Chef-Zero allows running Chef locally in memory for testing purposes without requiring a real Chef server. It provides the same API and functionality as interacting with a Chef server but runs everything in memory on the local machine. The document then describes how to use Chef-Zero by starting the chef-zero server, configuring knife to point to it, and developing recipes and testing searches locally without needing a real infrastructure. It also covers using the new local mode of chef-client which loads data from the local file system and runs Chef locally in a similar way to Chef-Zero.

1. Chef-Zero & Local Mode
Michael Goetz
Automation Consulting Engineer, Chef
mpgoetz@getchef.com
v1.2.3

2. Back in my day…
• Getting started with
Chef involved a lot of
setup
• Configure
workstation
• Configure Chef
server
• Bootstrap node

3. Chef-Client with Chef Server
• Chef-client
communicates with
Chef server
• Node object stored on
Chef server
• Cookbooks, roles,
environments, etc.
uploaded from
workstation with knife
chef-client

4. Chef-Solo
• Runs locally on node
• Cookbooks, data bags,
roles, environments
stored on disk
• Does not support
• Node storage
• Search indexes
• Persistent attributes
chef-solo -c ~/solo.rb -j ~/node.json

5. Chef-Zero
• Chef 11+ compliant
• Easy to run, fast to start
• Runs in memory
• Great for mocking a Chef
server locally
!
• Not intended for production use
• No input validation,
authentication, authorization
• Data does not persist between
restarts
http://www.nevinmartell.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/always_trust_a_skinny_chef.jpg

6. But does it blend?
• Search
• Node data
• Client data
• Cookbooks
• Data bags
• Roles
• Environments

7. Using Chef-Zero
• Install chef-zero gem
• $ gem install chef-zero
• Start chef-zero server (defaults to 127.0.0.1:8889)
• $ chef-zero
• Setup knife.rb with server details
• chef_server_url 'http://127.0.0.1:8889'
node_name
client_key
'tastesgreat'
‘dummy_key.pem'

8. Great… So now what?
• Vagrant integration with vagrant-chef-zero
• https://github.com/andrewgross/vagrant-chef-zero
• Allows testing of searches, node data without
connecting to a “real” chef server
• Mock cluster node data
• Validate data bag queries
• Automated testing with Test-Kitchen
• http://kitchen.ci/
• provisioner
name: chef_zero

9. Going native with local mode
http://www.prosperapartners.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/i-am-a-localist.png
• Harness the power of chef-zero
within chef-client
• chef-client -z & knife -z
• Loads files from current directory
• /cookbooks
• /nodes
• /roles
• /environments
• Writes data changes back to
local file system
• knife works too!

10. Setup Data Bag & Recipe
• Create default recipe
• Search for node data,
printed out to “/tmp/
zerofiles”
!
• Setup data bag
structure
• Print content of data
bag out to “/tmp/fluff”
cookbooks/zero/recipes/default.rb
a = search(:node, "*:*")!
b = data_bag_item("zero", "fluff")!
!
file "/tmp/zerofiles" do!
content a[0].to_s!
end!
!
file "/tmp/fluff" do!
content b.to_s!
end
data_bags/zero/fluff
{!
"id": "fluff",!
"clouds": "Are fluffy"!
}

11. Converge!
$ chef-client -z -o zero
[2013-12-10T23:53:32-06:00] WARN: No config file found or specified on command line, not loading.!
Starting Chef Client, version 11.8.2!
[2013-12-10T23:53:36-06:00] WARN: Run List override has been provided.!
[2013-12-10T23:53:36-06:00] WARN: Original Run List: [recipe[zero]]!
[2013-12-10T23:53:36-06:00] WARN: Overridden Run List: [recipe[zero]]!
resolving cookbooks for run list: ["zero"]!
Synchronizing Cookbooks:!
- zero!
Compiling Cookbooks...!
Converging 2 resources!
Recipe: zero::default!
* file[/tmp/zerofiles] action create!
- create new file /tmp/zerofiles!
- update content in file /tmp/zerofiles from none to 0a038a!
--- /tmp/zerofiles
2013-12-10 23:53:36.368059768 -0600!
+++ /tmp/.zerofiles20131210-6903-10cvytu
2013-12-10 23:53:36.368059768 -0600!
@@ -1 +1,2 @@!
+node[localhost]!
* file[/tmp/fluff] action create!
- create new file /tmp/fluff!
- update content in file /tmp/fluff from none to d46bab!
--- /tmp/fluff 2013-12-10 23:53:36.372059683 -0600!
+++ /tmp/.fluff20131210-6903-1l3i1h
2013-12-10 23:53:36.372059683 -0600!
@@ -1 +1,2 @@!
+data_bag_item[fluff]!
Chef Client finished, 2 resources updated

12. Learn more
• From Zero to Chef in 8.5 Seconds
• http://www.getchef.com/blog/2013/10/31/chef-client-z-fromzero-to-chef-in-8-5-seconds/
!
• Chef Docs Site
• http://docs.opscode.com/release_notes.html#chef-client-localmode
!
• Chef-Zero on GitHub
• https://github.com/opscode/chef-zero