Weird weird Chef behaviour

bootstrap run

162.13.1.27 Recipe: odi-nginx::default
162.13.1.27
162.13.1.27   * directory[/etc/nginx/sites-available] action create
162.13.1.27  (up to date)
162.13.1.27
162.13.1.27   * directory[/etc/nginx/sites-enabled] action create
162.13.1.27  (up to date)
162.13.1.27
162.13.1.27   * template[/etc/nginx/sites-available/members.theodi.org] action create
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162.13.1.27 ================================================================================
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162.13.1.27 Error executing action `create` on resource 'template[/etc/nginx/sites-available/members.theodi.org]'
162.13.1.27
162.13.1.27 ================================================================================
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162.13.1.27 Net::HTTPServerException
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162.13.1.27 ------------------------
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162.13.1.27 403 "Forbidden"
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162.13.1.27 Resource Declaration:
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162.13.1.27 ---------------------
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162.13.1.27 # In /var/chef/cache/cookbooks/odi-nginx/recipes/default.rb
162.13.1.27
162.13.1.27  41: ] do
162.13.1.27  42:   source "vhost.erb"
162.13.1.27  43:   variables(
162.13.1.27  44:       :fqdn         => node["project_fqdn"],
162.13.1.27  45:       :project_name => node["git_project"]
162.13.1.27  46:   )
162.13.1.27  47:   action :create
162.13.1.27  48: end
162.13.1.27  49:
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162.13.1.27 Compiled Resource:
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162.13.1.27 ------------------
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162.13.1.27 # Declared in /var/chef/cache/cookbooks/odi-nginx/recipes/default.rb:41:in `from_file'
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162.13.1.27 template("/etc/nginx/sites-available/members.theodi.org") do
162.13.1.27   provider Chef::Provider::Template
162.13.1.27   action [:create]
162.13.1.27   retries 0
162.13.1.27   retry_delay 2
162.13.1.27   path "/etc/nginx/sites-available/members.theodi.org"
162.13.1.27   backup 5
162.13.1.27   source "vhost.erb"
162.13.1.27   variables {:fqdn=>"members.theodi.org", :project_name=>"member-directory"}
162.13.1.27   cookbook_name "odi-nginx"
162.13.1.27   recipe_name "default"
162.13.1.27 end
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162.13.1.27 Recipe: chef-client::service
162.13.1.27
162.13.1.27   * service[chef-client] action restart
162.13.1.27
162.13.1.27     - restart service service[chef-client]
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162.13.1.27 Recipe: nginx::default
162.13.1.27
162.13.1.27   * service[nginx] action reload
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162.13.1.27     - reload service service[nginx]
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162.13.1.27 [2013-03-13T14:27:39+00:00] ERROR: Running exception handlers
162.13.1.27 [2013-03-13T14:27:39+00:00] FATAL: Saving node information to /var/chef/cache/failed-run-data.json
162.13.1.27 [2013-03-13T14:27:39+00:00] ERROR: Exception handlers complete
162.13.1.27 Chef Client failed. 75 resources updated
162.13.1.27
162.13.1.27 [2013-03-13T14:27:39+00:00] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /var/chef/cache/chef-stacktrace.out
162.13.1.27 [2013-03-13T14:27:39+00:00] FATAL: Net::HTTPServerException: template[/etc/nginx/sites-available/members.theodi.org] (odi-nginx::default line 41) had an error: Net::HTTPServerException: 403 "Forbidden"

Description

For one of my cookbooks, when I bootstrap a new node (on Rackspace, against my Chef 11 server), the templates do not make it to the node and the chef-client run craps out (see below). However if I then jump on the node and run chef-client by hand, the templates *do* make it and the run completes without a hitch.

Does this sound familiar to anybody? It feels like I must be doing something dumb...

It might be worth noting that this all works correctly on my cucumber-chef setup (which is Chef 10).

Yup, I found this gist while trying to tackle an identical problem. Did you ever get this fixed?

Just in case someone else stumbles in here, here's a potential solution:
from: http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-4253

create a file /etc/chef-server/chef-server.rb that contains "erchef['s3_url_ttl'] = 3600"
run chef-server-ctl reconfigure