[chef] detect if a service is running?

[James Harrison < >]

Hi chefs,

 

I’m pretty new to chef, and feel like I’m missing something obvious. Any advice would be appreciated. I’m trying to cover two scenarios with one recipe, in a Windows environment. What I’m trying to do is:

 

-          Scenario 1: install a package

-          Scenario 2: if the package is already installed, stop a service and then reinstall the package.

 

The recipe, as currently written, goes through a series of steps involving downloading the installer, always attempting to stop the service, then running the installer if the package is not already installed, then starting the service.

 

The problem I’m facing is in scenario 1. If I attempt to stop the service, but the service is not installed, then I receive an exception and execution of the recipe halts.

 

Am I trying to do something that is better covered by two recipes? Or is there some easy way to check if a service is installed?

 

Thanks

 

James