# Re: Single chef server vs. multiple chef servers - pros and cons?

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/re-single-chef-server-vs-multiple-chef-servers-pros-and-cons/5846>\
**Category:** Chef Infra (archive)\
**Created:** [October 24, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/re-single-chef-server-vs-multiple-chef-servers-pros-and-cons/5846 "2014-10-24T13:39:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chris\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@Chris\_F](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Chris_F)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/re-single-chef-server-vs-multiple-chef-servers-pros-and-cons/5846/1 "2014-10-24T13:39:54Z")

</div>

I explored Berkshelf but it does NOT work with SVN though, which is what we have. So I can’t do this in my Berksfile

cookbook ‘my\_company\_cookbook’, svn: 'https://my\_svn\_repo.com/sompath/my\_company\_cookbook’

Chris

From: Yauhen Artsiukhou [[mailto:jsirex@gmail.com](mailto:jsirex@gmail.com)]  
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2014 6:01 AM  
To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Single chef server vs. multiple chef servers - pros and cons?

After first read, policy file looks very complicated. Especially if I have many cookbooks with its own policyfiles. How it would be merged?

To solve environment-cookbook pattern with berkshelf I've decided to remove cookbook itself and leave only Berksfile with list of top-level cookbooks.  
This Berkfile has two sources:

1. Berkshelf API (proxy to my Chef Server, hope berkshelf will work with chef server api directly in next releases)
2. Community Site

Now you can do something like 'berks install', 'berks upload' for updating cookbook information.  
Then, stage by stage you can do:

1. berks apply dev
2. knife ssh "chef\_environment:dev" "sudo chef-client # force global reconfiguration
3. 
4. berks apply qa
5. knife ssh "chef\_environment:qa" "sudo chef-client # force global reconfiguration
6. Test all
7. berks apply production

2014-10-23 21:13 GMT+03:00 Fouts, Chris \<[Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com)[mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com)\>:  
Yes, I'll look into the PolicyFile feature. Thanks!

Chris

-----Original Message-----  
From: Daniel DeLeo [[mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com](mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com)[mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com](mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com)] On Behalf Of Daniel DeLeo  
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2014 1:47 PM  
To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)[mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Single chef server vs. multiple chef servers - pros and cons?

On Thursday, October 23, 2014 at 10:38 AM, Fouts, Chris wrote:

> Thanks Phil, I’m doing this NOW, and yes, I’m disciplined enough to update my metadata.rb files, and to pick up the correct version in my environments. However, one flaw of Chef (IMO) is that environments and roles are not versioned, so someone can upload an environment with a bad cookbook version to the Chef server. IOW, there is no built-in Chef mechanism to catch this “easy to screw up” process.
> 
> Chris

This isn’t viable in the short term, but we’re working on some features to address these problems (the “Policyfile” feature mentioned earlier in this thread). There’s a lot of information in the release announcement for ChefDK 0.3.0: [ChefDK 0.3.0 Released! Introducing Policyfiles - Chef Blog | Chef](https://www.getchef.com/blog/2014/10/02/chefdk-0-3-0-released-introducing-policyfiles/)

I can’t give you a timeline for when we expect this to be production ready, but it’s something you might wish to consider if you’re considering making drastic changes to your workflow.

--  
Daniel DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Yauhen\_Artsiukhou](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/yauhen_artsiukhou/32/112_2.png) [@Yauhen\_Artsiukhou](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Yauhen_Artsiukhou)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 12:50pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/re-single-chef-server-vs-multiple-chef-servers-pros-and-cons/5846/2 "2014-10-25T12:50:44Z")

</div>

Chris, I'm not using svn/git or other such sources in environment  
Berksfile. Depends on your workflow Berksfile has only source to Chef  
Server or to Chef Server and community Chef Supermarket. Thats all.

First case workflow:

1. You develop/test and upload to chef server each cookbook separately with  
its dependencies.
2. When you're ready you just say with Berkshelf to your chef server: "Hey,  
here is list of cookbooks I need with its version. Chef Server, look at  
your uploaded cookbooks, solve dependencies and apply it."

Here is Sample of Pseudo Environment Berksfile:  
source "[http://my-chef-server-via-berkshelf-api:4000](http://my-chef-server-via-berkshelf-api:4000)"

cookbook "my-cookbook1", "= 1.2.3"  
cookbook "my-cookbook2", "= 2.3.4"  
cookbook "my-base", "~\> 1.0" # also allowed, but I prefer to use explicit  
version  
cookbook "apache2", "~\>2.1"

If some of required cookbook or its dependencies cannot be solved you'll  
have to manually fix it (upload required cookbooks)

For me this is pretty new workflow and it still contains some minor bugs,  
but it already works.  
Hope it helps somebody.

