[chef] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Getting "Access denied" when use mount in recipe and run chef-client remotely via winrm

[o haya < >]

Hi,

I might go back and try that (schtasks) again later.  I'd be happy if that 
worked, but if you recall from the Stackoverflow thread that you posted on 
(http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31058849/is-there-a-way-for-a-chef-recipe-to-continue-after-a-reboot-windows),
 I did try that, but had problems with getting it to work, and actually I 
never got it working, so ended up abandoning using that for the Sharepoint 
installation because it turned out I didn't need a mid-installation reboot.  
The Exchange installation, on the other hand, does require a mid-installation 
reboot, and because I wasn't able to make the schtasks approach work earlier, 
I went with the Chef service approach instead.  It would be good if I could 
get the schtasks approach working :(...

Later,
Jim


--------------------------------------------
On Thu, 7/2/15, Tensibai Zhaoying 
<
 >
 wrote:

 Subject: [chef] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Getting "Access denied" when use 
mount in recipe and run chef-client remotely via winrm
 To: 

 
 Date: Thursday, July 2, 2015, 5:35 PM
 
 Firing a scheduled task
 remotely is easy and get you rid of the whole credential
 replay needed from winrm. 
 
 This method works since winnt4 (at least) and
 has been used for decades to trigger db stop and then server
 Shutdown when there's a power outage and batteries
 lifetime is running low (usually this was part of the weekly
 reboot task under nt4 :p)
 
 This gives you the enforcement part on a
 regular basis + the ability to trigger a run on an event
 with a lot of way to trigger it (winrm may not be allowed to
 so this that's said, I'm unsure about the latest
 limitations ) 
 
 In brief,
 this could be a way to solve your problem on both sides
 (credentials of the process and on demand ability) 
 
 Le 2 juil. 2015 22:31, o haya 
<
 >
 a
 écrit :
 >
 > Steven
 and Tensibai (et al), 
 >
 > Thanks for the interesting comments and
 discussion. 
 >
 > With
 that, I think that my perspective is probably a little
 (maybe a lot) different, which probably explains the
 differences in opinion.  
 >
 > In our case, we are not looking to
 maintaining an environment or environments over time, but
 rather, our desire is to be able to deploy specified
 environments kind of "on demand", mostly one-time
 events.  That is why the winrm-type approach is/would be
 most attractive (and as I said, "natural") to us.
 
 >
 > Thanks again, 
 > Jim 
 >
 >
 >
 -------------------------------------------- 
 > On Thu, 7/2/15, Steven Murawski 
 > <
 >
 wrote: 
 >
 > Subject:
 [chef] Re: Re: Re: Re: Getting "Access denied"
 when use mount in recipe and run chef-client remotely via
 winrm 
 > To: 
 > 
 
 
 > Date: Thursday, July 2, 2015, 4:08 PM
 
 >
 > So, I wasn't
 referring to 
 > running part of the
 recipe as a scheduled task, but to 
 >
 making the full chef-client run the scheduled 
 > task. 
 >
 > > Understanding that this is
 generically a Windows 
 > problem, it
 still seems like both the scheduled task (if it 
 > worked for me) and the service approaches
 are kind of 
 > "un-natural"
 (read: kludgy) ways to do this, but 
 >
 that's just my opinion.  
 > >The
 
 > general use case for Chef Client is to
 run in the background 
 > on a schedule,
 validating the known good state of the system 
 > and picking up changes when necessary.
  This is usually 
 > accomplished as a
 service (or daemon) or via a scheduled 
 >
 task (or cron job).  On Windows, I find the task scheduler
 
 > the better option, as you have more
 flexibility in 
 > determining the
 conditions you can run the task in, it 
 >
 easily supports alternate credentials, can be run on demand
 
