Provided by: chef_11.8.2-2_all 
NAME
knife-data-bag - The man page for the knife data bag subcommand.
A data bag is a global variable that is stored as JSON data and is accessible from a server. A data bag
is indexed for searching and can be loaded by a recipe or accessed during a search. The contents of a
data bag can vary, but they often include sensitive information (such as database passwords).
The contents of a data bag can be encrypted using shared secret encryption. This allows a data bag to
store confidential information (such as a database password) or to be managed in a source control system
(without plain-text data appearing in revision history).
The knife data bag subcommand is used to manage arbitrary stores of globally available JSON data.
This subcommand has the following syntax:
$ knife data bag [ARGUMENT] (options)
COMMON OPTIONS
The following options can be run with all Knife sub-commands and plug-ins:
-c CONFIG, --config CONFIG
The configuration file to use.
--color
Indicates that colored output will be used.
-d, --disable-editing
Indicates that $EDITOR will not be opened; data will be accepted as-is.
--defaults
Indicates that Knife will use the default value, instead of asking a user to provide one.
-e EDITOR, --editor EDITOR
The $EDITOR that is used for all interactive commands.
-E ENVIRONMENT, --environment ENVIRONMENT
The name of the environment. When this option is added to a command, the command will run only
against the named environment.
-f FILE_NAME, --file FILE_NAME
Indicates that the private key will be saved to a specified file name.
-F FORMAT, --format FORMAT
The output format: summary (default), text, json, yaml, and pp.
-h, --help
Shows help for the command.
-k KEY, --key KEY
The private key that Knife will use to sign requests made by the API client to the server.
--no-color
Indicates that color will not be used in the output.
-p PASSWORD, --password PASSWORD
The user password.
--print-after
Indicates that data will be shown after a destructive operation.
-s URL, --server-url URL
The URL for the server.
-u USER, --user USER
The user name used by Knife to sign requests made by the API client to the server. Authentication
will fail if the user name does not match the private key.
-v, --version
The version of the chef-client.
-V, --verbose
Set for more verbose outputs. Use -VV for maximum verbosity.
-y, --yes
Indicates that the response to all confirmation prompts will be "Yes" (and that Knife will not ask
for confirmation).
CREATE
The create argument is used to add a data bag to the server.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife data bag create DATA_BAG_NAME [DATA_BAG_ITEM] (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
DATA_BAG_ITEM
The name of a specific item within a data bag.
--secret SECRET
The encryption key that is used for values contained within a data bag.
--secret-file FILE
The path to the file that contains the encryption key.
Note For encrypted data bag items, use either --secret or --secret-file, not both.
Examples
To create a data bag named "admins", enter:
$ knife data bag create admins
to return:
Created data_bag[admins]
DELETE
The delete argument is used to delete a data bag or a data bag item from a server.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife data bag delete DATA_BAG_NAME [DATA_BAG_ITEM] (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
DATA_BAG_ITEM
The name of a specific item within a data bag.
Examples
To a data bag named "admins", enter:
$ knife data bag delete admins
To delete an item named "charlie", enter:
$ knife data bag delete admins charlie
Type Y to confirm a deletion.
EDIT
The edit argument is used to edit the data contained in a data bag. If encryption is being used, the data
bag will be decrypted, the data will be made available in the $EDITOR, and then encrypted again before
saving it to the server.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife data bag edit DATA_BAG_NAME [DATA_BAG_ITEM] (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
DATA_BAG_ITEM
The name of a specific item within a data bag.
--secret SECRET
The encryption key that is used for values contained within a data bag.
--secret-file FILE
The path to the file that contains the encryption key.
Note For encrypted data bag items, use either --secret or --secret-file, not both.
Examples
To edit the contents of a data bag, enter:
$ knife data bag edit admins
To edit an item named "charlie" that is contained in a data bag named "admins", enter:
$ knife data bag edit admins charlie
to open the $EDITOR. Once opened, you can update the data before saving it to the server. For example, by
changing:
{
"id": "charlie"
}
to:
{
"id": "charlie",
"uid": 1005,
"gid":"ops",
"shell":"/bin/zsh",
"comment":"Crazy Charlie"
}
FROM FILE
The from file argument is used to create a data bag on the server from a file. The path to the data bag
file must specify one of the following:
• the name of a data bag
• a relative or absolute path to a file
If the name of a data bag is specified, Knife will search for the data bag in ./data_bags/bag_name/file.
Once opened, the JSON file should be a hash that contains at least an ID key which represents the name of
the data bag item.
Warning
A chef-client must be version 11.6 (or higher) when using the knife data bag from file argument
with the Enterprise Chef or Open Source Chef version 11 servers.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife data bag from file DATA_BAG_NAME_or_PATH
Options
This argument has the following options:
-a, --all
Indicates that all data bags found at the specified path will be uploaded.
--secret SECRET
The encryption key that is used for values contained within a data bag.
--secret-file FILE
The path to the file that contains the encryption key.
Note For encrypted data bag items, use either --secret or --secret-file, not both.
Examples
To create a data bag on the server from a file:
$ knife data bag from file "path to JSON file"
To create a data bag named "devops_data" that contains encrypted data, enter:
$ knife data bag from file devops_data --secret-file "path to decryption file"
LIST
The list argument is used to view a list of data bags that are currently available on the server.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife data bag list
Options
This argument has the following options:
-w, --with-uri
Indicates that the corresponding URIs will be shown.
Examples
For example, to view a list of data bags on the server, enter:
$ knife data bag list
SHOW
The show argument is used to view the contents of a data bag.
Syntax
This argument has the following syntax:
$ knife data bag show DATA_BAG_NAME (options)
Options
This argument has the following options:
DATA_BAG_ITEM
The name of a specific item within a data bag.
--secret SECRET
The encryption key that is used for values contained within a data bag.
--secret-file FILE
The path to the file that contains the encryption key.
Note For encrypted data bag items, use either --secret or --secret-file, not both.
Examples
To show the contents of a data bag, enter:
$ knife data bag show admins
to return:
charlie
To show the contents of a specific item within data bag, enter:
$ knife data bag show admins charlie
to return:
comment: Crazy Charlie
gid: ops
id: charlie
shell: /bin/zsh
uid: 1005
To show the contents of a data bag named "passwords" with an item that contains encrypted data named
"mysql", enter:
$ knife data bag show passwords mysql
to return:
## sample:
{
"id": "mysql",
"pass": "trywgFA6R70NO28PNhMpGhEvKBZuxouemnbnAUQsUyo=\n",
"user": "e/p+8WJYVHY9fHcEgAAReg==\n"
}
To show the decrypted contents of the same data bag, enter:
$ knife data bag show --secret-file /path/to/decryption/file passwords mysql
to return:
## sample:
{
"id": "mysql",
"pass": "thesecret123",
"user": "fred"
}
To view information in JSON format, use the -F common option as part of the command like this:
$ knife data bag show admins -F json
Other formats available include text, yaml, and pp.
AUTHOR
Opscode
Chef 11.8.0 KNIFE-DATA-BAG(1)