[chef] Using Python to talk to the Chef server from Windows PE

["Wright, Jordan M." < >]

I have Python Windows install scripts that run in Windows PE. During a re-install (with the same machine name) the chef-client will fail since the client cert already exists. I am attempting to delete the client from the chef server during a re-install in Window PE.

 

Is there example code for making an API call to the Chef Server in Python 3.x from Window PE 3.0?

 

I found pychef (https://github.com/Scalr/pychef) that will delete the client key. The problem is that it required OpenSSL which in turn requires Visual C++ 2008 Redistributables (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29). I have been unsuccessful in getting the Visual C++ 2008 Redistributables loaded in Windows PE. I have tried just to copy the DLLs but that throws the following error.

 

    The application failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is

    incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line

    sxstrace.exe tool for more detail

 

Is there a way to get the Visual C++ 2008 Redistributables into Windows PE?

 

Alternatively, I found a RSA library (http://stuvel.eu/rsa) that is pure python. I made an attempt to use that library instead of OpenSSL by replacing the Key class.

 

import rsa

 

class Key(object):

    def __init__(self, key):

        if isinstance(key, str):

            if key.startswith('-----'):

                # PEM formatted text

                key_data = key

            else:

                key_data = open(key, 'rb').read()

        else:

            key_data = key.read()

 

        self.private_key = rsa.PrivateKey.load_pkcs1(key_data)

 

    def private_encrypt(self, data):

        return rsa.encrypt(data.encode('utf-8'), self.private_key)

 

The code runs but I get back HTTP Error 401: Unauthorized.

 

    Invalid signature for user or client 'testcert'

 

I don't know too much about encryption so I assume I am just using the library wrong or need to change some setting. Will the pure python library work for talking to the Chef server? If so, what is the proper way to use it?

 

Thanks,

Jordan Wright