Chef node configuration issue with knife bootstrap- can't authenticate with server

Question

I am trying to setup a chef client node using knife bootstrap:

knife bootstrap nodename -x user -P passwd --sudo

Getting the following error messages::

Chef encountered an error attempting to create the client "nodename .url.com" Authentication Error - Failed to authenticate to the chef server (http 401). Server Response: Invalid signature for user or client 'chef-validator'*

My config settings looks good, I have tried restarting all the chef-server services and tried configuring the chef-client from the node as

1. Installed chef correctly in a new VM
2. Removed files in /etc/chef
3. Copied over my Chef servers /etc/chef/chef-validator.pem to my /etc/chef/validator.pem
4. Ran the chef-client -l debug -S https://mychefserver.url.com -K /etc/chef/validation.pem Still I am getting

   [2014-07-03T14:03:25-04:00] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::ChildConvergeError: Chef run process exited unsuccessfully (exit code 1)*

My chef workstation is working fine without any issues. Any configuration files in chef node I could possibly troubleshoot?

Answer 1

I also had this problem...

• If using a Windows workstation, check that the files contained in the unzipped starter kit are "Unblocked" in Windows Explorer.

• Also go to our chef node and delete any client.pem files which are contained there.

This can happen if you have already boot strapped a node then you download your starter kit again. The previous client.pem is not removed from the node. You need to manually remove this so that authentication can occur.