default.rb

# site-cookbooks/awssecrets/attrbutes/default.rb
# Trying to provide a common recipe and error checking 
# to make sure the AWS secrets are there.

if not self.key? :awssecrets or not self[:awssecrets].key? :access_key or not self[:awssecrets].key? :secret_key
  raise <<-EOF
  Please set the awssecrets[:accesskey] and awssecrets[:secretkey] attributes
  EOF
end

master.json

{
  "json_class": "Chef::Role",
  "chef_type": "role",
  "description": "PoolParty cloud",
  "default_attributes": {
    "bootstrap": {
      "chef": {
        "server_fqdn": "ec2-79-125-22-53.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com"
      }
    },
    "awssecrets": {
      "secret_key": "xxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "access_key": "xxxxxxxxxxxx"
    }
  },
  "name": "master",
  "recipes": [
    "rubygems_update",
    "awssecrets",
    "bootstrap08::server"
  ],
  "override_attributes": {

  }