[chef] REST authentication

[Nick < >]

Hi Chef folks-

I'm very new to Chef.  I'm trying to update the nodes on my chef server using 
Chef::REST, and I'm having trouble getting authenticated.  

When I run this snippet:

#### start snippet ####
require 'chef'
require 'chef/rest'

user = "nick"
pass = "whatever"
chefServer = "https://my-chef-server";
validationToken = "something"

r = Chef::REST.new(chefServer)
r.register(user,pass,validationToken)

r = Chef::REST.new(chefServer)
r.authenticate(user, pass)
#### end snippet ####

I get this output:

#### start output ####
[Sun, 30 Aug 2009 05:02:09 +0000] DEBUG: Registering nick for an openid
[Sun, 30 Aug 2009 05:02:09 +0000] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via GET to 
/registrations/nick
[Sun, 30 Aug 2009 05:02:09 +0000] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via POST to 
/registrations
[Sun, 30 Aug 2009 05:02:09 +0000] DEBUG: Authenticating nick via openid
[Sun, 30 Aug 2009 05:02:09 +0000] DEBUG: Sending HTTP Request via POST to 
/openid/consumer/start
/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/net/http.rb:2097:in `error!': 400 "Bad Request" 
(Net::HTTPServerException)
        from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-0.7.8/lib/chef/rest.rb:233:in 
`run_request'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-0.7.8/lib/chef/rest.rb:95:in 
`post_rest'
        from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-0.7.8/lib/chef/rest.rb:68:in 
`authenticate'
        from go.rb:13
#### end output ####

Also, I noticed this in the Apache error.log:

#### start error.log ####
 Params: {"submit"=>"Verify", "action"=>"start", 
"controller"=>"chef_server_slice/openid_consumer", 
"openid_identifier"=>"http://localhost:4001/openid/server/node/nick"}
 ~ Discovery failed for http://localhost:4001/openid/server/node/nick: Failed ;
to fetch identity URL http://localhost:4001/openid/server/node/nick : Error ;
fetching http://localhost:4001/openid/server/node/nick: Connection refused - ;
connect(2) - (Merb::ControllerExceptions::BadRequest)
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/chef-server-slice-0.7.8/app/controllers/openid_consumer.rb:41:in
 `start'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/controller/abstract_controller.rb:315:in
 `send'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/merb-core-1.0.12/lib/merb-core/controller/abstract_controller.rb:315:in
 `_call_action'
[snip...]
#### end error.log  ####

It looks like the registration part is working.  In the web UI I can see the 
"nick" Registration is validated.

I have chef-clients on other machines that are successfully authenticating 
and running recipes just fine.

Is there something that I am missing about using Chef::REST?  Is there a 
better library I should try using for RESTful Node management?

Thanks.

-Nick