notes:
This is equivalent to piping standard output and error to /dev/null.
moduleType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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 variables/macros to be defined. Any other lines of output are cited by cfagent, so you should normally make your module completely silent. Here is an example module written in perl.
#!/usr/bin/perl
#
# module:myplugin
#
# lots of computation....
if (special-condition)
{
print "+specialclass";
}
Modules inherit the environment variables from cfagent and accept arguments, just as a regular command does.
#!/bin/sh
#
# module:myplugin
#
/bin/echo $*
cf-agent defines the classes as an environment variable so that programs
have access to these. E.g. try the following module:
#!/usr/bin/perl
print "Decoding $ENV{CFALLCLASSES}\n";
@allclasses = split (":","$ENV{CFALLCLASSES}");
while ($c=shift(@allclasses))
{
$classes{$c} = 1;
print "$c is set\n";
}
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.
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 databsaes 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:
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.
database_server (compound body)Type: (ext body)
db_server_owner’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: User name for database connection
Example:
db_server_owner => "mark";
Notes:
db_server_password’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: Clear text password for database connection
Example:
db_server_password => "xyz.1234";
Notes:
db_server_host’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’Allowed input range:
postgresmysql
Synopsis: The dialect of the database server
Example:
db_server_type => "postgres";
Notes:
db_server_connection_db’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.
database_typeType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
sqlms_registry
Synopsis: The type of database that is to be manipulated
Example:
database_type => "@var{ms_registry}";
Notes:
database_operationType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
createdeletedropcacheverifyrestore
Synopsis: The nature of the promise - to be or not to be
Example:
database_operation => "create";
Notes:
database_columnsType: 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.
database_rowsType: 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_SZ,new val 2"} ,
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.
registry_excludeType: 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.
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 where these are available. If PCRE is
not available on the local system, POSIX extended regular expressions
are used.
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
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).
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
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.
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 editfiles 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:
"edit_variable" string => "private edit variable";
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 => "/* $(1) */"; # backreference 0
occurrences => "all"; # first, last all
}
########################################################
body select_region MySection(x)
{
select_start => "\[$(x)\]";
select_end => "\[.*\]";
}
There are several things to notice:
$(edit.filename) contains the name of the file being edited within
an edit bundle.
In the example above, back references are used to allow conversion of comments from shell-style to C-style.
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";
}
acl (compound body)Type: (ext body)
aces’Allowed input range: ((user|group):[^:]+:[-=+,rwx()]*(:(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:
Form of the permissions is:
aces => {
"user:uid:mode[:perm_type]", ...,
"group:gid:mode[:perm_type]", ...,
"all:mode[:perm_type]"
};
|
user indicates that the line applies to a user specified
by the user identitfier uid. mode is the permission
mode string.
group indicates that the line applies to a group specified
by the group identitfier gid. mode is the permission
mode string.
all indicates that the line applies to every
user. mode is the permission mode string.
uid is a valid user identifier for the system and
cannot be empty. However, uid can be set to * as a synonym
for the entity that owns the file system object (e.g. user:*:r).
gid is a valid group identifier for the system and
cannot be empty. However, in some acl types, gid can be set
to * to indicate a special group (e.g. in POSIX this refers to the
file group).
mode is one or more strings
op|perms|(nperms); a concatenation of op,
perms and optionally (nperms), see below, separated
with commas (e.g. +rx,-w(s)). mode is parsed from left to
right.
op specifies the operation on any existing permissions,
if the defined ACE already exists. op can be =, empty, + or
-. = or empty sets the permissions to the ACE as stated, + adds and
- removes the permissions from any existing ACE.
nperms (optional) specifies file system specific
(native) permissions. Only valid if acl_type is
defined. nperms will only be enforced if the file object is
stored on a file system supporting the acl type set in
acl_type (e.g. nperms will be ignored if
acl_type:ntfs and the object is stored on a file system
not supporting ntfs ACLs). Valid values for nperms varies with
different ACL types, and is defined in subsequent sections.
perm_type (optional) can be set to either allow or
deny, and defaults to allow. deny is only valid
if acl_type is set to an ACL type that support deny
permissions. A deny ACE will only be enforced if the file
object is stored on a file system supporting the acl type set in
acl_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’Allowed input range:
parentspecifynone
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:*:r(wwx),-r:allow",
"group:*:+rw:allow",
"mask:x: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.
In some file systems, like NTFS, objects can only inherit the access
ACL of the parent directory (or nothing). There are also differences
in what is inherited by default. In POSIX, the default ACL is usually
unset, which results in no ACL inheritance, while NTFS always inherits
the access ACL to subobjects.
acl_method’Allowed input range:
appendoverwrite
Synopsis: Editing method for access control list
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:
acl_type’Allowed input range:
genericposixntfs
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:*:r(wwx),-r:allow", "group:*:+rw:allow", "mask:x:allow", "all:r"};
}
Notes:
specify_inherit_aces’Allowed input range: ((user|group):[^:]+:[-=+,rwx()]*(:(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.
changes (compound body)Type: (ext body)
hash’Allowed input range:
md5sha1best
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’Allowed input range:
allstatscontentnone
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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
copy_from (compound body)Type: (ext body)
source’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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’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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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’Allowed input range:
atimemtimectimedigesthash
Synopsis: Menu option policy for comparing source and image file attributes
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.
copy_backup’Allowed input range:
truefalsetimestamp
Synopsis: Menu option policy for file backup/version control
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.
encrypt’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false use encrypted data stream to connect to remote host
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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: List of patterns matching files that should be linked instead of copied
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.
copy_size’Allowed input range: 0,inf
Synopsis: Integer range of file sizes that may be copied
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’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’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: List of patterns matching symbolic links that should be replaced with copies
Example:
body copy_from mycopy(from)
{
source => "$(from)";
linkcopy_patterns => { ".*" };
}
Notes:
The pattern matches the last node filename (i.e. without the absolute path).
link_type’Allowed input range:
symlinkhardlinkrelativeabsolutenone
Synopsis: Menu option for type of links to use when copying
Example:
body link_from example
{
link_type => "hard";
}
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.
force_update’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false force copy update always
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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false force use of ipv4 on ipv6 enabled network
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’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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false whether to preserve file permissions on copied file
Example:
body copy_from example
{
preserve => "true";
}
Notes:
Whether or not the copy preserves the permissions on the source files.
purge’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false purge files on client that do not match files on server when depth_search
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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false whether to preserve time stamps on copied file
Example:
body copy_from example
{
stealth => "true";
}
Notes:
Preserves file access and modification times on the promiser files.
trustkey’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false trust public keys from remote server if previously unknown
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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false verify transferred file by hashing after copy (resource penalty)
Example:
body copy_from example
{
verify => "true";
}
Notes:
This is a highly resource intensive option, not recommended for large file transfers.
createType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
delete (compound body)Type: (ext body)
dirlinks’Allowed input range:
deletetidykeep
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.
