In Chef, how do I access attributes set in the environment JSON from cookbook attributes files?

Question

I have a chef system where we have multiple environments and have attributes set in evironment JSON.

I'm having trouble accessing these from within cookbook attribute files and recipes.

Answer 1

What does your environment file look like? Are you setting default or override attributes? If you're setting default, note that is a fairly low priority level in the attributes chain, so it might be overridden by a recipe, or a role.

The precedence of the attributes is as follows, from low to high:

1. default attributes applied in an attributes file
2. default attributes applied in an environment
3. default attributes applied in a role
4. default attributes applied on a node directly in a recipe
5. normal or set attributes applied in an attributes file
6. normal or set attributes applied on a node directly in a recipe
7. override attributes applied in an attributes file
8. override attributes applied in a role
9. override attributes applied in an environment
10. override attributes applied on a node directly in a recipe

Above from:

• http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Attributes