knife-bootrap(1) -- Install Chef Client on a remote host
========================================

## SYNOPSIS

__knife__ __bootstrap__ _(options)_

  * `-i`, `--identity-file IDENTITY_FILE`:
    The SSH identity file used for authentication
  * `-N`, `--node-name NAME`:
    The Chef node name for your new node
  * `-P`, `--ssh-password PASSWORD`:
    The ssh password
  * `-x`, `--ssh-user USERNAME`:
    The ssh username
  * `--prerelease`:
    Install pre-release Chef gems
  * `-r`, `--run-list RUN_LIST`:
    Comma separated list of roles/recipes to apply
  * `-P`, `--ssh-password PASSWORD`:
    The ssh password
  * `-x`, `--ssh-user USERNAME`:
    The ssh username
  * `--template-file TEMPLATE`:
    Full path to location of template to use
  * `--sudo`:
    Execute the bootstrap via sudo
  * `-d`, `--distro DISTRO`:
    Bootstrap a distro using a template

Performs a Chef Bootstrap on the target node. The goal of the bootstrap
is to get Chef installed on the target system so it can run Chef Client
with a Chef Server. The main assumption is a baseline OS installation
exists. This sub-command is used internally by some cloud computing
server create commands and the others will be migrated in a future
version of Chef.

The bootstrap sub-command supports supplying a template to perform the
bootstrap steps. If the distro is not specified (via `-d` or `--distro`
option), an Ubuntu 10.04 host bootstrapped with RubyGems is assumed. The
__DISTRO__ value corresponds to the base filename of the template, in
other words `DISTRO`.erb. A template file can be specified with the
`--template-file` option in which case the __DISTRO__ is not used. The
sub-command looks in the following locations for the template to use:

* `bootstrap` directory in the installed Chef Knife library.
* `bootstrap` directory in the `$PWD/.chef`.
* `bootstrap` directory in the users `$HOME/.chef`.

The default bootstrap templates are scripts that get copied to the target node (FQDN). As of Chef 0.9.8, the following distros are supported:

* centos5-gems
* fedora13-gems
* ubuntu10.04-gems
* ubuntu10.04-apt

The gems installations will use RubyGems 1.3.6 and Chef installed as a gem. The apt installation will use the Opscode APT repository. The RubyGems installation requires installing gems with native extensions, so development related packages (ruby-dev, build-essential) are installed. These are not installed with the apt installation, as native extensions are already compiled in the required packages.

In addition to handling the software installation, these bootstrap templates do the following:

  - Write the validation.pem per the local knife configuration.
  - Write a default config file for Chef (`/etc/chef/client.rb`) using values from the `knife.rb`.
  - Create a JSON attributes file containing the specified run list and run Chef.

In the case of the RubyGems, the `client.rb` will be written from scratch with a minimal set of values; see __EXAMPLES__. In the case of APT Package installation, `client.rb` will have the `validation_client_name` appended if it is not set to `chef-validator` (default config value), and the `node_name` will be added if `chef_node_name` option is specified.

When this is complete, the bootstrapped node will have:

  - Latest Chef version installed from RubyGems or APT Packages from Opscode. This may be a later version than the local system.
  - Be validated with the configured Chef Server.
  - Have run Chef with its default run list if one is specfied.

Additional custom bootstrap templates can be created and stored in `.chef/bootstrap/DISTRO.erb`, replacing __DISTRO__ with the value passed with the `-d` or `--distro` option. See __EXAMPLES__ for more information.


## SEE ALSO
   __knife-ssh__(1)

## AUTHOR
   Chef was written by Adam Jacob <adam@opscode.com> with many contributions from the community.

## DOCUMENTATION
   This manual page was written by Joshua Timberman <joshua@opscode.com>.
   Permission is granted to copy, distribute and / or modify this document under the terms of the Apache 2.0 License.


## CHEF
   Knife is distributed with Chef. <http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Home>