rmdirs’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
files:
# This will not delete the parent
"/home/mark/tmp/testcopy"
delete => tidyfiles,
file_select => zero_age, # has rmdirs true
depth_search => recurse("inf");
# Now delete the parent.
"/home/mark/tmp/testcopy"
delete => tidyfiles;
depth_search (compound body)Type: (ext body)
depth’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’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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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’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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false remove links that point to nowhere
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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false traverse symbolic links to directories (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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false exclude directories that are on different devices
Example:
body depth_search example
{
xdev => "true";
}
Notes:
edit_lineType: (ext bundle) (Separate Bundle)
edit_xmlType: (ext bundle) (Separate Bundle)
edit_defaults (compound body)Type: (ext body)
edit_backup’Allowed input range:
truefalsetimestamprotate
Synopsis: Menu option for backup policy on edit changes
Example:
body edit_defaults example
{
edit_backup => "timestamp";
}
Notes:
empty_file_before_editing’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: Baseline memory model of file to zero/empty before commencing promised edits
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’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.
file_select (compound body)Type: (ext body)
leaf_name’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’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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’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’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’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.
search_groups’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:
search_bsdflags’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.
ctime’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.
mtime’Allowed input range: 0,2147483647
Synopsis: Range of modification times (mtime) for acceptable files
Example:
body files_select example
{
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’Allowed input range: 0,2147483647
Synopsis: Range of access times (atime) for acceptable files
Example:
body file_select
{
# files accessed in the last hour
atime => irange(ago(0,0,0,1,0,0),now);
file_result => "atime";
}
body file_select
{
# files accessed since 00:00 1st Jan 2000
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’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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 conjuection with the exec_program test.
In this way the program must both return exit status 0 and its
output must match the regular expression.
exec_program’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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’Allowed input range:
plainregsymlinkdirsocketfifodoorcharblock
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.
issymlinkto’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.
file_result’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 any_age
{
mtime => irange(ago(1,0,0,0,0,0),now);
file_result => "mtime";
}
body file_select pdf_files_1dayold
{
mtime => irange(ago(0,0,1,0,0,0),now);
leaf_name => { ".*.pdf" , ".*.fdf" };
file_result => "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 abstact host-search.
Items should be from the following list:
link_from (compound body)Type: (ext body)
copy_patterns’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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false whether to link all directory's children to source originals
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’Allowed input range:
symlinkhardlinkrelativeabsolutenone
Synopsis: The type of link used to alias the file
Example:
body link_from example
{
link_type => "hard";
}
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.
source’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
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’Allowed input range:
override_fileif_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’Allowed input range:
forcedeletenop
Synopsis: Behaviour when the source file to link to does not exist
Example:
body link_from example
{
when_no_file => "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.
move_obstructionsType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
pathtypeType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
literalregex
Synopsis: Menu option for interpreting promiser file object
Example:
files:
"/var/.*/lib"
pathtype => "regex", #default
perms => system;
"/var/.*/lib"
pathtype => "literal",
perms => system;
Notes:
If the keyword literal is invoked, a path looking like
a regular expression will be treated as a literal string. Thus in
the example, one case implies an iteration over all files/directories
matching the regular expression, while the other means a single
literal object with a name composed of dots and stars.
perms (compound body)Type: (ext body)
bsdflags’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 free BSD Unices and MacOSX have additional filesystem flags which
can be set. Refer to the BSD chflags documentation for
this.
groups’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.
mode’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.
owners’Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$.-]+
Synopsis: List of acceptable owners or user ids, first is change target
Example:
body perms example
{
owners => { "mark", "wwwrun", "jeang" };
}
Notes:
The first user is the reference value that cfengine will set the file to if
none of the list items matches the true state of the file.
rxdirs’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false add execute flag for directories if read flag is set
Example:
body perms rxdirs
{
rxdirs => "false";
}
Notes:
Default behaviour is to set the ‘x’ flag on directories automatically if the ‘r’ flag is specified when specifying multiple files in a single promise.
rename (compound body)Type: (ext body)
disable’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false automatically rename and remove permissions
Example:
body rename example
{
disable => "true";
disable_suffix => ".nuked";
}
Notes:
Disabling a file means making is impotent in the context in which it
has an effect. For executables this means preventing execution, for an
information file it means making the file unreadable.
disable_mode’Allowed input range: [0-7augorwxst,+-]+
Synopsis: The permissions to set when a file is disabled
Example:
body rename example
{
disable_mode => "0600";
}
Notes:
To disable an executable it is not enough to rename it, you should also remove the
executable flag.
disable_suffix’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: The suffix to add to files when disabling (.cfdisabled)
Example:
body rename example
{
disable => "true";
disable_suffix => ".nuked";
}
Notes:
To make disabled files in a particular manner, use this string suffix.
The default value is .cf-disabled.
newname’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: The desired name for the current file
Example:
body rename example(s)
{
newname => "$(s)";
}
Notes:
rotate’Allowed input range: 0,99
Synopsis: Maximum number of file rotations to keep
Example:
body rename example
{
rotate => "4";
}
Notes:
Used for log rotation.
repositoryType: string
Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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.
touchType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false whether to touch time stamps on file
Example:
files: "/path/file" touch => "true";
Notes:
transformerType: string
Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
Synopsis: Command (with full path) used to transform current file (no shell wrapper used)
Example:
"/home/mark/tmp/testcopy"
file_select => pdf_files,
transformer => "/usr/bin/gzip $(this.promiser)",
depth_search => recurse("inf");
Notes:
A command to execute on finding a file.
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.
bundle edit_line example
{
delete_lines:
"olduser.*";
}
delete_select (compound body)Type: (ext body)
delete_if_startwith_from_list’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.
delete_if_not_startwith_from_list’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.
delete_if_match_from_list’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 they completely match the regular expressions listed.
delete_if_not_match_from_list’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 they fully match regular expressions
in the list.
delete_if_contains_from_list’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.
delete_if_not_contains_from_list’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.
not_matchingType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false negate match criterion
Example:
delete_lines: # edit /etc/passwd "mark.*|root.*" not_matching => "true";
Notes:
The negation of an expression (for convenience).
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_lines 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_lines x
{
insert_lines:
"line one$(const.n)line two" location => myloc;
}
Or:
bundle edit_lines x
{
insert_lines:
"line one
line two" location => myloc;
}
expand_scalarsType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
In cfengine 2 editfiles this was called ‘ExpandVariables’.
insert_typeType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
literalstringfile
Synopsis: Type of object the promiser string refers to (default literal)
Example:
insert_lines:
"test lines"
insert_type => "file";
Notes:
The default is to treat the promiser as a literal string. This is used to tell cfengine that the string is non-literal and should be interpreted as a filename from which to import lines.
insert_select (compound body)Type: (ext body)
insert_if_startwith_from_list’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 an secondary file
(not the main file being edited). If the string is found as the first
characters (at the start) of a line in the file, that line from the
secondary file will be inserted at the present location in the primary
file.
insert_if_not_startwith_from_list’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.
insert_if_match_from_list’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 regular expressions to search for in an secondary file (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.
insert_if_not_match_from_list’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.
insert_if_contains_from_list’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 an secondary file (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_not_contains_from_list’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.
