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67 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
67 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: About Chef InSpec and Train Plugins
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---
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# Chef InSpec and Train Plugins
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## What are Chef InSpec Plugins?
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Chef InSpec Plugins are optional software components that extend the capabilities of InSpec. For example, [`inspec-iggy`](https://github.com/inspec/inspec-iggy) is a Plugin project that aims to generate Chef InSpec controls from infrastructure-as-code files. Plugins are distributed as RubyGems, and Chef InSpec manages their installation. Chef InSpec Plugins always begin with the prefix 'inspec-'.
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## What are Train Plugins?
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Train Plugins allow Chef InSpec to speak to new kinds of targets (typically new remote targets or APIs, but you could treat the local system in a new way if you wished to). For example, if you wanted to audit a Kubernetes cluster, you might want a transport that can talk to the supervisor API. You would develop a Train Plugin for that, and install it using the Chef InSpec command line. Train Plugins always begin with the prefix 'train-'.
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## What can plugins do?
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Currently, each plugin can offer one or more of these capabilities:
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* define a new command-line-interface (CLI) command suite (`inspec` plugins)
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* connectivity to new types of hosts or cloud providers (`train` plugins)
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* DSL extensions at the file, control, describe block, or test level
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* DSL extensions for custom resources
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Future work might include new capability types, such as:
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* reporters (output generators)
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* attribute fetchers to allow reading Chef InSpec attributes from new sources (for example, a remote encrypted key-value store)
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## How do I find out which plugins are available?
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The Chef InSpec CLI can tell you which plugins are available:
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```bash
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$ inspec plugin search inspec-
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```
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## How do I install and manage plugins?
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The Chef InSpec command line now offers a new subcommand just for managing plugins.
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You can install a plugin by running:
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```bash
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$ inspec plugin install inspec-some-plugin
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$ inspec plugin install train-some-plugin
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```
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For more details on what the `plugin` command can do, see the [online help](https://www.inspec.io/docs/reference/cli/#plugin), or run `inspec plugin help`.
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## How do I use a different Gem server?
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You can specify an alternate source by passing the base of your Gem repository to the `--source` parameter:
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```bash
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$ inspec plugin search --source https://my.private.server inspec-private
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$ inspec plugin install --source https://my.private.server inspec-private-plugin
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```
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## How do I write a plugin?
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### Chef InSpec Plugins
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For details on how to author a Chef InSpec Plugin, see the [developer documentation](https://github.com/inspec/inspec/blob/master/docs/dev/plugins.md)
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### Train Plugins
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For details on how to author a Train Plugin, see the [developer documentation](https://github.com/inspec/train/blob/master/docs/plugins.md)
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