Jamie Winsor and a team of engineers created Berkshelf to help take the sting out of Chef’s learning curve. After encountering numerous challenges while developing Chef cookbooks, Jamie was inspired to create a tool based on criteria that’d be important for a developer’s productivity. Berkshelf, like Rebar, Go, or Mix, is a source code management tool.

1. JAMIE WINSOR| SOFTWARE ENGINEER
THE BERKSHELF WAY

2. LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

6. ME IN
2009
200
9
201
0
201
1
201
2

7. 200
9
201
0
201
1
201
2
MY CHEF
REPO IN
2010

8. 200
9
201
0
201
1
201
2
AND IN
2011…

9. 200
9
201
0
201
1
201
2
…FROM
2012
AND ON

11. WHAT’S
BERKSH
ELF?
‣ A COMMAND LINE
TOOL
‣ A SOURCE CODE
MANAGEMENT TOOL
▾ Similar to ‘Mix’, ‘Go’, or
‘Leiningen’
‣ A PACKAGE MANAGER
▾ Similar to ‘Gem’, ‘Apt’, or ‘Yum’
‣ REPLACES PORTIONS
OF KNIFE
▾ Cookbook Generator, Cookbook
Uploader, Cookbook Downloader

12. WHY IS IT CALLED BERKSHELF?

13. INTRO TO
COOKBOOKS:60

14. COOKBOOKS ARE FED INTO CHEF
NGINX
COOKBOO
K
1.2
.3 Chef-Client /
Chef-Solo

15. RECIPES GO IN COOKBOOKS
NGINX
COOKBOO
K
1.2
.3
RECI
PE
RECI
PE
RECI
PE

16. RECIPES CONTAIN RESOURCE
COLLECTIONS
DEFAU
LT
PACKAGE NGINX
SERVICE NGINX
REPO
YUM_REPOSI
TORY
NGINX
YUM_KEY NGINX
NGINX
COOKBOO
K
1.2
.3

17. EXAMPLE RESOURCE
1
2
3
package “nginx” do
action :install
end
PACKAGE NGINX

18. INTRO TO
BERKSHELF5min

19. INSTALL BERKSHELF
$ gem install berkshelf
Successfully installed berkshelf-1.4.0
1 gem installed

20. CREATE A NEW COOKBOOK
$ berks cookbook myface
create myface/files/default
create myface/templates/default
create myface/attributes
create myface/definitions
create myface/libraries
create myface/providers
create myface/recipes
create myface/resources
create myface/recipes/default.rb
create myface/metadata.rb
create myface/LICENSE
create myface/README.md
create myface/Berksfile
create myface/chefignore
create myface/.gitignore
run git init from "./myface"
create myface/Gemfile
create myface/Vagrantfile
Using myface (0.1.0) at path: '/Users/reset/code/riot-cookbooks/myface'

21. CONVERT AN EXISTING COOKBOOK
$ berks init
create Berksfile
create chefignore
create .gitignore
run git init from "."
create Gemfile
create Vagrantfile
Using old_cookbook (0.1.0) at path: '/Users/reset/code/riot-cookbooks/old_cookbook'
Successfully initialized

22. STUCK? ASK FOR HELP!
$ berks cookbook –h
Usage:
berks cookbook NAME
Options:
[--foodcritic] # Creates a Thorfile with Foodcritic support to lint test your cookbook
[--chef-minitest] # Creates chef-minitest support files and directories, adds minitest-handler …
[--scmversion] # Creates a Thorfile with SCMVersion support to manage versions for continuous
integration
-L, [--license=LICENSE] # License for cookbook (apachev2, gplv2, gplv3, mit, reserved)
# Default: reserved
-m, [--maintainer=MAINTAINER] # Name of cookbook maintainer
-e, [--maintainer-email=MAINTAINER_EMAIL] # Email address of cookbook maintainer
[--no-bundler] # Skips generation of a Gemfile and other Bundler specific support
[--skip-vagrant] # Skips adding a Vagrantfile and adding supporting gems to the Gemfile
[--skip-git] # Skips adding a .gitignore and running git init in the cookbook directory
-c, [--config=PATH] # Path to Berkshelf configuration to use.
-F, [--format=FORMAT] # Output format to use.
# Default: human
-q, [--quiet] # Silence all informational output.
-d, [--debug] # Output debug information
Create a skeleton for a new cookbook

