[RESOLVED] Can we use chefDK only to automate, without having a Chef server/cookbooks/routines?

Chef Infra (archive)
1

I am very new to chef / DevOps
I have installed chef DK & knife plugin.

chef gem install knife-vsphere
gem install knife-vsphere

Now I am able to access vmware vsphere, I can get list of VMs, create VMs, etc.

knife vsphere vm list
knife vsphere vm clone Windows10

Also I am able to access VMs remotely using execute command & run executables/commands remotely.

knife vsphere vm execute Windows10 C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\test.bat

I have not connected to chef server/cookbooks/routines. Will I be able to automate installation of an application ? Is chef server necessary? How can I start the process to automate the process of creating an VM & installing required applications in it? Could you please guide me in this regard. THANKS in Advance.

2

Having a Chef server has many benefits but if you are looking to not go that route I would suggest using Packer with the built-in chef solo provisioner to create a machine image for deployment

first things first, you likely need to create a wrapper cookbook to automate some type of installation/configuration task to use for testing