Category: Automation

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Automation Linux

Chef.io Tool kit

Introduction to Chef.io: A Guide to Automation and Configuration Management

Chef.io, is a powerful automation platform that transforms infrastructure into code. In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, managing complex IT environments efficiently is crucial. Chef.io provides the tools and practices needed to automate your infrastructure, ensuring consistency, repeatability, and speed in your deployment processes.

Chef.io stands out due to its robust ecosystem and flexibility, allowing you to manage infrastructure as code across various environments, from on-premises to cloud. Whether you’re a system administrator, developer, or DevOps engineer, Chef.io’s comprehensive toolset can help you automate the repetitive tasks, enforce configuration standards, and ensure your infrastructure is always in the desired state.

Main compectps of Chef.io:

  • Nodes: The machines that are managed by Chef.
  • Cookbooks: Collections of recipes and related files.
  • Recipes: Instructions for configuring a node.
  • Resources: Building blocks of a recipe, representing specific elements of a system (e.g., packages, files, services).
  • Run List: Specifies the order in which recipes should be applied on a node.

Commonly Used Chef.io Commands

As you get hands-on with Chef.io, you’ll find that certain commands become essential for your day-to-day operations. Here are some of the most commonly used Chef.io commands, categorized by their primary functions:

chef generate cookbook COOKBOOK_NAME

Generates a new Chef cookbook.

chef generate recipe RECIPE_NAME

Generates a new recipe within a cookbook.

chef generate attribute ATTRIBUTE_FILE

Generates a new attributes file within a cookbook.

chef generate template TEMPLATE_FILE

Generates a new template file within a cookbook.

chef generate resource RESOURCE_NAME

Generates a new custom resource within a cookbook.

chef-client

Runs the Chef client on a node, applying the configurations defined in the node’s run list.

chef-client -o 'my_cookbook::my_recipe

Runs a specific recipe without altering the node’s run list.

Knife Commands

knife cookbook upload COOKBOOK_NAME

Uploads a cookbook to the Chef server.

knife spork promote --remote ENV COOKBOOK_NAME

Promote/push a cookbook changes to Chef server

knife node list

Lists all nodes registered with the Chef server.

knife node show NODE_NAME -F json

Displays details about a specific node in Json format.

knife node edit NODE_NAME

Change node attributes.

knife bootstrap NODE_IP -N NODE_NAME -x USER -P PASSWORD --sudo

knife bootstrap NODE_IP -E ENV -N NODE_NAME --bootstrap-version 17.10.3 --bootstrap-vault-item VAULT_NAME -r 'ROLE_NAME' -U root --ssh-identity-file ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Bootstraps a new node, installing the Chef client and registering it with the Chef server.

knife block ENV

Show/Select the current environment

knife environment list

Lists all environments on the Chef server.

knife role create ROLE_NAME

Creates a new role.

knife ssh "name:NODE_NAME" "COMMAND"

Running remote commands

knife vault update VAULT_NAME VAULT_FIELD -C NODE_NAME

Grant access to a vault for a certain node

knife data bag edit VAULT_NAME VAULT_FIELD --secret-file=/home/user/.chef/secret

Update encrypted_data_bag_secret taking it from server

knife search node "name:NODE_NAME"

knife search node 'platform_version:22.04 AND (owner_short:XX OR owner_short:YY)' -a packages.openssl.version

knife search node 'role:ROLE_NAME1 OR role:ROLE_NAME2' -a network.interfaces.eth0.addresses

Perform queries using node attributes

Berkshelf Commands

berks install

Installs the cookbooks specified in the Berksfile.

berks upload

Uploads cookbooks to the Chef server.

berks update

Updates cookbooks to their latest versions as specified in the Berksfile.

ChefSpec and InSpec Commands

chef exec rspec

Runs ChefSpec tests to simulate Chef runs.

inspec exec PATH_TO_PROFILE

Runs InSpec tests to verify compliance.

Chef Shell Commands

chef-shell

Opens an interactive shell session for executing Chef commands and testing recipes.

chef-shell -s

Starts Chef Shell in Solo mode.

chef-shell -z

Starts Chef Shell in safe mode.

Cookstyle Commands

cookstyle -a

Find for syntax errors in the cookbook and fix them