gistfile1.txt

Currently this repo only supports using *chef-solo* which doesn't access any remote components. Later you can migrate this setup to use *chef-client* with a *Chef Server* as needed.

A *run list* is a json file defining which recipes get run on a server.

# File layout

*Berksfile* is like a Gemfile for Chef cookbooks. See *bin/berks* for more info.

*config* contains Ruby config files for command line clients like chef-solo.

*cookbooks* is where our *upstream* community cookbooks live. This is created by the *Berkshelf* command.

*data_bags* contains directories, Data Bags, which contain json files. Each file represents an item like an SSL certificate or a user. They're usually loaded into a Chef Server, but we can access them from the filesystem using chef-solo.

*nodes* contains the json run lists for specific servers.

*roles* contains json files defining what to run on servers assigned to specific roles.


# Setup

First, install [Virtualbox](https://www.virtualbox.org/).

Then we need all the development gems.

```
bundle install --binstubs
```

Boot up the Ubuntu Precise virtual machine.

```
bin/vagrant up
```

We now have a VM running with the current directory mounted at */chef*, and an IP of *33.33.33.10*.

*Knife* is chef's command line tool. We'll use a plugin that bootstraps a server for Chef. It installs a full Ruby runtime in */opt/chef*.


```
bin/knife solo prepare [email protected] -i ~/.vagrant.d/insecure_private_key
```

Now the VM should be prepped for Chef.

Next, let's get our upstream cookbooks in place. The *path* argument is for vendoring cookbooks, but also works here to let us examine the cookbooks.

Note that any changes made to cookbooks here will be _overwritten_ by the next *berks install*. To modify upstream cookbooks, clone them and point to them in your Berksfile.

```
berks install --path cookbooks
```

*Chef-solo* is the server-side command that configures the server based on a Chef *run list*.

```
cat nodes/development.json
```

Here we have a basic run list telling chef to load our *app* cookbook. Let's login to the VM and do the first Chef run.

```
vagrant ssh

```
On the VM we'll do a chef run.

```
sudo chef-solo -c /chef/config/solo_dev.rb -j /chef/nodes/development.json
```

This runs the default recipe in the app cookbook, see *site-cookbooks/app/recipes/default.rb*.

# Bootstrapping an EC2 instance

Your AMIs will execute the contents of the user metadata if its a shell script.

See *bootstrap.sh* for details.

TODO: Describe userdata boot process in more detail