Getting Started With Chef-solo

• Install Chef On The Example Server:
• Begin by updating the Ubuntu packages:

``` bash
$ sudo apt-get update
```

• Install Chef and its prerequisites:

  $ sudo aptitude install -y ruby ruby1.8-dev build-essential wget libruby1.8 rubygems
  $ sudo gem update --no-rdoc --no-ri
  $ sudo gem install ohai chef --no-rdoc --no-ri

• Create The Simplest Chef Configuration:

  • Start by having Chef do something simple. Create a /tmp/helloworld.txt file.

    $ mkdir -p ~/chef/cookbooks/helloworld/recipes
    $ echo '
      file "/tmp/helloworld.txt" do
      owner "vagrant"
      group "vagrant"
      mode 00544
      action :create
      content "Hello, Implementor!"
      end' > ~/chef/cookbooks/helloworld/recipes/default.rb

• Write a node.json to tell Chef to run the helloworld recipe.

  $ echo '
    {
    "run_list": [ "recipe[helloworld]" ]
    }' > ~/chef/node.json

• Tell Chef where to find the files we just created, using a solo.rb file:

  $ echo '
    file_cache_path "/home/vagrant/chef"
    cookbook_path "/home/vagrant/chef/cookbooks"
    json_attribs "/home/vagrant/chef/node.json"
    ' > ~/chef/solo.rb

• Now ready to run chef-solo.

    $ sudo chef-solo -c ~/chef/solo.rb

  We use the -c option to explicitly tell chef-solo where to read its configuration.

• To verify:

  $ cat /tmp/helloworld.txt

• Add More Steps To The Recipe:

  • Create cron job recipe:

    $ mkdir -p ~/chef/cookbooks/crondemo/recipes
    $ echo '
      cron "log something" do
      action :create
      hour "*"
      minute "*"
      command "logger Hello!"
      end
      ' > ~/chef/cookbooks/crondemo/recipes/default.rb

  • Edit the run_list in node.json to add recipe[crondemo]:

    "run_list": [ "recipe[helloworld]", "recipe[crondemo]" ]

  • Run Chef again:

    $ sudo chef-solo -c ~/chef/solo.rb

• Export

  • You can use Git to distribute the configuration and run on any server you wish to configure.