2014-10-24 16:39 GMT+03:00 Fouts, Chris [Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com):

> I explored Berkshelf but it does NOT work with SVN though, which is what  
> we have. So I can’t do this in my Berksfile
> 
> cookbook ‘my\_company\_cookbook’, svn: 'https://my\_svn\_repo.com/sompath/my\_company\_cookbook’
> 
> Chris
> 
> _From:_ Yauhen Artsiukhou [[mailto:jsirex@gmail.com](mailto:jsirex@gmail.com)]  
> _Sent:_ Friday, October 24, 2014 6:01 AM  
> _To:_ [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
> _Subject:_ [chef] Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Single chef server vs.  
> multiple chef servers - pros and cons?
> 
> After first read, policy file looks very complicated. Especially if I have  
> many cookbooks with its own policyfiles. How it would be merged?
> 
> To solve environment-cookbook pattern with berkshelf I've decided to  
> remove cookbook itself and leave only Berksfile with list of top-level  
> cookbooks.
> 
> This Berkfile has two sources:
> 
> 1. Berkshelf API (proxy to my Chef Server, hope berkshelf will work with  
> chef server api directly in next releases)
> 
> 2. Community Site
> 
> Now you can do something like 'berks install', 'berks upload' for updating  
> cookbook information.
> 
> Then, stage by stage you can do:
> 
> 1. berks apply dev
> 
> 2. knife ssh "chef\_environment:dev" "sudo chef-client # force global  
> reconfiguration
> 
> 3. 
> 4. berks apply qa
> 
> 5. knife ssh "chef\_environment:qa" "sudo chef-client # force global  
> reconfiguration
> 
> 6. Test all
> 
> 7. berks apply production
> 
> 2014-10-23 21:13 GMT+03:00 Fouts, Chris [Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com):
> 
> Yes, I'll look into the PolicyFile feature. Thanks!
> 
> Chris
> 
> -----Original Message-----  
> From: Daniel DeLeo [[mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com](mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com)] On Behalf Of Daniel DeLeo  
> Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2014 1:47 PM  
> To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
> Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Single chef server vs. multiple chef  
> servers - pros and cons?
> 
> On Thursday, October 23, 2014 at 10:38 AM, Fouts, Chris wrote:
> 
> > Thanks Phil, I’m doing this NOW, and yes, I’m disciplined enough to  
> > update my metadata.rb files, and to pick up the correct version in my  
> > environments. However, one flaw of Chef (IMO) is that environments and  
> > roles are not versioned, so someone can upload an environment with a bad  
> > cookbook version to the Chef server. IOW, there is no built-in Chef  
> > mechanism to catch this “easy to screw up” process.
> > 
> > Chris
> 
> This isn’t viable in the short term, but we’re working on some features to  
> address these problems (the “Policyfile” feature mentioned earlier in this  
> thread). There’s a lot of information in the release announcement for  
> ChefDK 0.3.0:  
> [ChefDK 0.3.0 Released! Introducing Policyfiles - Chef Blog | Chef](https://www.getchef.com/blog/2014/10/02/chefdk-0-3-0-released-introducing-policyfiles/)
> 
> I can’t give you a timeline for when we expect this to be production  
> ready, but it’s something you might wish to consider if you’re considering  
> making drastic changes to your workflow.
> 
> --  
> Daniel DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chris\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@Chris\_F](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Chris_F)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 12:44pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/re-single-chef-server-vs-multiple-chef-servers-pros-and-cons/5846/3 "2014-10-30T12:44:38Z")

</div>

Thank you!

In your example, if “my\_cookbook1” (or the others) are NOT in my local workstation but are in some file repository (SVN in my case), how, where, and when will Berkshelf fetched (cleckout) from my repository to my workstation, and then eventually uploaded to the chef server. I’m missing this workflow using Berkshelf

File repo \<-----\> Chef workstation \<----\> Chef server

Chris

From: Yauhen Artsiukhou [[mailto:jsirex@gmail.com](mailto:jsirex@gmail.com)]  
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2014 8:51 AM  
To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
Subject: [chef] Re: Re: Single chef server vs. multiple chef servers - pros and cons?

Chris, I'm not using svn/git or other such sources in environment Berksfile. Depends on your workflow Berksfile has only source to Chef Server or to Chef Server and community Chef Supermarket. Thats all.

First case workflow:

1. You develop/test and upload to chef server each cookbook separately with its dependencies.
2. When you're ready you just say with Berkshelf to your chef server: "Hey, here is list of cookbooks I need with its version. Chef Server, look at your uploaded cookbooks, solve dependencies and apply it."