 > as well, and isn't treated as a
 service 
 > logon. 
 >
 There is an use 
 > case for invoking
 chef-client over winrm (or ssh) via some 
 > orchestration engine rather than running
 on a schedule, but 
 > that means
 you'll have to deal with the limitations of 
 > WinRM.  There are just too many
 "gotchas" in 
 > running in the
 WinRM context.  Many Win32 APIs can't be 
 > called from a non-interactive logon (which
 WinRM is treated 
 > as) and you have the
 credential delegation 
 > problem. 
 > As for 
 > setting up
 Chef to run as a service or scheduled task, the 
 > chef-client cookbook ( 
 > https://supermarket.chef.io/cookbooks/chef-client
 ) can help 
 > with that (though I
 don't think it wires up "on 
 >
 reboot"). 
 > Steven
 MurawskiCommunity Software Development Engineer @ 
 > ChefMicrosoft MVP - PowerShell 
 > http://stevenmurawski.com ;
 >
                                        
 On 7/2/2015 2:44:09 
 > PM, Tensibai
 Zhaoying 
<
 >
 
 > wrote:In my opinion, running chef (or
 any Configuration 
 > management system)
 on demand remotely is an anti-pattern. 
 >
 >
 >
 If you're describing a 
 > state, the
 targeted machine should launch the check by 
 > itself periodically and try to fix itself
 as much as it 
 > can. 
 >
 > It's harder to
 
 > compromise a network from a machine
 who will overwrite your 
 > exploits
 changes every 30 minutes and enforce you to restart 
 > your compromission from scratch over and
 over again. 
 >
 >
 That's just my opinion too 
 > :) 
 >
 > Le 2 juil. 2015
 21:29, 
 > o haya  a écrit : 
 > > 
 > > BTW, I
 should mention that I have a ticket 
 > on
 a slightly "larger" question and this came up 
 > right in the middle of that ticket, so
 I've conveyed 
 > info on what I di to
 the support person (Vikas).  I also 
 >
 was wondering out loud if maybe you guys might make 
 > something like a credential proxy or maybe
 add that 
 > capability to the existing
 Chef Windows service.  
 > > 
 > > Understanding that 
 > this is generically a Windows problem, it
 still seems like 
 > both the scheduled
 task (if it worked for me) and the 
 >
 service approaches are kind of "un-natural" (read:
 
 > kludgy) ways to do this, but
 that's just my opinion. 
 > > 
 > > 
 > > 
 > > 
 > > 
 > > 
 >
 -------------------------------------------- 
 > > On Thu, 7/2/15, o haya  wrote: 
 > > 
 > > Subject:
 Re: [chef] Re: Getting 
 > "Access
 denied" when use mount in recipe and run 
 > chef-client remotely via winrm 
 > > To: 
 > 
 
 
 > > Cc: 
 > 
 
 >  
 > > Date: Thursday, July 
 > 2, 2015, 3:24 PM 
 >
 > 
 > > 
 > Hi,
 
 > > 
 > > Thanks
 for 
 > the info.  I was just about to
 post 
 > > 
 > that
 I've had some success today, but doing something 
 >
 > > different...
 leveraging the Chef 
 > Windows service. 
 What I 
 > > did was set 
 > the user's credentials in place of
 whatever 
 > > was in that service (in
 my case the 
 > Windows domain 
 > > Administrator) and then 
 > let the service fire off my 
 > > 
 >
 recipe/cookbook.  I have to so some tweaking of the design
 
 >
 > > of my
 recipes to prevent them from 
 >
 re-running more than 
 > > once, but I
 was 
 > surprised that it works after
 that. 
 > > 
 > >
 I had seen mention of using 
 > > task
 scheduler/schtasks before, and I 
 >
 would've tried 
 > > that for this
 
 > situation, but when I was looking into
 how to 
 > > do processing across
 reboots, but even 
 > though I was able to
 
