Setting up chef-client using userdata bootstrap scripts

example attribs file

{
  "run_list": [
    "recipe[chef-client::config]",
    "recipe[chef-client::service]",
    "recipe[chef-client::delete_validation]",
    "recipe[runit]",
    "role[locke-validation-app]"
  ],
  "chef_client": {
    "server_url": "https://api.opscode.com/organizations/mdsol",
    "validation_client_name": "mdsol-validator",
    "environment": "candidate"
  },
  "chef_packages": { "chef": {"version": "0.10.0" }}
}

userdata.sh

# Write chef-client config
echo "Writing client configuration..." >>$BOOTLOG
NODE_NAME=<%= [project_name, stage_name, role]*'.' %>.`curl -s http://169.254.169.254/1.0/meta-data/instance-id/`
ATTRIBUTES_FILE=/etc/chef/attributes.json
cat > /etc/chef/client.rb <<EOF
node_name              '$NODE_NAME'
log_level              :info
log_location           '/var/log/chef-client.log'
chef_server_url        '<%= chef_api_url %>'
validation_client_name '<%= chef_validator_name %>'
json_attribs           '$ATTRIBUTES_FILE'
environment             '<%=chef_environment_name %>'
EOF

# Set roles for first chef run
echo "Writing node runlist..." >>$BOOTLOG
cat > $ATTRIBUTES_FILE <<EOF

{
  "run_list": [
    "recipe[chef-client::config]",
    "recipe[chef-client::service]",
    "recipe[chef-client::delete_validation]",
    "recipe[runit]",
    "<%= chef_role_as_runlist %>"
  ],
  "chef_client": {
    "server_url": "<%= chef_api_url %>",
    "validation_client_name": "<%= chef_validator_name %>",
    "environment": "<%=chef_environment_name %>"
  },
  "chef_packages": { "chef": {"version": "${CHEF_VERSION}" }}
}
EOF