location (compound body)Type: (ext body)
before_after’Allowed input range:
beforeafter
Synopsis: Menu option, point cursor before of after matched line
Example:
body location append
{
#...
before_after => "before";
}
Notes:
Determines whether an edit will occur before or after the currently
matched line.
first_last’Allowed input range:
firstlast
Synopsis: Menu option, choose first or last occurrence of match in file
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’Allowed input range: .*
Synopsis: Regular expression for matching file line location
Example:
body match_value example
{
select_line_matching => "^Expression match.* whole line$";
}
Notes:
The ‘^$’ are not necessary, just remember that the expression must match a whole line, not a fragment within a line.
field_edits promises in ‘edit_line’
Certain types of text file (e.g. the passwd and group
files in Unix) are tabular in nature, with field separators
(e.g. ‘:’ or ‘,’). This promise assumes a parameterizable model
for editing the fields of such files, using a regular expression to
separate major fields and a character to separate sub-fields. First
you match the line with a regular expression, then a
field_edits body describes the separators for fields and one
level of sub-fields, along with policies for editing these fields, ordering
the items within them etc.
field_edits:
"regex matching line"
edit_field => body;
|
bundle agent example
{
vars:
"userset" slist => { "one-x", "two-x", "three-x" };
files:
"/tmp/passwd"
create => "true",
edit_line => SetUserParam("mark","6","/set/this/shell");
"/tmp/group"
create => "true",
edit_line => AppendUserParam("root","4","@(userset)");
}
########################################################
bundle edit_line SetUserParam(user,field,val)
{
field_edits:
"$(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.
edit_field (compound body)Type: (ext body)
allow_blank_fields’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false allow blank fields in a line (do not purge)
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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false add new fields at end of line if necessary to complete edit
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’Allowed input range:
prependappendalphanumdeleteset
Synopsis: Menu option policy for editing subfields
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.
field_separator’Allowed input range: .*
Synopsis: The regular expression used to separate fields in a line
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’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’Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Integer index of the field required 1..n
Example:
body field_edits example
{
select_field => "5";
}
Notes:
Numering starts from 1 not from 0.
value_separator’Allowed input range: ^.$
Synopsis: Character separator for subfields inside the selected field
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 ‘,’.
replace_patterns promises in ‘edit_line’
This promise refers to arbitrary text patterns in a file. The pattern is expressed as a regular expression and must be compatible with the default model for regular expressions on your system. The default model is PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions) if available.
replace_patterns:
"search pattern"
replace_with => replace_body,
...;
|
bundle edit_line upgrade_cfexecd
{
replace_patterns:
"cfexecd" replace_with => With("cf-execd");
}
########################################
body replace_with With(x)
{
replace_value => "$(x)";
occurrences => "all";
}
This is a straightforward search and replace function. In this case only for line editing the regular expression may match a line fragment – it need not match the entire line.
replace_with (compound body)Type: (ext body)
occurrences’Allowed input range:
allfirst
Synopsis: Menu option to replace all occurrences or just first (NB the latter is non-convergent)
Example:
body replace_with example
{
occurrences => "first";
}
Notes:
A policy for string replacement.
replace_value’Allowed input range: .*
Synopsis: Value used to replace regular expression matches in search
Example:
body replace_with example(s)
{
replace_value => "$(s)";
}
Notes:
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,
...;
|
Fill me in (/home/mark/LapTop/CfengineProjects/CompanyDocuments/trunk/Cfengine3Reference/promise_interfaces_example.texinfo) ""
Fill me in (/home/mark/LapTop/CfengineProjects/CompanyDocuments/trunk/Cfengine3Reference/promise_interfaces_notes.texinfo) ""
tcp_ip (compound body)Type: (ext body)
ipv4_address’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’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’Allowed input range: [0-9a-fA-F:]+/[0-9]+
Synopsis: IPv6 address for the interface
Example:
body tcp_ip example
{
ipv6_address => "2001:700:700:3:20f:1fff:fe92:2cd3/64";
}
Notes:
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 $(user)";
}
Methods offer powerful ways to encapsulate multiple issues pertaining to a set of parameters.
usebundleType: (ext bundle) (Separate Bundle)
packages promises in ‘agent’
vars:
"match_package" slist => {
"apache2",
"apache2-mod_php5",
"apache2-prefork",
"php5"
};
packages:
"$(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.
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:
packages:
"mypackage"
package_policy => "add",
package_method => rpm,
package_select => ">=",
package_architectures => { "x86_64", "i586" },
package_version => "1.2.3";
package_list_name_regex => "[^|]+\|[^|]+\|\s+([^\s|]+).*";
package_list_version_regex => "[^|]+\|[^|]+\|[^|]+\|\s+([^\s|]+).*";
package_list_arch_regex => "[^|]+\|[^|]+\|[^|]+\|[^|]+\|\s+([^\s]+).*";
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.
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.
package_architecturesType: 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.
package_method (compound body)Type: (ext body)
package_add_command’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
Synopsis: Command to install a package to the system
Example:
body package_method rpm
{
package_add_command => "/bin echo /bin/rpm -i ";
}
Notes:
This command should install a package when appended with the package referernce id, formed
using the package_name_convention, using the model of (name,version,architecture).
package_arch_regex’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 back reference (parenthesis) which marks the
location in the promiser at which the architecture is
specified. If no architecture is specified for the given package
manager, then do not define this.
package_changes’Allowed input range:
individualbulkbulk_no_names
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’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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_file_repositories’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: A list of machine-local directories to search for packages
Example:
body package_method filebased
{
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’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 should match lines in the output of the list command that are
actually installed packages. If all the lines match then it can be set of ‘.*’,
however most package systems output prefix lines and a variety of human padding that
needs to be ignored.
package_list_command’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
Synopsis: Command to obtain a list of installed 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_list_version_regex’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 back-reference (parenthesis)
that marks the version string of packages listed as installed.
package_list_name_regex’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:
This regular expression should contain a single back reference (parenthesis)
that marks the name of the package from the package listing.
package_list_arch_regex’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 back reference
(parenthesis) which marks the location in the listed package at which the
architecture is specified. If no architecture is specified for the
given package manager, then do not define this.
package_name_convention’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: This is how the package manager expects the file 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)’.
package_name_regex’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 back-reference
(parenthesis) to extract the name of the package from the string.
package_noverify_regex’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: Regular expression to match verification failure output
Example:
body package_method xyz
{
# package_noverify_regex => ".*problem.*";
package_noverify_regex => ".*[^\s].*"; # some non-zero output
}
Notes:
A regular expression to match output from a package verification command. If the
ourput string matches this expression, the package is deemed broken.
package_noverify_returncode’Allowed input range: -99999999999,9999999999
Synopsis: Integer return code indicating package verification failure
Example:
body package_method xyz
{
package_noverify_returncode => "-1";
}
Notes:
For use if a package verification command uses the return code as the signal
for a failed package verification.
package_patch_arch_regex’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.
package_patch_command’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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_patch_installed_regex’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.
package_patch_list_command’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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_patch_name_regex’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.
package_patch_version_regex’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.
package_update_command’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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.
package_verify_command’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
Synopsis: Command to verify the correctness of an installed package
Example:
body package_method rpm
{
package_verify_command => "/bin/rpm -V";
}
Notes:
If available, this is a command to verify an already installed
package. Such commands are not necessarily meaningful in the context
of a tool like cfengine which patches the system by `other means'.
package_version_regex’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 back-reference that matches the version string in the promiser.
package_policyType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
adddeletereinstallupdatepatchverify
Synopsis: Criteria for package installation/upgrade on the current system
Example:
packages:
"$(match_package)"
package_policy => "add",
package_method => "xyz";
Notes:
This decides what fate is intended for the named package.
package_selectType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
><==!=>=<=
Synopsis: A criterion for first acceptable match relative to "package_version"
Example:
packages:
"$(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.
package_versionType: 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.
