chef-server-ctl upgrade error: ERROR: File chef/cookbooks/var/chef is a directory while file chef/cookbooks/var/chef is a regular file about chef-server

[skymob]

Running the command that is failing by hand with more verbose output isn't giving me any clues:

[root@testing-chefserver001 ~]# /opt/chef-server/embedded/bin/knife download -VV -c /tmp/knife-config.rb /
ERROR: File chef/cookbooks/var/chef is a directory while file chef/cookbooks/var/chef is a regular file

Also tried running an arbitrary knife command using the /tmp/knife-config.rb config file, but it says it can't connect on localhost:

[root@testing-chefserver001 ~]# /opt/chef-server/embedded/bin/knife role list -c /tmp/knife-config.rb
ERROR: Connection refused connecting to localhost:443 for /roles, retry 1/5
ERROR: Connection refused connecting to localhost:443 for /roles, retry 2/5
ERROR: Connection refused connecting to localhost:443 for /roles, retry 3/5
ERROR: Connection refused connecting to localhost:443 for /roles, retry 4/5
ERROR: Connection refused connecting to localhost:443 for /roles, retry 5/5

And now chef-server-ctl start and chef-server-ctl status won't return any info - did the upgrade process leave it unusable?

[root@testing-chefserver001 ~]# /opt/opscode/bin/chef-server-ctl start
[root@testing-chefserver001 ~]#
[root@testing-chefserver001 ~]# /opt/opscode/bin/chef-server-ctl status
[root@testing-chefserver001 ~]#

[mmzyk]

@skymob You have some information that is wrong in what you've provided, as there is no open source Chef server version 11.6.0. Is this a typo and you meant 11.0.6? The last released open source Chef 11 server was 11.1.5 https://www.getchef.com/download-open-source-chef-server-11/

Assuming it is a typo, I can tell you that as of right now the upgrade process doesn't work on open source Chef servers pre-11.1. If you want to migrate a pre-11.1 server to 12, then you'll need to upgrade to at least 11.1 first, or do the migration the old fashion way by hand using knife download and then uploading the data to the Chef 12 server (once the data is downloaded I believe the transform and upload steps that are packaged with the Chef 12 server will work).

The issue with pre-11.1 servers as to do with the embedded client that is packaged with the chef server being old and not having an up-to-date knife download with it. We hope to eventually fix this so that any 11 server can be upgrade using just the upgrade command, but we haven't yet gotten to this.

[skymob]

@mmzyk apologies for posting the wrong package version: we are in fact using a pre-11.1 version (chef-server-11.0.8-1.el6.x86_64) and will need to explore either the 11.0.8 to 11.1 to 12 route, or the "by hand" to a fresh install option.

[mmzyk]

@skymob No worries. I'll note it is possible to update a pre 11.1 server straight to 12, but it generally involves me pairing with you to get it done (which I've done with a few users to understand the issues), but my time is more limited now as work on finalizing the Chef 12 server release.

As far as upgrading to 11.1, 11.1 was the version where we first introduced the chef-server-ctl upgrade command for the open source server. You can see the directions on using it here: http://docs.getchef.com/open_source/upgrade_server_open_source.html#upgrade-from-chef-server-osc-11-0-4-or-higher which might make the upgrade easier for you.

All of this said, please continue to open issues as you find them. It helps us make the server and the experience of using it better. Thanks!