[chef] Re: Re: Re: Re: Using variables to define attributes?

[Noah Kantrowitz < >]

If var == 'myhappyhost', those two are equivalent. Most likely some 
intermediary value is not what you expect. Add some logging to your recipe 
code:

var = node['hostname']
Chef::Log.info("var = #{var.inspect}")
node['ec2']['instances'][var]....

Don't forget to add `-l info` to the client command line too so it will 
display the logging output.

--Noah


On Jul 6, 2015, at 5:19 PM, Dan-Joe Lopez 
<
 >
 wrote:

> Thanks for the quick reply Noah.  Unfortunately I don’t have a solid answer 
> to your question.  I am working within an infrastructure that I did not 
> create.  I am not sure what information that I can share with you beyond 
> the below that you might find helpful.
> 
> As far as access to other instances information; we have collections of 
> instances organized into projects.  Each project contains a bunch of 
> attributes from all of its instances, so that any instance can see them.
> 
> As far as the data not being stored correctly, would that still be a 
> concern, given that manually calling the attribute works as expected when 
> call like this:
> node[‘ec2’][‘instances’][‘myhappyhost’][‘ip’]
> but fails when using the a var in place of the actual hostname:
> node[‘ec2’][‘instances’][var][‘ip’]
> ?
> 
> Thanks,
> Dan-Joe Lopez
> Sent from Windows Mail
> 
> From: Noah Kantrowitz
> Sent: ‎Monday‎, ‎July‎ ‎6‎, ‎2015 ‎5‎:‎03‎ ‎PM
> To: 
> 
 
> 
> 
> On Jul 6, 2015, at 4:53 PM, Dan-Joe Lopez 
> <
 >
>  wrote:
> 
> > OHAI Chefs!
> > 
> > I don’t know if this is even possible, but I am starting to feel like it 
> > is not ☹ Also, I am pretty green, so my advanced apologies if this is a 
> > silly question.
> > 
> > I would like to call a specific attribute by using a variable, or another 
> > attribute.  I cannot find any documentation on the subject, and every 
> > method that I have tried has resulted in an error.
> > 
> > So, I can call node[‘hostname’] and get the hostname; not a problem.
> > But then let’s say I want to write something that calls an attribute in 
> > which the host name is one of the path components… e.g.
> > node[‘ec2’][‘instances’][HOSTNAME][‘ip’]…
> > 
> > if I manually type in the host name, no problem:
> > node[‘ec2’][‘instances’][‘myhappyhost’][‘ip’]
> > BOOM: 12.34.56.78
> > 
> > but when I try any variation of:
> > node[‘ec2’][‘instances’][node[‘hostname’]][‘ip’]
> > or
> > var = node[‘hostname’]
> > node[‘ec2’][‘instances’][var][‘ip’]
> > node[‘ec2’][‘instances’][“var”][‘ip’]
> > node[‘ec2’][‘instances’][‘var’][‘ip’]
> > node[‘ec2’][‘instances’].var[‘ip’]
> > etc…
> > 
> > nothing but errors ☹
> > 
> > Am I missing a permutation of syntax here? Is there documentation that 
> > would have given me the answer? Is this even possible?
> > 
> > Your suggestions and help are appreciated!
> 
> 
> node['ec2']['instances'][var] is correct, however chances are you are not 
> storing things correctly. How are you populating that 
> node['ec2']['instances'] hash? Nodes cannot see the node attributes of 
> other nodes by default, you need to use the search API or something else to 
> get that data.
> 
> --Noah

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