Here is Sample of Pseudo Environment Berksfile:  
source "[http://my-chef-server-via-berkshelf-api:4000](http://my-chef-server-via-berkshelf-api:4000)"

cookbook "my-cookbook1", "= 1.2.3"  
cookbook "my-cookbook2", "= 2.3.4"  
cookbook "my-base", "~\> 1.0" # also allowed, but I prefer to use explicit version  
cookbook "apache2", "~\>2.1"

If some of required cookbook or its dependencies cannot be solved you'll have to manually fix it (upload required cookbooks)

For me this is pretty new workflow and it still contains some minor bugs, but it already works.  
Hope it helps somebody.

2014-10-24 16:39 GMT+03:00 Fouts, Chris \<[Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com)[mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com)\>:  
I explored Berkshelf but it does NOT work with SVN though, which is what we have. So I can’t do this in my Berksfile

cookbook ‘my\_company\_cookbook’, svn: 'https://my\_svn\_repo.com/sompath/my\_company\_cookbook’

Chris

From: Yauhen Artsiukhou [[mailto:jsirex@gmail.com](mailto:jsirex@gmail.com)[mailto:jsirex@gmail.com](mailto:jsirex@gmail.com)]  
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2014 6:01 AM  
To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)[mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Single chef server vs. multiple chef servers - pros and cons?

After first read, policy file looks very complicated. Especially if I have many cookbooks with its own policyfiles. How it would be merged?

To solve environment-cookbook pattern with berkshelf I've decided to remove cookbook itself and leave only Berksfile with list of top-level cookbooks.  
This Berkfile has two sources:

1. Berkshelf API (proxy to my Chef Server, hope berkshelf will work with chef server api directly in next releases)
2. Community Site

Now you can do something like 'berks install', 'berks upload' for updating cookbook information.  
Then, stage by stage you can do:

1. berks apply dev
2. knife ssh "chef\_environment:dev" "sudo chef-client # force global reconfiguration
3. 
4. berks apply qa
5. knife ssh "chef\_environment:qa" "sudo chef-client # force global reconfiguration
6. Test all
7. berks apply production

2014-10-23 21:13 GMT+03:00 Fouts, Chris \<[Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com)[mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com)\>:  
Yes, I'll look into the PolicyFile feature. Thanks!

Chris

-----Original Message-----  
From: Daniel DeLeo [[mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com](mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com)[mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com](mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com)] On Behalf Of Daniel DeLeo  
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2014 1:47 PM  
To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)[mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Single chef server vs. multiple chef servers - pros and cons?

On Thursday, October 23, 2014 at 10:38 AM, Fouts, Chris wrote:

> Thanks Phil, I’m doing this NOW, and yes, I’m disciplined enough to update my metadata.rb files, and to pick up the correct version in my environments. However, one flaw of Chef (IMO) is that environments and roles are not versioned, so someone can upload an environment with a bad cookbook version to the Chef server. IOW, there is no built-in Chef mechanism to catch this “easy to screw up” process.
> 
> Chris

This isn’t viable in the short term, but we’re working on some features to address these problems (the “Policyfile” feature mentioned earlier in this thread). There’s a lot of information in the release announcement for ChefDK 0.3.0: [ChefDK 0.3.0 Released! Introducing Policyfiles - Chef Blog | Chef](https://www.getchef.com/blog/2014/10/02/chefdk-0-3-0-released-introducing-policyfiles/)

I can’t give you a timeline for when we expect this to be production ready, but it’s something you might wish to consider if you’re considering making drastic changes to your workflow.

--  
Daniel DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chris\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@Chris\_F](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Chris_F)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/re-single-chef-server-vs-multiple-chef-servers-pros-and-cons/5846/4 "2014-11-03T18:20:53Z")

</div>

I was enlightened on this during the Chef Intermediate class I just took. If I want to use Berkshelf, I would have to do in two steps since I have SVN, on what would normally be done with one step with a git repo. I’ll have to

- 

```
   svn checkout my cookbooks to a local directory structure

```

- 

```
   Use my Berksfile to refer to the the paths in above directory structure

```

Chris

From: Fouts, Chris [[mailto:Chris.Fouts@Sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@Sensus.com)]  
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2014 8:45 AM  
To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
Subject: [chef] RE: Re: Re: Single chef server vs. multiple chef servers - pros and cons?

Thank you!

