cronchef-infrainspec

Chef - creating a cronjob and testing it with Inspec


I'm trying to set up a cronjob to run a command (in this example ls) once every day. For this I am using the cron resource.

The problem is that I don't know how to test it with Inspect. I tried using crontab but it's not working.

Here's the code:

// code
cron 'my-ls' do
  minute '1'
  hour '0'
  command 'ls'
end

// test
describe crontab.commands('ls') do
  its('minutes') { should cmp '1' }
  its('hours') { should cmp '0' }
end

It's failing saying that:

×  hours should cmp == "0"

     expected: "0"
          got: []

     (compared using `cmp` matcher)

     ×  minutes should cmp == "1"

     expected: "1"
          got: []

     (compared using `cmp` matcher)

PS: I also tried with cron_d using the cron cookbook


Solution

  • Here's the simplest way I could get these tests working:

    Step 1: Create a text file named cronls.txt with this data:

    1 0 * * * ls -al
    

    Step 2: Turn it into a cron job with this command:

    crontab -a cronls.txt
    

    Step 3: In your Chef cookbook, add these controls to your default_test.rb:

    control 'cron-1' do
      describe crontab do
        its('commands') { should include 'ls -al' }
      end
    end
    
    control 'cron-2' do
      describe crontab.commands('ls -al') do
        its('minutes') { should cmp '1' }
        its('hours') { should cmp '0' }
      end
    end
    

    Step 4: Execute your InSpec tests:

    inspec exec test/integration/default/default_test.rb
    

    The results are what you would expect:

      ✔  cron-1: crontab for current user
         ✔  crontab for current user commands should include "ls -al"
      ✔  cron-2: crontab for current user with command == "ls -al"
         ✔  crontab for current user with command == "ls -al" minutes should cmp == "1"
         ✔  crontab for current user with command == "ls -al" hours should cmp == "0"
    

    This isn't the only way to do this (or even the best way), but it should get you going. For more options on the crontab resource, read the InSpec documentation:

    https://docs.chef.io/resource_cron.html