msu_package resource¶

Use the msu_package resource to install Microsoft Update(MSU) packages on Microsoft Windows machines.

New in Chef Client 12.17.

Syntax¶

The msu_package resource has the following syntax:

msu_package 'name' do
  package_name               String
  source                     String
  action                     Symbol
end

where:

msu_package is the resource.
name is the name given to the resource block.
source is the local path or URL for the MSU package.

The full syntax for all of the properties that are available to the msu_package resource is:

msu_package 'name' do
   source                    String
   checksum                  String
   action                    Symbol
end

Actions¶

The msu_package resource has the following actions:

:install: Installs the MSU package from either a local file path or URL.
:remove: Uninstalls the MSU package from its location on disk.
:nothing: This resource block does not act unless notified by another resource to take action. Once notified, this resource block either runs immediately or is queued up to run at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.

Properties¶

The msu_package resource has the following properties:

checksum

Ruby Type: String

SHA-256 digest used to verify the checksum of the downloaded MSU package.

package_name

Ruby Type: String, Array

An optional property to set the package name if it differs from the resource block’s name.

source

Ruby Type: String

The local file path or URL for the MSU package.

Common Resource Functionality¶

Chef resources include common properties, notifications, and resource guards.

Common Properties¶

The following properties are common to every resource:

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason.

retries

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 0

The number of attempts to catch exceptions and retry the resource.

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2

The retry delay (in seconds).

sensitive

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Ensure that sensitive resource data is not logged by Chef Infra Client.

Notifications¶

notifies

Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may notify another resource to take action when its state changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action that resource should take, and then the :timer for that action. A resource may notify more than one resource; use a notifies statement for each resource to be notified.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra Client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before: Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.
:delayed: Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.
:immediate, :immediately: Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for notifies is:

notifies :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

subscribes: Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may listen to another resource, and then take action if the state of the resource being listened to changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action to be taken, and then the :timer for that action.

Note that subscribes does not apply the specified action to the resource that it listens to - for example:

file '/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt' do
  mode '0600'
  owner 'root'
end

service 'nginx' do
  subscribes :reload, 'file[/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt]', :immediately
end

In this case the subscribes property reloads the nginx service whenever its certificate file, located under /etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt, is updated. subscribes does not make any changes to the certificate file itself, it merely listens for a change to the file, and executes the :reload action for its resource (in this example nginx) when a change is detected.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra Client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before: Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.
:delayed: Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.
:immediate, :immediately: Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for subscribes is:

subscribes :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

Guards¶

A guard property can be used to evaluate the state of a node during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run. Based on the results of this evaluation, a guard property is then used to tell Chef Infra Client if it should continue executing a resource. A guard property accepts either a string value or a Ruby block value:

A string is executed as a shell command. If the command returns 0, the guard is applied. If the command returns any other value, then the guard property is not applied. String guards in a powershell_script run Windows PowerShell commands and may return true in addition to 0.
A block is executed as Ruby code that must return either true or false. If the block returns true, the guard property is applied. If the block returns false, the guard property is not applied.

A guard property is useful for ensuring that a resource is idempotent by allowing that resource to test for the desired state as it is being executed, and then if the desired state is present, for Chef Infra Client to do nothing.

Properties

The following properties can be used to define a guard that is evaluated during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run:

not_if: Prevent a resource from executing when the condition returns true.
only_if: Allow a resource to execute only if the condition returns true.

Examples¶

Using local path in source

msu_package 'Install Windows 2012R2 Update KB2959977' do
  source 'C:\Users\xyz\AppData\Local\Temp\Windows8.1-KB2959977-x64.msu'
  action :install
end

msu_package 'Remove Windows 2012R2 Update KB2959977' do
  source 'C:\Users\xyz\AppData\Local\Temp\Windows8.1-KB2959977-x64.msu'
  action :remove
end

Using URL in source

msu_package 'Install Windows 2012R2 Update KB2959977' do
  source 'https://s3.amazonaws.com/my_bucket/Windows8.1-KB2959977-x64.msu'
  action :install
end

msu_package 'Remove Windows 2012R2 Update KB2959977' do
  source 'https://s3.amazonaws.com/my_bucket/Windows8.1-KB2959977-x64.msu'
  action :remove
end