solo.tex

\chapter{Chef Solo}

Chef Solo is a simple way to begin working with Chef. It is an open source version of the chef-client that allows using cookbooks with nodes without requiring access to a server. Chef Solo runs locally and requires that a cookbook (and any of its dependencies) be on the same physical disk as the node. It is a limited-functionality version of the chef-client and does not support the following:

\begin{itemize}
  \item Node data storage
  \item Search indexes
  \item Centralized distribution of cookbooks
  \item A centralized API that interacts with and integrates infrastructure components
  \item Authentication or authorization
  \item Persistent attributes
\end{itemize}

We will learn Chef Solo by practical examples in this chapter.

\input{solo/required}
\input{solo/kitchen}
\input{solo/chef_folder}
\input{solo/berkshelf}
\input{solo/node}
\input{solo/vagrant}
\input{solo/idempotence}
\input{solo/role}
\input{solo/attributes}
\input{solo/environment}
\input{solo/data_bag}

\section{Summary}

Chef Solo is a most simple way to begin working with Chef. Also it is very good choice, if your environment small (several servers) and you don't need setup or buy separate Chef Server. But if you have huge numbers of servers or you don't like limited functionality of Chef Solo, in this case you should thinking to setup or buy own Chef Server.