book

Mastering Chef

by Mayank Joshi

June 2015

Intermediate to advanced

374 pages

7h 19m

English

Packt Publishing

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What this book covers

Downloading the example codeErrataPiracyQuestions
Different modes of running Chef
A Chef run using chef-clientStep 1 – Building a node objectStep 2 – AuthenticateStep 3 – Synchronization of cookbooksStep 4 – Loading of cookbooks and convergenceStep 5 – Reporting and exception handlingUsing chef-solo
Introducing KnifeManaging cookbooksCreating a new cookbookUploading a cookbook to chef-serverGetting the list of all the cookbooks on chef-serverDeleting cookbooksDownloading a cookbookDeleting multiple cookbooksManaging environmentsCreating an environmentDeleting an environmentEditing an environmentListing all environmentsDisplaying information about an environmentManaging rolesCreating a new roleDeleting a roleEditing a roleListing all available rolesDisplaying information about a roleManaging nodesCreating a nodeListing all available nodesDisplaying information about a nodeEditing a nodeAdding stuff to the run_list associated with a nodeDeleting stuff from the run_list associated with a nodeDeleting a node objectManaging an API clientCreating a new clientListing all available API clientsDisplaying information about a clientDeleting an existing clientReregistering a clientThe search commandBootstrapping a nodeSome useful Knife pluginsThe knife-ssh pluginThe knife-ec2 pluginThe knife-azure pluginThe knife-google pluginThe knife-push plugin
Ruby
Arithmetic operatorsComparison operatorsAssignment operatorsBitwise operatorsLogical operatorsThe Ruby ternary operatorRuby range operatorsThe Ruby defined? operator
The if statementThe unless statementThe case/when statementThe while loopThe until loopThe for loop
Blocks
Creating an arrayAccessing elements of an arrayAdding elements to an arrayRemoving elements from an arrayIterating over an arraySelecting elements of an arrayThe nondestructive wayThe destructive way
Creating hashesIterating over a hash
What's an object and a class?Modules
The bootstrap process
chef-clientKnifeCustom API calls
The Open Source Chef serverEnterprise ChefObject permissionsGroups
ResourcesGuard attributesLazy evaluation of attributesThe package resourceThe cookbook_file resourceThe directory resourceThe file resourceThe execute resourceThe cron resourceThe service resourceThe bash resourceThe template resourceHelper modulesInline methodsInline modulesLibrary modulesPartial templates
AttributesTypes of attributesIncluding recipesThe run_listRecipe DSL methodsThe platform methodThe platform_family methodThe value_for_platform methodThe value_for_platform_family methodThe attribute methodThe resources method
CookbooksAuthoring a cookbookUploading a cookbook to the Chef serverDeleting a cookbookTesting a cookbookCookbook versioningOperators available for use with versioningFreezing versionsMaintaining multiple versions of cookbooksMaximum version control strategyBranch tracking strategy
SetupResourceProviderProvider DSLLogging
Managing rolesUsing KnifeCreating a new roleEditing an existing roleDeleting an existing roleShowing details about an existing roleListing all roles on the Chef serverUsing Ruby DSLUsing a JSON fileUsing the Chef APIUsing the Chef server WebUI
Using KnifeCreating a new environmentEditing an environment configurationDeleting an environmentDisplaying all the environments configured on the Chef serverShowing details associated with an environmentComparing cookbook versions across environmentsCreating or editing an environment using the configuration specified in a fileUsing Ruby DSL
Using KnifeEditing the client.rb file on the node
Attribute precedence
Attribute naming
The attribute fileRecipesRoles and environmentsOhai
Running the Ohai binary
Logging in Ohai plugins
Data bagsManagement of a data bagCreating a data bagEditing a data bag itemDeleting a data bag item or a data bagGetting a list of all the data bags set up on the Chef serverGetting a list of items and their propertiesUsing the data bags in recipesEncrypted data bags
Template resources and a template in actionPartial templates
Prerequisites for using Chef API
/usersGETPOST/users/NAMEDELETEGETPOSTPUT/clientsGETPOST/clients/NAMEDELETEGETPUT/rolesGETPOST/roles/NAMEDELETEGETPUT/roles/NAME/environmentsGET/roles/NAME/environments/NAMEGET/cookbooksGET/cookbooks/NAMEGET/cookbooks/NAME/VERSIONDELETEGETPUT/dataGETPOST/data/NAMEDELETEGETPOST/data/NAME/ITEMDELETEGETPUT/environmentsGETPOST/environments/NAMEDELETEGETPUT/environments/NAME/cookbooksGET/environments/NAME/nodesGET/environments/NAME/recipesGET/environments/NAME/roles/NAME
/searchGET/search/INDEXGETPOSTPatternsSyntaxExact matchingWildcard matchingRange matchingFuzzy matchingOperatorsUsing search in recipes
Custom Knife pluginsThe skeleton of a Knife pluginNamespaceClass nameBannerDependenciesRequirementsOptionsArgumentsThe run methodSearch inside a custom Knife pluginknife.rb settingsUser interactionsException handlingA simple Knife pluginDistributing plugins using gems
The dynamic server list in Capistrano using ChefInstalling Capistrano
Phases of deploymentCallbacksActionsAttributes
Running jobs from your workstationRunning jobs from within recipes
Development without TDDDevelopment with TDD
What to use whereHow do we simulate a real-world scenario?ToolsUsing Chef in a dynamic environment such as the cloud

Content preview from Mastering Chef

Chapter 1. Introduction to the Chef Ecosystem

Chef is a configuration management system written partly in Ruby and Erlang.

Before we begin our exciting journey towards becoming Chef masters, I think it would be prudent on our part to understand the underlying ecosystem.

The Chef ecosystem is primarily comprised of the following components:

WebUI: This is a Rails application that is used to view information about the Chef server over the Web.
ErChef: Prior to version 11.x, the Chef server API core (the code responsible for catering to requests by Knife or chef-client) was written in Ruby. However, since 11.x, this code has been rewritten in Erlang.
Bookshelf: This is used to store cookbooks content such as files, templates, and so on, that have been ...