This document discusses the server configuration management tool Chef. It begins by outlining problems with manual system administration and explains that Chef allows for repeatable, version controlled configurations through recipes defined in Ruby. It then describes Chef's client-server architecture and its embrace of modern web technologies. The remainder of the document outlines Chef's components like nodes, attributes, cookbooks and resources and concludes with a link to a demo.

1. Server installation
and configuration
with Chef

2. Raimonds Simanovskis
TietoEnator Alise
@rsim github.com/rsim

3. Problem
• Manual system administration
• Non-repeatable
• No version control
• Takes too long

4. What is Chef?
Chef is
a state based,
declarative configuration
management engine.
You define recipes of how you
want your system to look and
then chef makes it so.

5. Chef
• Client-server architecture
• Embraces modern web technologies
• Best ideas from cfengine and Puppet
• Targeted to Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X
• Written in Ruby, recipes in Ruby

6. Architecture
Client
Chef Server
Chef Client
Ohai
Chef Indexer

7. Ohai
{
"kernel": {
"machine": "x86_64",
"name": "Linux",
"os": "GNU/Linux",
"version": "#1 SMP Wed Aug 20 21:08:51 UTC 2008",
"release": "2.6.24-19-xen"
},
"uptime_seconds": 12043422,
"platform_version": "8.04",
"platform": "ubuntu",
"virtualization": {
"role": "guest",
"emulator": "xen"
},
"os": "linux",
"idletime": "115 days 23 hours 34 minutes 06 seconds",
"idletime_seconds": 10020846,
"lsb": {
"id": "Ubuntu",
"description": ""Ubuntu 8.04.1"",
"codename": "hardy",
"release": "8.04"
},
"os_version": "2.6.24-19-xen"
}

8. Chef components
• Nodes • Attributes
• Cookbooks • Libraries
• Recipes • Files
• Definitions • Templates

9. Resources
cron execute directory
file group user
link package remote_directory
remote_file route script
service template http_request

25. Demo

26. Links
http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Home
http://www.slideshare.net/
Orlando_Ruby_Users_Group/cooking-with-chef

27. Thanks!
http://blog.rayapps.com
http://github.com/rsim