Chef Installation Step by Step Guide 
download chef server RPM

wget https://packages.chef.io/stable/el/7/chef-server-core-12.8.0-1.el7.x86_64.rpm

wget https://packages.chef.io/stable/el/7/chef-12.12.15-1.el7.x86_64.rpm

Extract and Install using RPM

rpm -Uvh chef-11.16.2-1.el6.x86_64.rpm

rpm -Uvh chef-12.12.15-1.el7.x86_64.rpm

Edit your hostname in

vi /etc/hosts

<IP ADDRESS> <HOSTNAME>

Configure Chef

chef-ctl-reconfigure

The above will configure chef server , generate base cookbooks, create SSL, give chef-server name wrt /etc/host entries

Now create admin and create pem

chef-server-ctl user-create admin <name> <lastname> <email> <password> -f admin.pem

chef-server-ctl org-create  <create-org> <'orgname'> --association_user admin -f <orgname>.pem

 Install git

yum install git -y

Clone base repo from git

git clone https://github.com/chef/chef-repo.git

download and install chef developer kit

wget https://packages.chef.io/stable/el/7/chefdk-0.15.16-1.el7.x86_64.rpm

rpm -Uvh chefdk-0.15.16-1.el7.x86_64.rpm

Verify Chef server

chef verify

add bin to your profile

echo 'eval "$(chef shell-init bash)"' >> ~/.bash_profile

source ~/.bash_profile

Copy .pem files to chef repo

cp admin.pem <org>.pem  ~/chef-repo/.chef/

cp admin.pem <org>.pem  /root/.chef/

Configure your knife

[root@Chef-Server .chef]# vi knife.rb

current_dir = File.dirname(__FILE__)

log_level                :info

log_location             STDOUT

node_name                "admin"

client_key               "#{current_dir}/admin.pem"

validation_client_name   "<ORG VALIDATOR>"

validation_key           "#{current_dir}/<orgkey>.pem"

chef_server_url          "https://<Chef-server>/organizations/<organisatio>"

syntax_check_cache_path  "#{ENV['HOME']}/.chef/syntaxcache"

cookbook_path            ["#{current_dir}/../cookbooks"]

wq!

cd ~/chef-repo

knife ssl fetch

knife client list

knife node list 

This will list the nodes registered with chef server 

Bootstrap Chef client

knife bootstrap NODENAME

It will run successful as no recipe / run list is added to host. 

export EDITOR=vi

knife  node edit <NODENAME>

Now add the run list to newly added client  and then run chef-client :) 

"recipe[name_of_recipe]"

##Run chef receipe from remote 
You could use knife ssh to run chef-client on all boxes that contain a certain role or recipe:

knife ssh "role:web" "sudo chef-client" -x ubuntu --sudo 

Or if you're in EC2:

knife ssh "role:web" "sudo chef-client" -x ubuntu -a ec2.public_hostname 


knife ssh name:mynode -a ipaddress  -x ubuntu -i mycredentials.pem "sudo chef-client"You could use knife ssh to run chef-client on all boxes that contain a certain role or recipe:

##Bootstrap Remote node

knife bootstrap new-host-ip -x root -P password -N node_name


#To add a role or recipe to a node
knife node run_list add node_name "recipe[cookbook::recipe]"
knife node run_list add node_name "role[role_name]"
knife node run_list add node_name "role[role_name],recipe[cookbook::recipe]"




Chef- Knife commands cheat sheet

knife commands:

knife cookbook create apache — to create cookbook

knife cookbook upload apache — to upload cookbook to chef-server

knife node run_list add NODENAME “recipe[NAME]” — to add receipe as a runlist to node



knife node run_list add NODENAME -b “recipe[NAME]” “recipe[NAMEOFUPLOADING]” — to add a recipe before partcular recipe- useful comamnd to define the preecedence of recipes in a runlist

knife -h == knife help command

knife node show NODENAME -a attribites(a-b-c-d)0- commanmd to show the attributes of the node

knife search node “os:linux” — search for node which are linux nodes

knife search node “os:linux” -a platform — search for niode which are linux nodes and shows playtform

knife search node “os:linux” -a linux.model give me the result of linux as linux.model =ubuntu as output

chef-client — command to run on node called as convergence.

knife environment list -w — to show all the enviroment

knife environment compare dev

knife environment compare dev prod — compare environments between dev and prod

knife environment compare — all -to compare all receipes in server across all environments.

knife environment delete dev -to delete env

knife environment show dev — shows environment information.

kniofe role create role_name — command to create new role

 knife role from file chef-repo/roles/rolename.rb — upload role(rolename.rb) to server

knife role list -w — list all roles in chef server

knife role delete role_name — delete the new role

knife node run_list add linuxnode “role[webserver]” — assign role(web server)to a node(linuxnode)

As similar to roles — we use base role.

create a base role — and we can use include that base role to all roles runlist. so if you need to update any roles with new runlist. All you need to change is the base role list.

 Chef- Knife commands cheat sheet
knife commands:
knife cookbook create apache — to create cookbook
knife cookbook upload apache — to upload cookbook to chef-server
knife node run_list add NODENAME “recipe[NAME]” — to add receipe as a runlist to node

knife node run_list add NODENAME -b “recipe[NAME]” “recipe[NAMEOFUPLOADING]” — to add a recipe before partcular recipe- useful comamnd to define the preecedence of recipes in a runlist
knife -h == knife help command
knife node show NODENAME -a attribites(a-b-c-d)0- commanmd to show the attributes of the node
knife search node “os:linux” — search for node which are linux nodes
knife search node “os:linux” -a platform — search for niode which are linux nodes and shows playtform
knife search node “os:linux” -a linux.model give me the result of linux as linux.model =ubuntu as output
chef-client — command to run on node called as convergence.
knife environment list -w — to show all the enviroment
knife environment compare dev
knife environment compare dev prod — compare environments between dev and prod
knife environment compare — all -to compare all receipes in server across all environments.
knife environment delete dev -to delete env
knife environment show dev — shows environment information.
kniofe role create role_name — command to create new role
 knife role from file chef-repo/roles/rolename.rb — upload role(rolename.rb) to server
knife role list -w — list all roles in chef server
knife role delete role_name — delete the new role
knife node run_list add linuxnode “role[webserver]” — assign role(web server)to a node(linuxnode)
As similar to roles — we use base role.
create a base role — and we can use include that base role to all roles runlist. so if you need to update any roles with new runlist. All you need to change is the base role list.