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). 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.
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.
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.
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
{
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 2, one has two separate actions:
processes
shellcommands
In cfengine 3 we have
processes
commands
Cfengine 2 got this ontology about right intuitively, but not quite. It allowed a ‘restart’ command to appear in a process promise, which is really a command execution. This has been changed in cfengine 3 so that there is a cleaner separation. 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
kill signal pid
exec command argument1 argument2 ...
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 => "$(s)_up";
}
Is this a step backwards? The cfengine 3 approach might seem like a step backwards from the simple cfengine 2 statement:
processes: "httpd" restart "/etc/init.d/apache restart"
However, it allows several improvements.
You can do other things in between stopping and starting the service, like file editing, or security sweeps. You can use templates to simplify the syntax in bulk for several process checks or restarts.
processes: "$(service.list)"If you don't want any delay in stopping and starting the service, then place these promises in a private bundle with nothing in between them.
process_count (compound body)Type: (ext body)
in_range_define’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’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’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.
process_select (compound body)Type: (ext body)
command’Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: Regular expression matching the command/cmd field of a process
Example:
body select_process 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’Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Range of integers matching the process id of a process
Example:
body process_select example
{
ppid => irange("1","10");
process_result => "ppid";
}
Notes:
pgid’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’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");
}
Notes:
priority’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’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.
process_result’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 => "100,199";
vsize => "0,1000";
process_result => "command.(process_owner|rsize)";
}
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’Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Range of integers matching the resident memory size of a process
Example:
body process_select
{
rsize => irange("4000","8000");
}
Notes:
status’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+..’
stime_range’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’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’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:
threads’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’Allowed input range: 0,99999999999
Synopsis: Range of integers matching the virtual memory size of a process
Example:
body process_select example
{
vsize => irange("4000","9000");
}
Notes:
process_stopType: string
Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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.
restart_classType: string
Allowed input range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$.]+
Synopsis: A class to be set if the process is not running, so that a command: rule can be referred to restart the process
Example:
processes:
"cfservd"
restart_class => "start_cfserv";
commands:
start_cfserv::
"/usr/local/sbin/cfservd";
Notes:
This is a signal to restart a process that should be running, if it is not running. Processes are signalled first and then restarted later, at the end of bundle execution, after all possible corrective actions have been made that could influence their execution.
signalsType: (option list)
Allowed input range:
hupinttrapkillpipecontabrtstopquittermchildusr1usr2bussegv
Synopsis: A list of menu options representing signals to be sent to a process
Example:
processes:
cfservd_out_of_control::
"cfservd"
signals => { "stop" , "term" },
restart_class => "start_cfserv";
any::
"snmpd"
signals => { "term" , "kill" };
Notes:
Signals are presented as an ordered list to the process.
storage promises in ‘agent’
Storage promises refer to disks and filesystem properties.
storage:
"/disk volume or mountpoint"
volume => volume_body,
...;
|
In cfengine 2, storage promises were divided into disks or
required, and misc_mounts types. The old mount-models
for binary and home servers has been deprecated and removed from
cfengine 3. Users who use these models can reconstruct them from the
low-level tools.
bundle agent storage
{
storage:
"/usr" volume => mycheck("10%");
"/mnt" mount => nfs("nfsserv.example.org","/home");
}
#######################################################
body volume mycheck(free) # reusable template
{
check_foreign => "false";
freespace => "$(free)";
sensible_size => "10000";
sensible_count => "2";
}
body mount nfs(server,source)
{
mount_type => "nfs";
mount_source => "$(source)";
mount_server => "$(server)";
edit_fstab => "true";
}
mount (compound body)Type: (ext body)
edit_fstab’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false add or remove entries to the file system table ("fstab")
Example:
body mount example
{
edit_fstab => "true";
}
Notes:
The default behaviour is to not place edits in the file system table.
mount_type’Allowed input range:
nfsnfs2nfs3nfs4
Synopsis: Protocol type of remote file system
Example:
body mount example
{
mount_type => "nfs3";
}
Notes:
This field is mainly for future extensions.
mount_source’Allowed input range: [cC]:\\.*|/.*
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’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’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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false unmount a previously mounted filesystem
Example:
body mount example
{
unmount => "true";
}
Notes:
volume (compound body)Type: (ext body)
check_foreign’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false verify storage that is mounted from a foreign system on this host
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’Allowed input range: [0-9]+[mb%]
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, warnings are generated.
sensible_size’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’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’Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
Synopsis: true/false generate pseudo-periodic disk change arrival distribution
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.
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.
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" };
|
#########################################################
# 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.
admitType: 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.
denyType: 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.
maprootType: 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.
ifencryptedType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
truefalseyesnoonoff
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.
resource_typeType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
pathliteral
Synopsis: The type of object being granted access. The default is 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.
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.
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
"Mark_.*" authorize => { "mark" };
}
In this example user ‘mark’ is granted permission to remotely
activate classes matching the regular expression when 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.
authorizeType: 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.
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.
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.
association (compound body)Type: (ext body)
forward_relationship’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’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’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.
commentType: string
Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: Retained comment about this promise's real intention
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.
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.
representsType: 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.
representationType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
literalurldbfilewebimageportal
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.
web_rootType: string
Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: Base URL of the occurrence when rendered as a web-URL (replaces path_root)
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.
path_rootType: string
Allowed input range: (arbitrary string)
Synopsis: Base path of the occurrence when locating file (replaced by web_root)
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.
monitor
bundle monitor example
{
measurements:
# Discover disk device information
"/bin/df"
handle => "free_memory_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.
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 addd customizable promises to monitor or log specific quite 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. 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 => "none",
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_memory_watch",
stream_type => "pipe",
data_type => "slist",
history_type => "static",
units => "device",
match_value => file_systems;
# Update this as often as possible
}
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.
stream_typeType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
pipefile
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.
data_typeType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
counterintrealstringslist
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.
history_typeType: (menu option)
Allowed input range:
weeklyscalarstaticlog
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:
unitsType: 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 => "none",
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.
match_value (compound body)Type: (ext body)
select_line_matching’Allowed input range: .*
Synopsis: Regular expression for matching line location
Example:
body match_value example
{
select_line_matching => "^Expression match.* whole line$";
}
Notes:
The ‘^$’ are not necessary, just remember that the expression must match
a whole line, not a fragment within a line.
select_line_number’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 with select_line_matching.
extraction_regex’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 backreference should be given to lift the value to be measured out of the text stream.
