Test-Driven Infrastructure with Chef, 2nd Edition

Chapter 7. Test-Driven Infrastructure: A Recommended Toolchain

This book began with two philosophical foundations:

1. Infrastructure can and should be treated as code.
2. Infrastructure developers should adhere to the same principles of professionalism as other software developers.

It then outlined how to go about endeavoring to fulfill the second by the mechanism of practicing the first.

We’ve provided a thorough introduction to the core principles and primitives of Chef, and we’ve explored them through the means of a thorough set of worked examples.

We then set the groundwork for the program of developing the highest standards of software professionalism by presenting a directed but thorough introduction to the Ruby programming language, and the principles and practices of test-driven and behavior-driven development.

We set out a manifesto and framework around which to organize ourselves as we seek to apply these TDD and BDD principles and practices to the paradigm of infrastructure as code.

In this closing chapter, we give a clear recommendation and strategy for top-to-bottom test-driven infrastructure by illustrating and evaluating the leading tools and workflows available to assist us in our quest at this point in the evolution of this young but exciting discipline.

Tool Selection

There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency that which should not be done at all.

— Peter Drucker

Our selection of tools and recommended workflow and approach needs to be informed ...