The private key does not yet exist the first time that Chef Infra Client runs from a new node.
During the first Chef Infra Client run:
- Chef Infra Client uses the chef-validator private key, located in
/etc/chef/validation.pem
to register with Chef Infra Server - Chef Infra Server assigns Chef Infra Client a private key for all future authentication requests to the Chef Infra Server
- Chef Infra Client saves the private key on the node as
/etc/chef/client.pem
If the request to communicate with Chef Infra Server with the chef-validator key fails, then the entire first Chef Infra Client run fails.
After the first completed Chef Infra Client run, delete the chef-validator private key at /etc/chef/validation.pem