Learning Chef

Solve configuration management issues in enterprises large and small with Chef, the software tool that helps system administrators unravel configuration problems and explore new avenues in automation, deployment, and orchestration. With this practical guide, you’ll quickly learn the basics of Chef before diving into complex use cases.

Not only will this book enable you to solve detailed issues, such as the best way to manage 400 EC2 nodes, but it will also help you understand the changing organizational politics and thought-processes that come with infrastructure automation.

• Gain a firm understanding of Chef: Who created it and what problems does it solve?
• Set up your workstation and workflow: Installing Chef can be a headache. There's no prescribed workflow that’s useful for everyone.
• Write custom recipes: Because every infrastructure is different, you may need to write a custom recipe. Writing good cookbooks is crucial for having a sustainable infrastructure.
• Tailor Chef to your infrastructure: Eventually, even custom recipes won't be enough. You’ll want to extend the Chef’s core functionality.

Seth Vargo is a Release Engineer at Chef. In the past, he has served as a Chef consultant, trainer, and community advocate. He is most known for his work on the #learnchef project and his contributions to the open source community. When he's not writing code or responding to GitHub issues, Seth enjoys spending time with his friends and family back home in Pittsburgh, PA.

Mischa Taylor is a consultant at Chef, a fast-growing Seattle-based startup responsible for creating the Chef platform, which makes it easy to quickly automate development processes and move business processes into the cloud. He has spent his career focusing on building high quality products and increasing engineering productivity within organizations. Mischa is an author, speaker and mentor on software development topics and neuromorphic computing.