 > > get the task 
 > scheduling part done, the recipes appeared
 to 
 > > run into the same type of
 access denied 
 > problems.  I fought 
 > > with that for a 
 >
 couple of days, and finally gave up on it.  
 > > 
 > > 
 > > 
 > In particular,
 I was doing 
 > > a recipe 
 > for deploying Exchange, and it required
 installing 
 > > some prerequisites and
 then a reboot and 
 > then the actual 
 > > installation.  So 
 > back then, I would have the first part of
 
 > > the recipe create a scheduled
 task via 
 > schtasks, for the 2nd 
 > > part, but when 
 >
 the 2nd part, which was what actually ran the 
 > > setup.exe and psconfig.exe, ran, it
 kept 
 > throwing errors 
 > > indicating that 
 >
 something wasn't accessible. 
 > >
 
 > > So, at this point, the service
 
 > > approach is the only approach
 that works 
 > for me. 
 > > 
 > > Thanks 
 > again, 
 > > Jim 
 > > 
 > > P.S.  I
 
 > > kind of 
 >
 guessed that there wasn't something, but I 
 > > posted because the threads, etc I
 found on 
 > the credssp and 
 > > chef were a couple of 
 > years old, and was hoping that 
 > > 
 > there'd be
 something better by now :(... 
 > > 
 > > 
 > > 
 > > 
 >
 -------------------------------------------- 
 > > On Thu, 7/2/15, Steven Murawski  
 > > wrote: 
 > > 
 > >   Subject: [chef] Re: 
 > > Getting "Access denied"
 when use 
 > mount in recipe 
 > > and run chef-client 
 > remotely via winrm 
 >
 >   To: 
 > > 
 
 
 > >   Cc: "o haya"  
 > >   Date: Thursday, July 2, 2015, 3:02
 PM 
 >
 > >   
 > >   
 > >    
     
 > >       
 >                         
 > > 
 >    You are
 hitting one of the 
 > > 
 > > core challenges in dealing with
 Windows 
 > remote 
 >
 > management. 
 > >    The ruby
 WinRM gem, which we 
 > > use for
 knife-windows, 
 > >   doesn't
 support 
 > > CredSSP credential
 delegation (and there 
 >
 > > 
 > > are
 security 
 > concerns with that anyway).
  A better 
 > > 
 >
   workaround would be to create a scheduled task 
 > > that will run 
 >
 >   
 > Chef Client and trigger that
 
 > > from 
 > winrm
 (with schtasks 
 > >   /run).  This
 
 >
 > > gets around
 the logon type and 
 > credential 
 > > 
 > > 
 > delegation issues running in WinRM
 provide. 
 > > 
 >
 > The cause of the 
 > issue is that
 when you 
 > > 
 >
 > land in a remote shell hosted inside WinRM 
 > (either WinRS 
 > >
 or 
 > > 
 >  
 PowerShell Remoting), you're 
 > >
 
 > connecting to a service and 
 > >   that 
 > service
 
 > > does not have the right to 
 > pass on your 
 > >
 
 > > 
 > credentials
 to other services/computers.  So when you 
 > > try 
 > >   to
 mount the 
 > outside resource, it 
 > > attempts to 
 >
 connect as the 
 > >   computer's
 
 > > Network Service account.  The
 path around 
 >
 > >
 
 > > this is either 
 > Kerberos delegation (which has 
 > > 
 > requirements
 
 > >   on the client side and 
 > in 
 > > Active
 Directory) or CredSSP, 
 > >   which
 the 
 > > WinRM 
 >
 gem doesn't handle.  Task scheduler 
 > >   suffers no such problems (and is a
 
 > better way 
 > >
 to run Chef 
 > >   Client - and
 closer to how it 
 > > should run in a
 production 
 > >   context. 
 > >   Steve 
 >
 > >   Steven 
 > >
 
 > MurawskiCommunity Software Development
 Engineer @ 
 > >   ChefMicrosoft MVP -
 PowerShell 
 > >   http://stevenmurawski.com ;
 > >                        
     