Synopsis: accessedbefore(2 args) returns type class
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
Synopsis: accumulated(6 args) returns type int
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:
Synopsis: ago(6 args) returns type int
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
{
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:
Synopsis: canonify(1 args) returns type string
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.
Synopsis: changedbefore(2 args) returns type class
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).
Synopsis: classify(1 args) returns type class
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 of the classification (canonical form) of
the argument is already a defined class. This is useful for
transforming variables into classes for instance. See also canonify().
Synopsis: classmatch(1 args) returns type class
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.
Synopsis: execresult(2 args) returns type string
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. Such an operation is beyind 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.
Synopsis: fileexists(1 args) returns type class
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.
Synopsis: filesexist(1 args) returns type class
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.
Synopsis: getindices(1 args) returns type slist
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.
Synopsis: getgid(1 args) returns type int
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.
Synopsis: getuid(1 args) returns type int
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 gid is $(uid)";
}
Notes:
If the named user is not registered the variable will not be defined.
Synopsis: groupexists(1 args) returns type class
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.
Synopsis: hash(2 args) returns type string
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.
Synopsis: hashmatch(3 args) returns type class
Compute the hash of arg1, of type arg2 and test if it matches the value in arg 3
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:
Synopsis: hostrange(2 args) returns type class
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.
Synopsis: hostinnetgroup(1 args) returns type class
True if the current host is in the named netgroup
Example:
classes:
"ingroup" expression => hostinnetgroup("my_net_group");
Notes:
Synopsis: iprange(1 args) returns type class
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.
Synopsis: irange(2 args) returns type irange [int,int]
Define a range of integer values for cfengine internal use
Example:
Notes:
Not currently used.
Synopsis: isdir(1 args) returns type class
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.
Synopsis: isgreaterthan(2 args) returns type class
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()’.
Synopsis: islessthan(2 args) returns type class
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()’.
Synopsis: islink(1 args) returns type class
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.
Synopsis: isnewerthan(2 args) returns type class
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.
Synopsis: isplain(1 args) returns type class
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:
Synopsis: isvariable(1 args) returns type class
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.
Synopsis: lastnode(2 args) returns type string
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.
Synopsis: ldaparray(6 args) returns type class
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:
"ldap://ldap.cfengine.com.no"
subtree
onelevel
base
none
ssl
sasl
Synopsis: ldaplist(6 args) returns type slist
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:
"ldap://ldap.cfengine.com.no"
uid.
subtree
onelevel
base
none
ssl
sasl
Synopsis: ldapvalue(6 args) returns type string
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:
"ldap://ldap.cfengine.com.no"
uid.
subtree
onelevel
base
Synopsis: now(0 args) 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:
Synopsis: on(6 args) returns type int
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. 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:
Synopsis: peers(3 args) returns type slist
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:
linux::
"mypeer $(mygroup)";
"myleader $(myleader)";
"another leader $(all_leaders)";
}
Notes:
(slist) peers(file of hosts,comment pattern,group size);
|
This function returns a list of hostnames that may be considered peers of the current host. Peers are defined according to a list of hosts, provided as a file in the first argument. This file should contain a list (one per line), possible with comments, of fully qualified host names. Cfengine breaks up this list into non-overlapping groups of up to groupsize, each of which has a leader which is the first host in the group.
The current host should belong to this file if it is expected to interact with the others. The function returns nothing if the host does not belong to the list.
ARGUMENTS:
Example file:
one
two
three # this is a comment
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
eleven
twelve
etc
Synopsis: peerleader(3 args) returns type string
Get the assigned peer-leader of 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:
linux::
"mypeer $(mygroup)";
"myleader $(myleader)";
"another leader $(all_leaders)";
}
Notes:
(string) peerleader(file of hosts,comment pattern,group size);
|
This function returns the name of a ost that may be considered the leader of a group of peers of the current host. Peers are defined according to a list of hosts, provided as a file in the first argument. This file should contain a list (one per line), possible with comments, of fully qualified host names. Cfengine breaks up this list into non-overlapping groups of up to groupsize, each of which has a leader which is the first host in the group.
The current host should belong to this file if it is expected to interact with the others. The function returns nothing if the host does not belong to the list.
ARGUMENTS:
Example file:
one
two
three # this is a comment
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
eleven
twelve
etc
Synopsis: peerleaders(3 args) returns type slist
Get a list of peer leaders from the named partitioning
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:
linux::
"mypeer $(mygroup)";
"myleader $(myleader)";
"another leader $(all_leaders)";
}
Notes:
(slist) peers(file of hosts,comment pattern,group size);
|
This function returns a list of hostnames that may be considered peer leaders in the partitioning scheme described in the file of hosts. Peers are defined according to a list of hosts, provided as a file in the first argument. This file should contain a list (one per line), possible with comments, of fully qualified host names. Cfengine breaks up this list into non-overlapping groups of up to groupsize, each of which has a leader which is the first host in the group.
The current host need not belong to this file.
ARGUMENTS:
Example file:
one
two
three # this is a comment
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
eleven
twelve
etc
Synopsis: randomint(2 args) returns type int
Generate a random integer between the given limits
Example:
vars: "ran" int => randomint(4,88);
Notes:
The limits must be integer values and the resulting numbers are based on the entropy of the md5 algorithm.
Synopsis: readfile(2 args) returns type string
Read max number of bytes from named file and assign to variable
Example:
vars:
"xxx"
string => readfile( "/home/mark/tmp/testfile" , "33" );
Notes:
The file (fragment) is read into a single scalar variable.
Synopsis: readintarray(6 args) returns type int
Read an array of integers from a file and assign the dimension to a variable
Example:
vars:
"dim_array"
int => readintarray("array_name","/tmp/array","#[^\n]*",":",10,4000);
Notes:
Reads a two dimensional array from a file. One dimension is separated by the character specified in the argument, the other by the the lines in the file. The first field of the lines names the first array argument.
1: 5:7:21:13
2:19:8:14:14
3:45:1:78:22
4:64:2:98:99
Results in
array_name[1][0] 1
array_name[1][1] 5
array_name[1][2] 7
array_name[1][3] 21
array_name[1][4] 13
array_name[2][0] 2
array_name[2][1] 19
array_name[2][2] 8
array_name[2][3] 14
array_name[2][4] 14
array_name[3][0] 3
array_name[3][1] 45
array_name[3][2] 1
array_name[3][3] 78
array_name[3][4] 22
array_name[4][0] 4
array_name[4][1] 64
array_name[4][2] 2
array_name[4][3] 98
array_name[4][4] 99
Synopsis: readintlist(5 args) returns type ilist
Read and assign a list variable from a file of separated ints
Example:
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "example" };
}
###########################################################
bundle agent example
{
vars:
"mylist" ilist => { readintlist("/tmp/listofint","#.*","[\n]",10,400) };
reports:
Yr2008::
"List entry: $(mylist)";
}
ARGUMENTS:
Notes:
Synopsis: readrealarray(6 args) returns type int
Read an array of real numbers from a file and assign the dimension to a variable
Example:
vars:
"dim_array"
int => readrealarray("array_name","/tmp/array","#[^\n]*",":",10,4000);
Notes:
See the notes for readintarray.
