Install the Chef Infra Server

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There are three configuration scenarios for the Chef Infra Server:

• Standalone (everything on a single machine)
• High availability (machines configured for front-end and back-end, allowing for failover on the back-end and load-balancing on the front-end, as required)
• Tiered (machines configured for front-end and back-end, with a single back-end and load-balancing on the front-end, as required)

Supported Platforms

The following table lists the commercially-supported platforms and versions for the Chef Infra Server:

Prerequisites

The Chef Infra Server has the following prerequisites:

• An x86_64 compatible system architecture; Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS may require updates prior to installation
• A resolvable hostname that is specified using a FQDN or an IP address
• A connection to Network Time Protocol (NTP) to prevent clock drift
• If host-based firewalls (iptables, ufw, etc.) are being used, ensure that ports 80 and 443 are open. See the firewalls section of the install prerequisites for additional details.
• A local mail transfer agent that allows the Chef Infra Server to send email notifications
• Using cron and the /etc/cron.d directory for periodic maintenance tasks
• Disabling the Apache Qpid daemon on CentOS and Red Hat systems. See the Apache Qpid of the prerequisite documentation for detailed steps.
• Optional. A local user account under which services will run, a local user account for PostgreSQL, and a group account under which services will run. See UIDs and GIDs for more information.

Standalone

The standalone installation of Chef Infra Server creates a working installation on a single server. This installation is also useful when you are installing Chef Infra Server in a virtual machine, for proof-of-concept deployments, or as a part of a development or testing loop.

To install Chef Infra Server:

1. Download the package from https://downloads.chef.io/chef-server/.

2. Upload the package to the machine that will run the Chef Infra Server, and then record its location on the file system. The rest of these steps assume this location is in the /tmp directory.

3. As a root user, install the Chef Infra Server package on the server, using the name of the package provided by Chef. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS:

   sudo rpm -Uvh /tmp/chef-server-core-<version>.rpm
   

   For Ubuntu:

   sudo dpkg -i /tmp/chef-server-core-<version>.deb
   

   After a few minutes, the Chef Infra Server will be installed.

4. Run the following to start all of the services:

   sudo chef-server-ctl reconfigure
   

   Because the Chef Infra Server is composed of many different services that work together to create a functioning system, this step may take a few minutes to complete.

5. Run the following command to create an administrator:

   sudo chef-server-ctl user-create USER_NAME FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME EMAIL 'PASSWORD' --filename FILE_NAME
   

   An RSA private key is generated automatically. This is the user’s private key and should be saved to a safe location. The --filename option will save the RSA private key to the specified absolute path.

   For example:

   sudo chef-server-ctl user-create janedoe Jane Doe janed@example.com 'abc123' --filename /path/to/janedoe.pem
   

6. Run the following command to create an organization:

   sudo chef-server-ctl org-create short_name 'full_organization_name' --association_user user_name --filename ORGANIZATION-validator.pem
   

   For example:

   sudo chef-server-ctl org-create 4thcoffee 'Fourth Coffee, Inc.' --association_user janedoe --filename /path/to/4thcoffee-validator.pem
   

   The name must begin with a lower-case letter or digit, may only contain lower-case letters, digits, hyphens, and underscores, and must be between 1 and 255 characters. For example: 4thcoffee.

   The full name must begin with a non-white space character and must be between 1 and 1023 characters. For example: 'Fourth Coffee, Inc.'.

   The --association_user option will associate the user_name with the admins security group on the Chef Infra Server.

   An RSA private key is generated automatically. This is the chef-validator key and should be saved to a safe location. The --filename option will save the RSA private key to the specified absolute path.

Update Configuration for Purchased Nodes

To use more than 25 nodes, you’ll need to change Chef Infra Server configuration for the server to recognize your purchased licenses. Edit your /etc/opscode/chef-server.rb file by following the process below:

1. On your Chef Infra Server, if the chef-server.rb file does not exist, create it.

   sudo mkdir /etc/opscode && sudo touch /etc/opscode/chef-server.rb
   

2. Open up the newly created chef-server.rb file in your favorite text editor, for example:

   sudo vi /etc/opscode/chef-server.rb
   

3. Paste or add the following text. Please note the placement of the single quotation (') marks. If you’re using the vi text editor, you’ll need to use the i key to insert the text.

   license['nodes'] = N where N is the number of licensed nodes you have purchased
   

4. Save the file. If you’re using vi, from the example above, use the esc key and then:

   :wq
   

5. Run chef-server-ctl reconfigure for the changes to be picked up by your Chef Infra Server.

   sudo chef-server-ctl reconfigure
   

For more information on configuring your Chef Infra Server, see chef-server.rb Settings and chef-server.rb Optional Settings.

High Availability

The following links describe how to configure the Chef Infra Server for high availability. The Backend Cluster setup is strongly recommended for new installations:

• High Availability using Backend Cluster

Tiered (Single Backend)

The following link describes how to configure the Chef Infra Server with a single backend machine and multiple frontend machines. Note that this process has been deprecated in favor of a Backend Cluster setup:

• Tiered Installation