 >     
 > >
         On 7/1/2015 9:54:21 
 >
 > >   PM, o haya 
 >
 > 
 >
 > >
 wrote:Hi, 
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   I have been implementing 
 > > some 
 > >  
 
 > recipes/cookbooks for deploying and
 
 > > 
 > configuring
 Sharepoint 
 > >   and Exchange 
 > onto 
 > > our
 Windows servers.  These 
 > servers would
 
 > > 
 > > be 
 > domain mmembers. 
 >
 >   
 > >   
 >
 >   
 > >   I was originally
 testing by 
 > > logging into 
 > >   one 
 > of the
 Windows server and 
 > > then running
 
 > "chef-client 
 > >   -o 
 > >
 myCookbook" and was finally able to 
 > get them working 
 >
 >   this past week. 
 >
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   Both
 sets 
 > > of recipes expect the
 respective 
 > > 
 >
 > installation files to 
 > be shared
 out from the domain 
 > >   
 > controller and the recipes do a 
 > > 
 >
 "mount" to 
 > >  
 "Z:" 
 > drive, 
 > > and then the recipes do 
 > "cd 
 > >  
 z:\" 
 > > and then execute the
 appropriate .exe 
 > inside a 
 > >   powershell_script 
 > resource. 
 > > 
 > > 
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   As I
 
 > > said, I got 
 >
 these recipes working this 
 > > 
 > > week, but in the real world, we would
 want 
 > to trigger the 
 > >   cookbook/recipe 
 > execution remotely using like 
 > > 
 > "knife 
 > >   winrm", so I 
 > started 
 > > testing
 the recipes using 
 > >   "knife
 
 > > 
 > winrm"
 this weekend, and, in both cases, I 
 >
 >   ran into similar problems with both 
 > sets of 
 > >
 recipes.  
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   The first 
 >
 problem was that 
 > > the 
 > >   "mount" would fail with
 
 > > "access denied", 
 > >   so I've 
 >
 > since 
 > tried (a) pre-creating the
 mapped drive 
 > >   outside of Chef
 and also (b) physically 
 >
 > > copying the entire 
 > >   directories of 
 > > 
 > installation
 software to the local C: drive 
 > >
 
 > > and running the 
 > installations off of the local files. 
 > > 
 >   
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   Unfortunately, neither (a) nor (b)
 
 > approach 
 > >  
 worked either.  These 
 > failures occur
 at 
 > > different points of 
 >
 > >   the
 installation, but 
 > > my impression
 is that all the failures 
 > >   are
 
 > > coming down 
 >
 to some kind of access denied or violation. 
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   So,
 I've 
 > spent most of this weekend
 
 > >   testing 
 >
 and researching, which lead me to find 
 >
 > 
 > some older 
 >
 >   threads and information 
 > on 
 > > things like credssp an 
 > >   "2-hop" 
 > > 
 > that seem to
 indicate that these problems 
 > > 
 > > have been around for 
 > awhile, so I was wondering if 
 > >   
 > there's
 some mechanism or configuration 
 > >
 that should fix 
 > >   
 > he problem nowadays? 
 >
 >   
 > >   
 >
 >   
 > >   Also, I should mention
 that I'm 
 > tried 
 > >   setting the WinRM CredSSP to 
 > "true" 
 >
 > on both the 
 > >   server side
 and on my client 
 > > (Chef
 workstation) side, but 
 > >   that
 
 > > hasn't 
 >
 made any difference. 
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   Can anyone 
 >
 > here 
 > tell me how I can get these
 
 > > 
 > >
 cookbooks/recipes to work using 
 >
 "knife winrm"? 
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   
 > >   Thanks, 
 > >
   
 > > 
 > > Jim
 
 > >   
 > >  
 
 > >   
 > >  
           
 >                
       
 > > 
 >
     
 > >   
 >
 >     
 >     
 >
 >                       
 >
           
 > > 
 >
 >
                                       
 
 >
 >
                                         
 
 >
                                        
 
 >