This document discusses using Chef to automate configuration on Microsoft Windows systems. It provides a timeline of Chef's support for Windows since 2011. It also discusses resources available in Chef for Windows including the registry_key, powershell_script, and batch resources. The document demonstrates automating the installation of a .NET application on Windows using Chef resources. It provides an overview of using Chef to provision infrastructure on Windows via Azure and discusses testing Chef cookbooks on Windows systems.

1. Cooking with Chef on
Microsoft Windows
Julian C. Dunn
Senior Consultant, Chef Software, Inc.
jdunn@getchef.com

2. Chef and Windows Timeline
• May 2011 – Knife plugin for Windows announced
• Oct 2011 – PowerShell, IIS, SQL Server, and Windows cookbooks
• Dec 2011 – Chef Client Installer MSI for Microsoft Windows
• Feb 2012 – Integration of the registry_key resource into core Chef from the
Windows cookbook
• Aug 2013 – Chef 11.6.0 release. PowerShell and Batch scripting integrated into
core Chef. Chef Client released as Windows service
• Aug 2013 - PowerShell Desired State Configuration support announced (for
delivery in 2014)

3. Challenges to Chef on Windows
• No real package manager
• COTS vendors don’t understand automation
• UAC
• WinRM Quotas
• Win32 Redirector
• Not all preferences/state stored in registry

4. Windows < 2012?
• WinRM Memory Quota Hotfix required:
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2842230

5. Automating a .NET App on
Windows

6. Automating a .NET App on Windows
• The app: nopCommerce Shopping
Cart solution (
www.nopcommerce.com)
• ASP.NET with SQL Server backend
• Available through WebPI
• WebPI install assumes a lot,
however
• Full-featured app suitable to show
off Chef resources on Windows

7. Resources Automated in Demo
• Installing Windows Features and Roles
• IIS app pool
• IIS site
• IIS app
• Registry settings
• Deploying files onto the system
• Unzipping files
• Windows filesystem rights management

8. Provisioning with Chef
• Azure plugin for Knife
• Request new VM from Azure API
• Bootstrap it over WinRM
• Install and start Chef
• Register with Chef server
• Run through the “run list”
• Instant infrastructure with one
command

9. Video

10. The Recipe Code

11. nopCommerce Recipe Code: Install
IIS, ASP.NET 4.5
::Chef::Recipe.send(:include, Windows::Helper)
windows_feature 'IIS-WebServerRole' do
action :install
end
# Pre-requisite features for IIS-ASPNET45 that need to be installed first, in this order.
%w{IIS-ISAPIFilter IIS-ISAPIExtensions NetFx3ServerFeatures NetFx4Extended-ASPNET45 IISNetFxExtensibility45}.each do |f|
windows_feature f do
action :install
end
end
windows_feature 'IIS-ASPNET45' do
action :install
end
service "iis" do
service_name "W3SVC"
action :nothing
end
include_recipe "iis::remove_default_site"

12. nopCommerce Recipe Code: Install
nopCommerce
windows_zipfile node['nopcommerce']['approot'] do
source node['nopcommerce']['dist']
action :unzip
not_if {::File.exists?(::File.join(node['nopcommerce']['approot'], "nopCommerce"))}
end
%w{App_Data bin Content ContentImages ContentImagesThumbs ContentImagesUploaded
ContentfilesExportImport Plugins Pluginsbin}.each do |d|
directory win_friendly_path(::File.join(node['nopcommerce']['approot'], 'nopCommerce', d)) do
rights :modify, 'IIS_IUSRS'
end
end
%w{Global.asax web.config}.each do |f|
file win_friendly_path(::File.join(node['nopcommerce']['approot'], 'nopCommerce', f)) do
rights :modify, 'IIS_IUSRS'
end
end

13. Set up IIS Pool, App, etc.
iis_pool node['nopcommerce']['poolname'] do
runtime_version "4.0"
action :add
end
directory node['nopcommerce']['siteroot'] do
rights :read, 'IIS_IUSRS'
recursive true
action :create
end
iis_site 'nopCommerce' do
protocol :http
port 80
path node['nopcommerce']['siteroot']
application_pool node['nopcommerce']['poolname']
action [:add,:start]
end
iis_app 'nopCommerce' do
application_pool node['nopcommerce']['poolname']
path node['nopcommerce']['apppath']
physical_path "#{node['nopcommerce']['approot']}nopCommerce"
action :add
end

14. Other Code You Might Have Noticed
system32_path = node['kernel']['machine'] == 'x86_64' ? 'C:WindowsSysnative' : 'C:WindowsSystem32'
cookbook_file "#{system32_path}oemlogo.bmp" do
source node['windowshacks']['oeminfo']['logofile']
rights :read, "Everyone"
action :create
end
registry_key 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionOEMInformation' do
values [{:name => 'Logo', :type => :string, :data => 'C:WindowsSystem32oemlogo.bmp'},
{:name => 'Manufacturer', :type => :string, :data => node['windowshacks']['oeminfo']
['manufacturer']},
{:name => 'SupportHours', :type => :string, :data => node['windowshacks']['oeminfo']
['supporthours']},
{:name => 'SupportPhone', :type => :string, :data => node['windowshacks']['oeminfo']
['supportphone']},
{:name => 'SupportURL', :type => :string, :data => node['windowshacks']['oeminfo']['supporturl']}]
action :create
end

15. 64

16. The Result

17. Overview of Chef
Resources on Windows

18. Same as UNIX/Linux
• file, remote_file, cookbook_file, template
• directory, remote_directory
• user, group
• mount (can take CIFS paths)
• env
• service
• execute
• ruby_block
• many others...

