runec2chef.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

require 'rubygems'
require 'right_aws'
require 'ruby-debug'

site = ARGV[0]

chef_32bit = 'ami-e0635694'

ec2 = RightAws::Ec2.new(ENV['AMAZON_ACCESS_KEY_ID'], ENV['AMAZON_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'])
instances = ec2.run_instances(chef_32bit, 
                              min = 1, 
                              max = 1, 
                              groups = ['default'], 
                              key = 'camelpunch',
                              user_data = File.read("/Users/andrew/dev/chef-repo/roles/#{site}-data.json"),
                              "public",
                              "m1.small",
                              kernel = nil,
                              ramdisk = nil,
                              zone = "eu-west-1b",
                              monitoring = nil,
                              subnet_id = nil,
                              disable_api_termination = nil,
                              instance_initiated_shutdown_behaviour = nil,
                              block_device_mappings = [
                                {
                                  :device_name => '/dev/sda1', 
                                  :ebs_delete_on_termination => false,
                                }
                              ])

instance_id = instances.first[:aws_instance_id]

dns_name = ''
while dns_name.empty?
  instances = ec2.describe_instances(instance_id)
  dns_name = instances.first[:dns_name]
end

sleepytime = 17
puts "sleeping #{sleepytime} seconds"
sleep sleepytime

success = false
while success == false
  success = system("ssh ubuntu@#{dns_name} echo 'Server is up!'")
  sleep 1
end

exec "ssh ubuntu@#{dns_name} 'tail -f /var/log/chef/client.log'"

This is a replacement for knife ec2 server create, as it never seems to work properly. It does things differently, and assumes that your AMI has the chef client ready to go and accept instance data.

Follow the Opscode instructions to get such an AMI.