1 files changed, 5 insertions, 7 deletions
diff --git a/lib/chef/resource/sysctl.rb b/lib/chef/resource/sysctl.rb
index 75d2ef3262..faa9d59e95 100644
--- a/lib/chef/resource/sysctl.rb
+++ b/lib/chef/resource/sysctl.rb
@@ -63,14 +63,12 @@ class Chef
         end
       end
 
-      def get_sysctl_value(key)
-        o = shell_out("sysctl -n -e #{key}")
-        raise "Unknown sysctl key #{key}!" if o.error?
-        o.stdout.to_s.tr("\t", " ").strip
-      end
-
+      # shellout to systctl to get the current value
+      # ignore missing keys by using '-e'
+      # convert tabs to spaces since systctl tab deliminates multivalue parameters
+      # strip the newline off the end of the output as well
       load_current_value do
-        value get_sysctl_value(key)
+        value shell_out!("sysctl -n -e #{key}").stdout.tr("\t", " ").strip
       end
 
       action :apply do