23. A COMPLETE EXAMPLE
CHEF-
SERVE
RCOOKBOO
K
1.2
.3
"## Berksfile
"## CHANGELOG.md
"## CONTRIBUTING.md
"## Gemfile
"## LICENSE
"## README.md
"## Thorfile
"## Vagrantfile
"## attributes
$ &## default.rb
"## chefignore
"## libraries
$ "## dev_helper.rb
$ &## omnitruck_client.rb
"## metadata.rb
"## recipes
$ "## default.rb
$ &## dev.rb
&## templates
&## default
&## chef-server.rb.erb
Berksfile
metadata.rb

24. METADATA IS IMPORTANT
COOKB
OOK

25. COOKB
OOK
METADATA IS IMPORTANT
CHEF-
SERVE
R
THE NAME OF THE
COOKBOOK

26. COOKB
OOK
CHEF-
SERVE
R
METADATA IS IMPORTANT
V2.0.0 THE VERSION OF THE
COOKBOOK
FOLLOW SEMVER: HTTP://SEMVER.ORG/

27. METADATA IS IMPORTANT
COOKBO
OK
YUM
V1.2.3
COOKBO
OK
CHEF-
SERVER
V1.2.3
COOKBO
OK
APT
V1.2.3
Red Hat CentOS Ubuntu
SET YOUR SUPPORTED PLATFORMS
CentOS Ubuntu
Red Hat

28. METADATA IS IMPORTANT
COOKBO
OK
YUM
V1.2.3
SET WHAT COOKBOOKS YOU DEPEND ON
COOKBO
OK
CHEF-
SERVER
V1.2.3
COOKBO
OK
APT
V1.2.3
SUPPORTED
PLATFORMS
SUPPORTED
PLATFORMS
SUPPORTED
PLATFORMS

29. CHEF-SERVER COOKBOOK’S METADATA
name "chef-server"
maintainer "Opscode, Inc."
maintainer_email "cookbooks@opscode.com"
license "Apache 2.0"
description "Installs and configures Chef Server"
long_description IO.read(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'README.md'))
version "2.0.0"
depends "apt", ">= 1.7.0"
depends "yum", ">= 0.5.0"
%w{ ubuntu redhat centos fedora amazon scientific oracle }.each do |os|
supports os
end

30. IT STARTS WITH A BERKSFILE
"## Berksfile
"## CHANGELOG.md
"## CONTRIBUTING.md
"## Gemfile
"## LICENSE
"## README.md
"## Thorfile
"## Vagrantfile
"## attributes
$ &## default.rb
"## chefignore
"## libraries
$ "## dev_helper.rb
$ &## omnitruck_client.rb
"## metadata.rb
"## recipes
$ "## default.rb
$ &## dev.rb
&## templates
&## default
&## chef-server.rb.erb
Berksfile
site :opscode
metadata
group :dev do
cookbook 'git'
end
Berksfile

31. INSTALLING COOKBOOKS
Using chef-server (2.0.0) at path: '/Users/reset/code/riot-cookbooks/chef-server'
Installing git (2.5.0) from site: 'http://cookbooks.opscode.com/api/v1/cookbooks'
Installing apt (1.9.2) from site: 'http://cookbooks.opscode.com/api/v1/cookbooks'
Installing yum (2.2.0) from site: 'http://cookbooks.opscode.com/api/v1/cookbooks'
Installing dmg (1.1.0) from site: 'http://cookbooks.opscode.com/api/v1/cookbooks'
Installing build-essential (1.4.0) from site: 'http://cookbooks.opscode.com/api/v1/cookbooks'
Installing windows (1.8.8) from site: 'http://cookbooks.opscode.com/api/v1/cookbooks'
Installing chef_handler (1.1.4) from site: 'http://cookbooks.opscode.com/api/v1/cookbooks'
Installing runit (1.1.2) from site: 'http://cookbooks.opscode.com/api/v1/cookbooks'
$ berks install

