Workstation OS for working with MS Windows Servers

Hi,
I am going to need to build some servers that runs on Win OS? Is it recommended to use a Windows workstation + ChefDK or can i use my Ubuntu Workstation that have the chefDK installed?

Either will work just fine and the experience is similar thanks to the
chefdk.

You should use the platform your are most comfortable with for development.

During the knife bootstrap of a windows node does the knife uses something similiar to ssh by itself or do i need to install anything new on my ubuntu machine?

i tested using the knife-solo, and i am trying the usual way that i do in the unix nodes. The connection to the node is where its failing.

PS C:\workspace\jenkins> knife solo prepare Administrator@ec2-.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com -i 'C:\Users
\niristotle.okram\Downloads\windows.pem’
WARNING: No knife configuration file found
Bootstrapping Chef…
ERROR: RuntimeError: Unable to connect to ec2-.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com
PS C:\workspace\jenkins> knife solo prepare Administrator@ec2-.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com -i ‘C:\Users
\niristotle.okram\Downloads\windows.pem’ -VV
WARNING: No knife configuration file found
Bootstrapping Chef…
C:/Users/niristotle.okram/AppData/Local/chefdk/gem/ruby/2.1.0/gems/knife-solo-0.5.1/lib/knife-solo/ssh_command.rb:193:in
rescue in detect_authentication_method': Unable to connect to ec2-.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com (Runti meError) from C:/Users/niristotle.okram/AppData/Local/chefdk/gem/ruby/2.1.0/gems/knife-solo-0.5.1/lib/knife-solo/ssh_comm and.rb:190:indetect_authentication_method’
from C:/Users/niristotle.okram/AppData/Local/chefdk/gem/ruby/2.1.0/gems/knife-solo-0.5.1/lib/knife-solo/ssh_comm
and.rb:287:in run_command' from C:/Users/niristotle.okram/AppData/Local/chefdk/gem/ruby/2.1.0/gems/knife-solo-0.5.1/lib/chef/knife/solo_pre pare.rb:71:inoperating_system’
from C:/Users/niristotle.okram/AppData/Local/chefdk/gem/ruby/2.1.0/gems/knife-solo-0.5.1/lib/chef/knife/solo_pre
pare.rb:67:in bootstrap' from C:/Users/niristotle.okram/AppData/Local/chefdk/gem/ruby/2.1.0/gems/knife-solo-0.5.1/lib/chef/knife/solo_pre pare.rb:57:inrun’
from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.5.1-universal-mingw32/lib/chef/knife.rb:405:in
block in run_with_pretty_exceptions' from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.5.1-universal-mingw32/lib/chef/local_mode.rb:44 :inwith_server_connectivity’
from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.5.1-universal-mingw32/lib/chef/knife.rb:404:in
run_with_pretty_exceptions' from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.5.1-universal-mingw32/lib/chef/knife.rb:203:inrun’
from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.5.1-universal-mingw32/lib/chef/application/knif
e.rb:142:in run' from C:/opscode/chefdk/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.5.1-universal-mingw32/bin/knife:25:in<top (re
quired)>'
from C:/opscode/chefdk/bin/knife:64:in load' from C:/opscode/chefdk/bin/knife:64:in

Looks like knife solo doesn’t support WinRM or anything other than SSH: https://matschaffer.github.io/knife-solo/#label-Windows+support