Synopsis: readreallist(5 args) returns type rlist
Read and assign a list variable from a file of separated real numbers
Example:
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "example" };
}
###########################################################
bundle agent example
{
vars:
"mylist" ilist => { readreallist("/tmp/listofreal","#.*","[\n]",10,400) };
reports:
Yr2008::
"List entry: $(mylist)";
}
ARGUMENTS:
Notes:
Synopsis: readstringarray(6 args) returns type int
Read an array of strings from a file and assign the dimension to a variable
Example:
vars:
"dim_array"
int => readstringarray("array_name","/tmp/array","#[^\n]*",":",10,4000);
Returns an integer number of keys in the array.
ARGUMENTS:
Notes:
Reads a two dimensional array from a file. One dimension is separated by the character specified in the argument, the other by the the lines in the file. The first field of the lines names the first array argument.
at:x:25:25:Batch jobs daemon:/var/spool/atjobs:/bin/bash
avahi:x:103:105:User for Avahi:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/bin/false
beagleindex:x:104:106:User for Beagle indexing:/var/cache/beagle:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/bin/bash
daemon:x:2:2:Daemon:/sbin:/bin/bash
Results in a systematically indexed map of the file. Some samples are show below to illustrate the pattern.
...
array_name[daemon][0] daemon
array_name[daemon][1] x
array_name[daemon][2] 2
array_name[daemon][3] 2
array_name[daemon][4] Daemon
array_name[daemon][5] /sbin
array_name[daemon][6] /bin/bash
...
array_name[at][3] 25
array_name[at][4] Batch jobs daemon
array_name[at][5] /var/spool/atjobs
array_name[at][6] /bin/bash
...
array_name[games][3] 100
array_name[games][4] Games account
array_name[games][5] /var/games
array_name[games][6] /bin/bash
...
Synopsis: readstringlist(5 args) returns type slist
Read and assign a list variable from a file of separated strings
Example:
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "example" };
}
###########################################################
bundle agent example
{
vars:
"mylist" ilist => { readstringlist("/tmp/listofint","#.*","[\n]",10,400) };
reports:
Yr2008::
"List entry: $(mylist)";
}
ARGUMENTS:
Notes:
The following example file would be split into a list of the first ten Green letters.
alpha
beta
gamma # This is a comment
delta
epsilon
zeta
eta
theta
iota
kappa
lambda
mu
nu
etc
Synopsis: readtcp(4 args) returns type string
Connect to tcp port, send string and assign result to variable
Example:
bundle agent example
{
vars:
"my80" string => readtcp("research.iu.hio.no","80","GET /index.php HTTP/1.1$(const.r)$(const.n)Host: research.iu.hio.no$(const.r)$(const.n)$(const.r)$(const.n)",20);
classes:
"server_ok" expression => regcmp(".*200 OK.*\n.*","$(my80)");
reports:
server_ok::
"Server is alive";
!server_ok::
"Server is not responding - got $(my80)";
}
Important note: not all Unix TCP read operations respond to signals for interruption so poorly formed requests can hang. Always test TCP connections fully before deploying. When matching multi-line responses, not that regular expressions do not cross newline boundaries.
Notes:
If the send string is empty, no data are sent or received from the socket. Then the function only tests whether the TCP port is alive and returns an empty variable.
Note that on some systems the timeout mechanism does not seem to successfully interrupt the waiting system calls so this might hang if you send a query string that is incorrect. This should not happen, but the cause has yet to be diagnosed.
Synopsis: regarray(2 args) returns type class
True if arg1 matches any item in the associative array with id=arg2
Example:
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "testbundle" };
}
###########################################
bundle agent testbundle
{
vars:
"myarray[0]" string => "bla1";
"myarray[1]" string => "bla2";
"myarray[3]" string => "bla";
"myarray" string => "345";
"not" string => "345";
classes:
"ok" expression => regarray("myarray","b.*2");
reports:
ok::
"Found in list";
!ok::
"Not found in list";
}
Notes:
Tests whether an associative array contains elements matching a certain regular expression. The result is a class.
ARGUMENTS:
Synopsis: regcmp(2 args) returns type class
True if arg2 is a regular expression matching arg1
Example:
bundle agent subtest(user)
{
classes:
"invalid" not => regcmp("[a-z][a-z][a-z][a-z]","$(user)");
reports:
!invalid::
"User name $(user) is valid at 4 letters";
invalid::
"User name $(user) is invalid";
}
Notes:
Compares a string to a regular expression.
ARGUMENTS:
If there are multiple-lines in the data, it is necessary to code these explicitely as regular expressions do not nomally match the end of line as a regular character. e.g.
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "example" };
}
bundle agent example
{
vars:
"x" string => "
NAME: apache2 - Apache 2.2 web server
CATEGORY: application
ARCH: all
VERSION: 2.2.3,REV=2006.09.01
BASEDIR: /
VENDOR: http://httpd.apache.org/ packaged for CSW by Cory Omand
PSTAMP: comand@thor-20060901022929
INSTDATE: Dec 14 2006 16:05
HOTLINE: http://www.blastwave.org/bugtrack/
EMAIL: comand@blastwave.org
STATUS: completely installed
";
classes:
"pkg_installed" expression => regcmp("(.*\n)*STATUS:\s+completely installed.*\n.*",$(x));
reports:
pkg_installed::
"yes";
}
Synopsis: registryvalue(2 args) returns type string
Returns a value for an MS-Win registry key,value pair
Example:
bundle agent reg
{
vars:
"value" string => registryvalue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cfengine AS\Cfengine","value3");
reports:
WinXP::
"Value extracted: $(value)";
}
Notes:
This function applies only to Windows based systems. it reads a data field for the value named in the second argument, which lies within the registry key given by the first argument.
Synopsis: regline(2 args) returns type class
True if arg2 is a regular expression matching a line in file arg1
Example:
bundle agent testbundle
{
files:
"/tmp/testfile" edit_line => test;
}
########################################################
bundle edit_line test
{
classes:
"ok" expression => regline(".*XYZ.*","$(edit.filename)");
reports:
ok::
"File $(edit.filename) has a line with \"XYZ\" in it";
}
Notes:
Note that the regular expression must match an entire line of the file in order to give a true result. This function is useful for editfiles applications, where one might want to set a class for detecting the presence of a string which does not exactly match one being inserted. e.g.
bundle edit_line upgrade_cfexecd
{
classes:
# Check there is not already a crontab line, not identical to
# the one proposed below...
"exec_fix" not => regline(".*cf-execd.*","$(edit.filename)");
insert_lines:
exec_fix::
"0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * * /var/cfengine/bin/cf-execd -F";
reports:
exec_fix::
"Added a 5 minute schedule to crontabs";
}
Synopsis: reglist(2 args) returns type class
True if arg2 matches any item in the list with id=arg1
Example:
vars:
"nameservers" slist => {
"128.39.89.10",
"128.39.74.16",
"192.168.1.103"
};
classes:
"am_name_server" expression => reglist("@(nameservers)","$(sys.ipv4[eth0])");
Notes:
Matches a list of test strings to a regular expression.
