Repositories, Cookbooks, Recipes, and Scripts Changes

Repositories

With our old system, we followed a RepoPaths construct. ServerTemplates relied on connecting to RepoPaths and having those RepoPaths point to individual repositories that stored cookbooks:

Old Structure

We removed RepoPaths and now allow cookbooks and repositories to directly relate to your RightScale account. That way, cookbooks can work directly with ServerTemplates by being imported from your repositories without having to rely on RepoPaths:

New Structure

The "Repositories" menu option shows you a list of git repositories, subversion repositories, and compressed files connected to RightScale. This section, viewable under Design in the RightScale Dashboard, shows the repository name, the URL of the repository, the number of cookbooks fetched by RightScale, as well as other information. You can quickly add a new repository by pressing the Add Repository button. 

Note: RightScale now supports top-level cookbooks in repositories; leave the Cookbooks Paths field blank for top-level cookbooks.

Clicking on a repository shows all the properties and contents of a repository.

The Cookbooks tab of the repository allows you to see all cookbooks from the repository, the version number, and a description of the cookbooks. Similar to the Info tab, you can also perform a Refetch or Refetch and Import. Additionally, if you select any number of cookbooks, you can click the Actions drop-down and select Import. You will be taken to a more advanced selection of importing that allows you to see the cookbooks selected, the version numbers, the outcome, and cookbook dependencies. From this view, you have the option to choose if you want to Import to a primary namespace or alternate namespace.

The Info tab shows various information about the repository such as the name, description, the last time it was fetched, revision of the fetch, the type of repository, the URL, the Git SSH Key (if the repository is not publicly available), and the Cookbook Path(s) of the repository. The Last Fetch Output field is where you can find status from the last time RightScale scraped the repository, including any errors that were encountered. You can also perform the following actions to a repository:

• Edit - You can modify any of the fields that were available when creating the repository. 
• Refetch - Initiate a new scrape of the repository to update the contents from the source.
• Refetch and Import - Initiate a new scrape where all content in the repository is automatically imported into RightScale in the primary namespace. For more information about namespaces, see Primary and Alternate Namespaces.

Tip: For any repository that only contains cookbooks you want to use in ServerTemplate design, always use the Refetch and Import action.

For more information, see the full Repositories guide.

Cookbooks

The Cookbooks section, viewable under Design in the RightScale Dashboard, allows you to see the cookbooks in your account; these cookbooks can be imported from ServerTemplates in the Marketplace or directly from Repositories you've configured in your account. In this section, you can import cookbooks, which will take you to the Repositories section, or you can select a cookbook. When you select a cookbook, you see all the version numbers of that cookbook and from where the cookbook originated. 

You can perform the following actions to a selected cookbook version:

• Delete - This removes the cookbook from your account. You cannot delete a cookbook if it has recipes used by ServerTemplates; you will need to remove the recipes from the ServerTemplate before this can be done. 
• Freeze - This stops a cookbook from being able to be re-imported or modified. This only applies to cookbooks in the primary namespace. For more information about namepsaces, see Primary and Alternate Namespaces.
• Follow - New versions of the cookbook that appear in the repositories section will automatically get imported. This only applies to cookbooks in the alternate namespace.
• Make Obsolete - This hides a cookbook from being able to attach to a ServerTemplate. This does not detach a cookbook from a ServerTemplate if it has already been attached.  
• Unfreeze - This stops a cookbook from being frozen and marks the cookbook as "normal." Normal means no action has been performed on the cookbook.
• Unfollow - This stops a cookbook from being followed and marks the cookbook as "normal." Normal means no action has been performed on the cookbook.
• Undo Obsolete  - This stops a cookbook from being obsolete. And marks the cookbook as "normal." Normal means no action has been performed on the cookbook.

When you click on a specific cookbook version, you are taken to an Info tab where you can view details of that cookbook, such as the recipes and attributes of the cookbook as well as download the cookbook as a compressed file. The Xref tab will show you what ServerTemplates, if any, are using the cookbook.

For more information, see the full Cookbooks guide, including more information on importing cookbooks.

Recipes

Adding recipes to a ServerTemplate has changed. If you navigate to Design > ServerTemplates and select one, you will see the Scripts tab has an entirely new design. Recipes are now categorized into "Boot Sequence," "Operational Scripts," and "Decommission Sequence." 

With a cloned ServerTemplate, you can select Modify to be able to browse and attach cookbooks. When you attach a cookbook, you can see all the cookbooks that have been imported into your account. Select a cookbook and the version of the cookbook you would like to use. Once attached, you can drag-and-drop the recipes you need into the ServerTemplate.

For more information, see Add a RightScript or Recipe to a ServerTemplate.

RightScripts

Adding RightScripts to a ServerTemplate has changed. If you navigate to Design > ServerTemplates and select one, you will see the Scripts tab has an entirely new design. RightScripts are now categorized into "Boot Sequence," "Operational Scripts," and "Decommission Sequence." Use the new right pane to find, filter, drag and drop RightScripts with ease.

There are new indicators that let you know if a RightScript has a new version. If the RightScript attached to a ServerTemplate has an updated version available, but the ServerTemplate is using an older revision, the RightScript version will be highlighted as orange. You can change it by clicking the orange revision and selecting the new revision. 

For more information, see Add a RightScript or Recipe to a ServerTemplate.