In your example, if “my\_cookbook1” (or the others) are NOT in my local workstation but are in some file repository (SVN in my case), how, where, and when will Berkshelf fetched (cleckout) from my repository to my workstation, and then eventually uploaded to the chef server. I’m missing this workflow using Berkshelf

File repo \<-----\> Chef workstation \<----\> Chef server

Chris

From: Yauhen Artsiukhou [[mailto:jsirex@gmail.com](mailto:jsirex@gmail.com)]  
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2014 8:51 AM  
To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)[mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
Subject: [chef] Re: Re: Single chef server vs. multiple chef servers - pros and cons?

Chris, I'm not using svn/git or other such sources in environment Berksfile. Depends on your workflow Berksfile has only source to Chef Server or to Chef Server and community Chef Supermarket. Thats all.

First case workflow:

1. You develop/test and upload to chef server each cookbook separately with its dependencies.
2. When you're ready you just say with Berkshelf to your chef server: "Hey, here is list of cookbooks I need with its version. Chef Server, look at your uploaded cookbooks, solve dependencies and apply it."

Here is Sample of Pseudo Environment Berksfile:  
source "[http://my-chef-server-via-berkshelf-api:4000](http://my-chef-server-via-berkshelf-api:4000)"

cookbook "my-cookbook1", "= 1.2.3"  
cookbook "my-cookbook2", "= 2.3.4"  
cookbook "my-base", "~\> 1.0" # also allowed, but I prefer to use explicit version  
cookbook "apache2", "~\>2.1"

If some of required cookbook or its dependencies cannot be solved you'll have to manually fix it (upload required cookbooks)

For me this is pretty new workflow and it still contains some minor bugs, but it already works.  
Hope it helps somebody.

2014-10-24 16:39 GMT+03:00 Fouts, Chris \<[Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com)[mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com)\>:  
I explored Berkshelf but it does NOT work with SVN though, which is what we have. So I can’t do this in my Berksfile

cookbook ‘my\_company\_cookbook’, svn: 'https://my\_svn\_repo.com/sompath/my\_company\_cookbook’

Chris

From: Yauhen Artsiukhou [[mailto:jsirex@gmail.com](mailto:jsirex@gmail.com)[mailto:jsirex@gmail.com](mailto:jsirex@gmail.com)]  
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2014 6:01 AM  
To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)[mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Single chef server vs. multiple chef servers - pros and cons?

After first read, policy file looks very complicated. Especially if I have many cookbooks with its own policyfiles. How it would be merged?

To solve environment-cookbook pattern with berkshelf I've decided to remove cookbook itself and leave only Berksfile with list of top-level cookbooks.  
This Berkfile has two sources:

1. Berkshelf API (proxy to my Chef Server, hope berkshelf will work with chef server api directly in next releases)
2. Community Site

Now you can do something like 'berks install', 'berks upload' for updating cookbook information.  
Then, stage by stage you can do:

1. berks apply dev
2. knife ssh "chef\_environment:dev" "sudo chef-client # force global reconfiguration
3. 
4. berks apply qa
5. knife ssh "chef\_environment:qa" "sudo chef-client # force global reconfiguration
6. Test all
7. berks apply production

2014-10-23 21:13 GMT+03:00 Fouts, Chris \<[Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com)[mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com](mailto:Chris.Fouts@sensus.com)\>:  
Yes, I'll look into the PolicyFile feature. Thanks!

Chris

-----Original Message-----  
From: Daniel DeLeo [[mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com](mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com)[mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com](mailto:ddeleo@kallistec.com)] On Behalf Of Daniel DeLeo  
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2014 1:47 PM  
To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)[mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Single chef server vs. multiple chef servers - pros and cons?

On Thursday, October 23, 2014 at 10:38 AM, Fouts, Chris wrote:

> Thanks Phil, I’m doing this NOW, and yes, I’m disciplined enough to update my metadata.rb files, and to pick up the correct version in my environments. However, one flaw of Chef (IMO) is that environments and roles are not versioned, so someone can upload an environment with a bad cookbook version to the Chef server. IOW, there is no built-in Chef mechanism to catch this “easy to screw up” process.
> 
> Chris

This isn’t viable in the short term, but we’re working on some features to address these problems (the “Policyfile” feature mentioned earlier in this thread). There’s a lot of information in the release announcement for ChefDK 0.3.0: [ChefDK 0.3.0 Released! Introducing Policyfiles - Chef Blog | Chef](https://www.getchef.com/blog/2014/10/02/chefdk-0-3-0-released-introducing-policyfiles/)

I can’t give you a timeline for when we expect this to be production ready, but it’s something you might wish to consider if you’re considering making drastic changes to your workflow.

--  
Daniel DeLeo