19. Unique to Windows
• registry_key (new in Chef 11.0.0)
• powershell_script (new in Chef 11.6.0)
• batch (new in Chef 11.6.0)
• Automatic architecture handling (:i386
vs. :x86_64)
• Automatic Windows filesystem redirector
handling (Wow64)
• Long-term roadmap: move more
resources to core and out of ‘windows’
cookbook

20. Windows-Only Cookbooks
• By Chef:
• 7-zip
• iis
• powershell
• sql_server
• webpi
• windows
• wix

21. Windows Community Cookbooks
• ms_dotnet2 / 4 / 45
• windows_ad (by TAMU)
• msoffice
• azure

22. registry_key example
# Set system’s proxy settings to be the same as used for Chef
proxy = URI.parse(Chef::Config[:http_proxy])
registry_key 'HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInternet Settings'
do
values [{:name => 'ProxyEnable', :type => :reg_dword, :data => 1},
{:name => 'ProxyServer', :data => "#{proxy.host}:#{proxy.port}"},
{:name => 'ProxyOverride', :type => :reg_string, :data => '<local>'}]
action :create
end

23. powershell_script example
powershell_script "rename hostname" do
code <<-EOH
$computer_name = Get-Content env:computername
$new_name = 'test-hostname'
$sysInfo = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem
$sysInfo.Rename($new_name)
EOH
end

24. Registry Helpers
• Resources like powershell_script are not idempotent by default
• We provide some helpers for checking the registry:
• registry_data_exists?
• registry_get_subkeys
• registry_get_values
• registry_has_subkeys?
• registry_key_exists?
• registry_value_exists?

25. Version Helpers
:windows_8_1?
:windows_server_2012_r2?
:windows_8?
:windows_server_2012?
etc.
:marketing_name
:cluster?
:core?
:datacenter?
• Methods on Chef::ReservedNames::Win32

26. Example Usage
require 'chef/win32/version'
windows_version = Chef::ReservedNames::Win32::Version.new
if (windows_version.windows_server_2008_r2? || windows_version.windows_7?) &&
windows_version.core?
# Server 2008 R2 Core does not come with .NET or Powershell 2.0 enabled
# ... install Powershell 2.0 here
end
• https://github.com/juliandunn/ms_dotnet2/blob/master/re

27. Special File/Directory Handling
• Parameters that don’t make sense
are ignored
• DOMAINuser, DOMAINgroup work
• Filesystem ACLs are different on
Windows
• mode parameter semantics
• rights parameter only for
Windows

28. The ‘windows’ Cookbook
• The windows cookbook includes a number of resources
and providers, and helper libraries.
• See https://github.com/opscode-cookbooks/windows for a
full list
• Highlights:
• windows_auto_run
• windows_feature
• windows_package
• windows_path
• windows_reboot
• windows_zipfile
• Other: windows_printer, windows_printer_port,
windows_task

29. Windows Report Handlers
• Windows cookbook:
• WindowsRebootHandler
• windows_reboot resource
• windows::reboot_handler recipe
• Eventlog cookbook:
• Send Chef output to Windows
Event Log

30. Desired State Configuration (DSC)
•New in Windows 2012R2 / WMF4
•“Chef-like” declarative system
•Compiles to intermediate format (MOF)
•Provides reliable automation hooks into Windows

31. Potential DSC Integration
dsc_resource 'IIS' do
name 'Webserver'
resource :component
action :install
end
• 1:1 mapping DSC resources to Chef resources
• Challenges: DSC transactional, Chef is not
• Thoughts? See me after

32. Windows Roadmap 2014
• Moar resources in core chef-client
• Package (e.g. msi), feature, reboot, etc.
• PowerShell DSC resource integration
• Easy WinRM setup, bootstrap
• Cookbooks: WSUS, AD, Group Policy, etc.
• Miscellaneus: Anonymous Resource RFC
• http://tinyurl.com/anonymous-resource-rfc

33. Testing on Windows

34. As a Host
• Berkshelf, Test-Kitchen, ChefSpec work on Windows
• You need Git Bash or a UNIX-like environment

35. As a Guest
• vagrant-windows
• Monkeypatch to Vagrant to support WinRM
• Works adequately, but fragile
• Packer images to generate Windows VMs
• https://github.com/misheska/basebox-packer
• ServerSpec supports Windows, but limited assertions

36. Questions?
• Much more than what’s shown here!
• Questions?
• Thank you!
• E: jdunn@getchef.com
• W: www.getchef.com
• T: @julian_dunn
• G: github.com/juliandunn