Introduction to Chef

• Understanding configuration management and its importance in modern IT operations.

• Overview of Chef platform: managing infrastructure as code (IaC).

• Key concepts: Chef Server, Chef Workstation, Nodes, and Cookbooks.

• Real-world use cases: automation, compliance, and cloud infrastructure management.

Fundamentals of Infrastructure Automation

• Introduction to DevOps principles and automation.

• Configuration management tools comparison: Chef, Puppet, Ansible, SaltStack.

• Benefits of using Chef for consistent and repeatable deployments.

• Lab: Setting up a basic Chef environment and understanding Chef workflow.

Chef Architecture and Components

• Overview of Chef components: Server, Workstation, Nodes, and Supermarket.

• Understanding roles of Knife, Ohai, and Chef Client.

• Installing Chef Development Kit (ChefDK) and Workstation setup.

• Lab: Configuring Chef Workstation and connecting to Chef Server.

Ruby Basics for Chef

• Introduction to Ruby syntax and constructs for Chef scripting.

• Writing basic Ruby scripts for recipes and templates.

• Understanding data types, variables, loops, and conditional statements.

• Lab: Writing simple Ruby scripts for configuration management tasks.

Cookbooks, Recipes, and Resources

• Creating and structuring Chef Cookbooks and Recipes.

• Understanding resources, attributes, templates, and files.

• Using built-in resources vs. custom resources.

• Lab: Writing recipes to install and configure web servers or databases.

Nodes, Roles, and Environments

• Managing nodes: registering, configuring, and bootstrapping.

• Defining roles and applying them to nodes for consistent configurations.

• Using environments to manage configuration variations across dev, test, and production.

• Lab: Configuring multiple nodes with roles and environments.

Data Bags and Templates

• Introduction to data bags for storing global configuration data.

• Using templates and embedded Ruby (ERB) for dynamic configuration.

• Lab: Creating data-driven recipes and templates for real-world applications.

Chef Supermarket and Community Cookbooks

• Using Chef Supermarket to find and integrate community cookbooks.

• Evaluating cookbooks for security, maintenance, and compatibility.

• Lab: Integrating community cookbooks into your projects.

Testing and Compliance with Chef

• Using ChefSpec and Test Kitchen for automated testing of cookbooks.

• Enforcing compliance policies with InSpec.

• Lab: Writing test cases and validating infrastructure configurations.

Advanced Chef Techniques

• Writing custom resources and libraries for complex automation.

• Managing dependencies, versioning, and cookbook policies.

• Integrating Chef with cloud platforms: AWS, Azure, GCP.

• Lab: Implementing advanced configurations using custom resources and cloud integration.

Continuous Integration and Chef

• Integrating Chef workflows with CI/CD pipelines.

• Automating deployments with Jenkins or GitLab CI/CD.

• Using Chef in multi-environment deployment strategies.

• Lab: Setting up automated CI/CD pipelines for infrastructure code.

Real-World Project Simulation

• Hands-on project simulating end-to-end infrastructure management with Chef.

• Tasks include provisioning nodes, applying roles, configuring applications, and ensuring compliance.

• Trainer-led review and discussion of best practices for automation and scalability.

Course Wrap-Up & Career Guidance

• Recap of core Chef concepts, tools, and best practices.

• Guidance on career roles: Chef Developer, DevOps Engineer, Infrastructure Automation Specialist.

• Q&A session with trainers and discussion of industry challenges and certification guidance.