ARGUMENTS:
Synopsis: regldap(7 args) returns type class
True if arg6 is a regular expression matching a value item in an ldap search
Example:
classes:
"found" expression => regldap(
"ldap://ldap.example.org",
"dc=cfengine,dc=com",
"(sn=User)",
"uid",
"subtree",
"jon.*",
"none"
);
Notes:
(class) regldap(uri,dn,filter,name,scope,regex,security)
|
This function retrieves a single field from all matching LDAP records identified by the search parameters and compares it to a regular expression. If there is a match, true is returned else false.
ARGUMENTS:
"ldap://ldap.cfengine.com.no"
uid.
subtree
onelevel
base
none
ssl
sasl
Synopsis: remotescalar(3 args) returns type string
Read a scalar value from a remote cfengine server
Example:
vars:
"remote" string => remotescalar("test_scalar","127.0.0.1","yes");
Notes:
(string) remotescalar(resource handle,host/IP address,encrypt);
|
This function downloads a string from a remote server, using the promise handle as a variable identifier. Availability: Enterprise editions of Cfengine only.
ARGUMENTS:
true
yes
false
no
Synopsis: returnszero(2 args) returns type class
True if named shell command has exit status zero
Example:
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "example" };
}
###########################################################
bundle agent example
{
classes:
"my_result" expression => returnszero("/usr/local/bin/mycommand","noshell");
reports:
!my_result::
"Command failed";
}
Notes:
This is the complement of execresult, but it returns a class
result rather than the output of the command.
Synopsis: rrange(2 args) returns type rrange [real,real]
Define a range of real numbers for cfengine internal use
Example:
?
Notes:
This is not yet used.
Synopsis: selectservers(6 args) returns type int
Select tcp servers which respond correctly to a query and return their number, set array of names
Example:
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "test" };
}
###########################################################
bundle agent test
{
vars:
"hosts" slist => { "slogans.iu.hio.no", "eternity.iu.hio.no", "nexus.iu.hio.no" };
"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)";
"First server $(alive_servers[0]) fails over to $(alive_servers[1])";
}
Notes:
This function selects all the TCP ports that are active and functioning from an ordered list and builds an array of their names. This allows us to select a current list of failover alternatives that are pretested.
array_name[0],.. etc.
Synopsis: splayclass(2 args) returns type class
True if the first argument's time-slot has arrived, according to a policy in arg2
Example:
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "example" };
}
###########################################################
bundle agent example
{
classes:
"my_result" expression => splayclass("$(sys.host)$(sys.ipv4)","daily");
reports:
my_result::
"Load balanced class activated";
}
Notes:
The lvalue class evaluates to true if the system clock lies within a scheduled time-interval that maps to a hash of the first argument. Different strings will hash to different time intervals, and thus one can map tasks to time-intervals.
This function may be used to distribute a task in time over a day or an hourly period, depending on the policy in the second argument. This is useful for copying resources from a single server, e.g. software updates when simultaneous scheduling would lead to a bottleneck.
The function is similar to the splaytime feature in cf-execd, except that it allows you to base the decision on any string-criterion on a give host. The entropy (or string-variation) in the first argument determines how effectively cfengine will be able to distribute tasks. Cfengine instances with the same first argument will yield a true result at the same time. Thus tasks could be scheduled according to group names for predictability.
Synopsis: splitstring(3 args) returns type slist
Convert a string in arg1 into a list of max arg3 strings by splitting on a regular expression in arg2
Example:
bundle agent test
{
vars:
"split1" slist => splitstring("one:two:three",":","10");
"split2" slist => splitstring("alpha:xyz:beta","xyz","10");
reports:
linux::
"Found key $(split1)";
"Found key $(split2)";
}
Returns a list of strings from a string.
ARGUMENTS:
Notes:
If the maximum number is insufficient to accomodate all entries, the final entry will contain the rest of the string.
Synopsis: strcmp(2 args) returns type class
True if the two strings match exactly
Example:
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "example" };
}
###########################################################
bundle agent example
{
classes:
"same" expression => strcmp("test","test");
reports:
same::
"Strings are equal";
!same::
"Strings are not equal";
}
Notes:
Synopsis: usemodule(2 args) returns type class
Execute cfengine module script and set class if successful
Example:
body common control
{
any::
bundlesequence => {
test
};
}
###################################################################
bundle agent test
{
classes:
# returns $(user)
"done" expression => usemodule("getusers","");
commands:
"/bin/echo promiser text" args => "test $(user)";
}
Notes:
Modules must reside in WORKDIR/modules but no longer require a special naming convention.
ARGUMENTS:
Synopsis: userexists(1 args) returns type class
True if user name or numerical id exists on this host
Example:
body common control
{
bundlesequence => { "example" };
}
###########################################################
bundle agent example
{
classes:
"ok" expression => userexists("root");
reports:
ok::
"Root exists";
!ok::
"Root does not exist";
}
Notes:
Checks whether the user is in the password database for the current host. The argument must be a user name or user id.
const
Cfengine defines a number of variables for embedding unprintable values or values with special meanings in strings.
reports: some:: "The value of $(const.dollar)(const.dollar) is $(const.dollar)"; "But the value of \$(dollar) is \$(dollar)";
reports: "A newline with either $(const.endl) or with $(const.n) is ok";
reports: "A newline with either $(const.n) or with $(const.endl) is ok";
reports: "A carriage return character is $(const.r)";
sys
System variables are derived from cfengine's automated discovery of system values. They are provided as variables in order to make automatically adaptive rules for configuration, e.g.
files:
any::
"$(sys.resolv)"
create => "true",
edit_line => doresolv("@(this.list1)","@(this.list2)"),
edit_defaults => reconstruct;
The above rule requires no class specification because the variable itself is class-specific.
The variable gives the kernel's short architecture description.
# arch = x86_64
The date of the system in canonical form, i.e. in the form of a class.
# cdate = Sun_Dec__7_10_39_53_2008_
This variable contains the name of the hard-class category for this host, i.e. its top level operating system type classification.
# class = linux
The date of the system as a text string.
# date = Sun Dec 7 10:39:53 2008
The domain name as divined by cfengine. If the DNS is in use, it could
be possible to derive the domain name from its DNS regisration, but in
general there is no way to discover this value automatically. The
common control body permits the ultimate specification of this
value.
# domain = example.org
The fully qualified name of the host. In order to compute this value properly, the domain name must be defined.
# fqhost = host.example.org
The location of the system filesystem (mount) table.
# fstab = /etc/fstab
The name of the current host, according to the kernel. It is undefined whether this is qualified or unqualified with a domain name.
# host = myhost
The long architecture name for this system kernel. This name is sometimes quite unwieldy but can be useful for logging purposes.
# long_arch = linux_x86_64_2_6_22_19_0_1_default__1_SMP_2008_10_14_22_17_43__0200
The name of the system email spool directory.
