Chef Basics

To use Chef, you first need to get acquainted with some central concepts. The following articles are basic introductions to core chef concepts.

• Architecture Introduction

  An introduction to Nodes, Chef Workstation, and Chef Server. This article covers the role of each of these components and how they interact. If you are new to Chef, start here!

• Core Components

  A single-page overview of the terminology and concepts within Chef.

• Introduction to Cookbooks and More

  An introduction to cookbooks, recipes, resources, and roles. This article covers the core ideas of how one builds a node's configuration using the Chef DSL.

• Introduction to Search and Data Bags

  An introduction to two of Chef's most powerful features: Search and Data bags. This article covers how node configuration can be generated dynamically using data about your infrastructure.

Guides and Tutorials

For those looking for hands-on tutorials, the Guides and Fast Start Guide section include a number of useful articles. Including:

• Guide to Creating A Cookbook and Writing A Recipe
• Deploying OpenStack with Chef
• Cookbook Fast Start Guide
• Client Bootstrap Fast Start Guide

In addition to Walkthrough Guides and Webcasts take you step by step through the installation of 6 different common server stacks, and more.

From the Community

• Introduction to Chef - A nice and concise overview, from Warwick Poole

• Chef in the Cloud and On the Ground - Great 60 minute presentation demonstrating use of Chef, from Michael Nygard

• Introduction to Chef - slides from Opscode Team Member Sean O'Meara's presentation at LISA.

FAQ

Architecture Introduction