Purpose

This git repo contains "Berkshelf" prepopulated with the core NeCTAR cookbook collection (and dendencies), together with sample configs for Chef Solo. The aim of this repo is:

• to support the "quick start" procedure for Chef Solo + Berkshelf described below, and

• to facilitate "pulling" updates to the NeCTAR cookbook collection.

Introduction to Chef and Berkshelf

Opscode Chef is system for automating the configuration of (typically) Linux / UNIX based machines and virtuals. See http://www.opscode.com/chef/ for details. There is also a growing body of relevant information in the Virtual Wranglers espace at https://espaces.com.au/vwrangler.

The basic idea is that configuration tasks are performed using Recipes. These are (mostly) declarative scripts written in the Chef's Ruby-based "domain specific language". Recipes are run on "nodes" (i.e. computers) which are configured using Node and Role specifications. These typically say what Recipes to run, and provide various attributes that parameterize the Recipe behaviour. Recipes and their associated files are bundled up as Cookbooks, and the whole lot are (typically) checked into version control.

Chef can either be used in two ways:

• You can use a central server to hold all of the configuration specifications, and manage the configuration state and authorization details. This mode of operation is best if you have a number of machines to manage, but it requires you to either set up and maintain a Chef server, or use the "Enterprise Chef" service managed by Opscode. (The latter is free for up to 5 nodes. After that you pay by the month.)

• You can use Chef solo mode where you essentially manage each system individually, and take care of the distribution of configuration specs and state yourself. (Chef solo does not support shared Data Bags or dynamic Node attribute storage ... or any form of authorization.)

Berkshelf is a tool for managing the collection of Cookbooks that you use. It deals with downloading the cookbooks from various sources, dependencies between cookbooks, and version locking.

Getting Started

Please refer to the VWranglers site for instructions on how to get started with Chef and Berkshelf:

• https://espaces.edu.au/vwrangler/deployment-tools/opscode-chef-how-tos/getting-started-with-berkshelf

Using the Bootstrap scripts

NeCTAR bootstrap

Put the following into the "Customization Script" box:

#!/bin/sh
wget -O - https://github.com/nectar-cookbooks/chef-solo-repo/raw/master/scripts/bootstrap-nectar.sh | /bin/sh > /root/bootstrap.out 2>&1 

scripts/bootstrap-nectar.sh