# maildir = /var/spool/mail
The name of the operating system according to the kernel.
# os = linux
Another name for the operating system.
# ostype = linux_x86_64
The kernel release of the operating system.
# release = 2.6.22.19-0.1-default
The location of the system resolver file.
# resolv = /etc/resolv.conf
The unqualified name of the current host. See also sys.fqhost.
# uqhost = myhost
The location of the cfengine work directory and cache. For the system privileged user this is normally:
# workdir = /var/cfengine
For non-privileged users it is in the user's home directory:
# workdir = /home/user/.cfagent
mon
The variables discovered by cf-monitord are placed in this monitoring
context. Monitoring variables are expected to be ephemeral properties, rapidly changing.
In enterprise versions of cfengine, custom defined monitoring targets also become variables in this context, named by the handle of the promise that defined them.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Users logged in.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Users logged in.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Users logged in.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Privileged system processes.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Privileged system processes.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Privileged system processes.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Non-privileged process.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Non-privileged process.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Non-privileged process.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Free disk on / partition.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Free disk on / partition.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Free disk on / partition.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: % kernel load utilization.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: % kernel load utilization.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: % kernel load utilization.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name lookups (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name lookups (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name lookups (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name lookups (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name lookups (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name lookups (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name datagrams (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name datagrams (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name datagrams (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name datagrams (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name datagrams (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name datagrams (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name sessions (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name sessions (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name sessions (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name sessions (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name sessions (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: netbios name sessions (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: IRC connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: IRC connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: IRC connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: IRC connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: IRC connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: IRC connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: cfengine connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: cfengine connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: cfengine connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: cfengine connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: cfengine connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: cfengine connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: nfs connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: nfs connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: nfs connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: nfs connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: nfs connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: nfs connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: smtp connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: smtp connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: smtp connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: smtp connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: smtp connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: smtp connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: www connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: www connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: www connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: www connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: www connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: www connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ftp connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ftp connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ftp connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ftp connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ftp connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ftp connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ssh connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ssh connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ssh connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ssh connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ssh connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ssh connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: wwws connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: wwws connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: wwws connections (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: wwws connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: wwws connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: wwws connections (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ICMP packets (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ICMP packets (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ICMP packets (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ICMP packets (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ICMP packets (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: ICMP packets (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: UDP dgrams (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: UDP dgrams (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: UDP dgrams (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: UDP dgrams (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: UDP dgrams (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: UDP dgrams (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: DNS requests (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: DNS requests (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: DNS requests (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: DNS requests (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: DNS requests (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: DNS requests (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP sessions (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP sessions (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP sessions (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP sessions (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP sessions (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP sessions (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP acks (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP acks (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP acks (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP acks (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP acks (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP acks (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP finish (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP finish (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP finish (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP finish (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP finish (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP finish (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP misc (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP misc (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP misc (in).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP misc (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP misc (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: TCP misc (out).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Webserver hits.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Webserver hits.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Webserver hits.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Webserver errors.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Webserver errors.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: Webserver errors.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: New log entries (Syslog).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: New log entries (Syslog).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: New log entries (Syslog).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: New log entries (messages).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: New log entries (messages).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: New log entries (messages).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 0.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 0.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 0.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 1.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 1.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 1.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 2.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 2.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 2.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 3.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 3.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: CPU Temperature 3.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization (all).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization (all).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization (all).
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 0.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 0.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 0.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 1.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 1.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 1.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 2.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 2.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 2.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 3.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 3.
Observational measure collected every 2.5 minutes from cf-monitord, description: %CPU utilization 3.
Cfengine writes numerous logs and records to its private workspace, referred to as WORKDIR. This chapter makes some brief notes about these files. Cfengine approaches monitoring and reporting from the viewpoint of scalability so there is no default centralizatio of reporting information, as this is untenable for more than a few hundred hosts. Instead, in the classic cfengine way, every host is reponsible for its own data. Solutions for centralization and netwide reporting will be given elsewhere.
The filenames referred to in this section are all relative to the cfengine work directory WORKDIR.
The embedded databases can be viewed and printed using the reporting
tool cf-report.
cf-agent.
Most promises take an immeasurablely short time to check, but longer
tasks such as command execution and file copying are measured by default.
Other checks can be instrumented by setting a measurement_class
in the action body of a promise.
cf-monitord.
The outputs directory contains a time-stamped list of outputs
generated by cf-agent. These are collected by cf-execd
and are often E-mailed as reports. However, not all hosts have an
E-mail capability or are online, so the reports are kept here. Reports
are not tidied automatically, so you should delete these files after a
time to avoid a build up.
The cfengine components keep their current process identifier number in `pid files' in the work directory: e.g.
cf-execd.pid cf-serverd.pid
Most other state data refer to the running condition of the host and
are generated by cf-monitord (cfenvd in earlier versions
of cfengine).
cf-agent in reports with showstate.
Table of Contents
common control promises
agent control promises
abortclasses
abortbundleclasses
addclasses
agentaccess
agentfacility
auditing
binarypaddingchar
bindtointerface
hashupdates
childlibpath
defaultcopytype
dryrun
editbinaryfilesize
editfilesize
environment
exclamation
expireafter
files_single_copy
files_auto_define
fullencryption
hostnamekeys
ifelapsed
inform
lastseen
intermittency
max_children
maxconnections
mountfilesystems
nonalphanumfiles
repchar
default_repository
secureinput
sensiblecount
sensiblesize
skipidentify
suspiciousnames
syslog
timezone
default_timeout
verbose
server control promises
cfruncommand
maxconnections
denybadclocks
allowconnects
denyconnects
allowallconnects
trustkeysfrom
allowusers
dynamicaddresses
skipverify
logallconnections
logencryptedtransfers
hostnamekeys
auditing
bindtointerface
serverfacility
port
monitor control promises
runagent control promises
executor control promises
knowledge control promises
id_prefix
build_directory
sql_type
sql_database
sql_owner
sql_passwd
sql_server
sql_connection_db
query_output
query_engine
style_sheet
html_banner
html_footer
graph_output
graph_directory
generate_manual
manual_source_directory
reporter control promises
common
agent
commands promises in ‘agent’
databases promises in ‘agent’
files promises in ‘agent’
acl (compound body)
changes (compound body)
copy_from (compound body)
create
delete (compound body)
depth_search (compound body)
edit_line
edit_xml
edit_defaults (compound body)
file_select (compound body)
link_from (compound body)
move_obstructions
pathtype
perms (compound body)
rename (compound body)
repository
touch
transformer
delete_lines promises in ‘edit_line’
insert_lines promises in ‘edit_line’
field_edits promises in ‘edit_line’
replace_patterns promises in ‘edit_line’
interfaces promises in ‘agent’
methods promises in ‘agent’
packages promises in ‘agent’
processes promises in ‘agent’
storage promises in ‘agent’
server
knowledge
monitor
const
sys
mon