Chef with RightScale

In addition to RightScripts, RightScale also has integrated support for Chef configuration management. Chef provides server configuration management, describing infrastructure as code using Chef cookbooks and recipes. This modular approach to configuration makes Chef highly scalable, easily versioned, and cookbooks easy to share and reuse. Chef provides abstracted configuration for complex environments and multiple operating systems.

Using RightScale with Chef

Chef delivered as a service: Get the benefits of highly scalable, highly available Chef without having to setup and maintain your own Chef server. Chef is tightly integrated into the RightScale platform and configuration management system.

Easy operational tasks: Chef is great for configuration, but executing certain operational tasks such as database backups can be a pain. Mix and match Chef recipes for provisioning and RightScripts for operations. RightScale makes it easy to store operational scripts in your cookbooks and then execute them on the fly.

Cloud-agnostic provisioning: When Chef is paired with ServerTemplates, your configurations are cloud-agnostic, enabling on-demand provisioning across public and private cloud data centers and providers including AWS, CloudStack, Eucalyptus, OpenStack, Rackspace, and SoftLayer.

Extended Windows support: RightScale has built advanced Chef functionality for Windows, including the ability to write Chef providers in Powershell.

RightScale Cloud Management: RightScale includes provisioning, monitoring, auto-scaling, and governance features that extend Chef configuration management and provide a single Dashboard and API to control your cloud infrastructure.

How It Works

Integrated Chef: Chef-based ServerTemplates enable you to leverage Chef without hosting your own Chef Server. ServerTemplates provide base MultiCloud Images, supporting many operating systems across public and private clouds. ServerTemplates define the Chef recipes you want run on your nodes, similar to Chef roles. RightScale pulls your recipes from cookbooks in Git, SVN, or a remote file store and passes these to your nodes. RightLink, the RightScale agent bundled with each ServerTemplate, executes your Chef code and any other RightScripts you may have listed.

Bring Your Own Chef Server: If you want to bring your own Chef Server, you can still get many of the benefits of RightScale. When provisioning nodes, use a ServerTemplate with the Initial Chef Run RightScript that defines the node’s role and contains information about your Chef Server. Additional RightScripts are available for connecting and deleting Chef nodes.

Get started with the RightScale Free Edition today.