32. INSTALLED TO WHERE?
$ ls ~/.berkshelf/cookbooks
apache2-1.6.0 chef_handler-1.1.4 known_host-0.1.3 nginx-1.3.0 riot_chef-client-2.0.7 tsf4g-0.0.14
apt-1.9.0 couchdb-2.4.0 liquibase-0.0.1 not_system_ruby-0.1.7 riot_coherence-0.10.12 ucspi-tcp-1.0.0
ark-0.0.11 cron-1.0.4 logrotate-0.8.2 ntp-1.1.8 riot_ejabberd-0.0.152 ulimit-0.1.3
artifact-0.10.10 daemontools-1.0.0 logrotate-1.1.0 ohai-1.1.6 riot_ejabberd-0.0.188 users-1.1.4
artifact-0.10.2 database-1.3.12 lvm-0.8.6 openssl-1.0.0 riot_geoip-0.1.0 vim-1.0.2
artifact-1.2.0 database-1.3.4 magic_shell-0.2.0 postgresql-1.0.0 riot_java-0.1.4 windows-1.8.2
artifact-1.3.1 dmg-1.1.0 man-0.7.0 pvpnet_core-2.3.123 riot_java-0.1.8 xfs-1.0.0
artifact-1.4.0 editor-0.2.0 mysql-1.2.4 pvpnet_core-2.3.131 riot_mysql-2.0.1 xml-1.1.2
aws-0.100.0 erlang-1.2.0 mysql-1.3.0 python-1.2.2 riot_rtview-1.0.1 yum-2.1.0
bluepill-1.1.0 gecode-2.0.0 mysql-2.1.0 rbenv-1.3.2 riot_team-0.9.41 zlib-2.0.0
build-essential-1.1.2 git-2.2.0 mysql-2.1.2 riot_activemq-0.9.28 riot_tomcat-1.0.18
build-essential-1.3.4 hornetq-0.0.27 networking_basic-0.0.5 riot_base-2.7.32 runit-0.16.2
chef-client-2.1.4 java-1.5.0 nexus-1.1.0 riot_base-2.7.37 runit-1.0.4
chef-server-1.1.0 java-1.9.0 nginx-1.2.0 riot_base-2.7.49 sudo-1.2.0

33. UPLOADING COOKBOOKS
Using chef-server (2.0.0) at path: '/Users/reset/code/riot-cookbooks/chef-server'
Using git (2.2.0)
Using apt (1.9.0)
Using yum (2.1.0)
Using dmg (1.1.0)
Using build-essential (1.3.4)
Using windows (1.8.2)
Using chef_handler (1.1.4)
Using runit (0.16.2)
Uploading chef-server (2.0.0) to: 'https://api.opscode.com:443/organizations/vialstudios'
Uploading git (2.2.0) to: 'https://api.opscode.com:443/organizations/vialstudios'
Uploading apt (1.9.0) to: 'https://api.opscode.com:443/organizations/vialstudios'
Uploading yum (2.1.0) to: 'https://api.opscode.com:443/organizations/vialstudios'
Uploading dmg (1.1.0) to: 'https://api.opscode.com:443/organizations/vialstudios'
Uploading build-essential (1.3.4) to: 'https://api.opscode.com:443/organizations/vialstudios'
Uploading windows (1.8.2) to: 'https://api.opscode.com:443/organizations/vialstudios'
Uploading chef_handler (1.1.4) to: 'https://api.opscode.com:443/organizations/vialstudios'
Uploading runit (0.16.2) to: 'https://api.opscode.com:443/organizations/vialstudios'
$ berks upload

34. THEBERKSHEL
F WAY

35. WORK IN
VERTICALS
FROM THE
OUTSIDE-INTHE
BERKSHE
LF
WAY

37. CREATE A
COOKBOOK
FOR YOUR
APPLICATION
COOK
BOOK

38. SERVICES ARE MADE UP OF
COMPONENTS
1 app servers
2 cache servers
3 database servers
4 background workers
5 load balancers
6 etc

39. APPLY A DESIGN PATTERN

40. APPLICATION
COOKBOOK
PATTERN
COOK
BOOK

41. COOKB
OOK
MYFA
CE

42. COMPONENTS OF MYFACE
1 load balancer
2 application server proxy
3 caching service
4 application server
5 background worker
6 database server

43. MAP
COMPONEN
TS
TO RECIPES
RECI
PE
RECI
PE
RECI
PE
RECI
PE

44. RECIPES OF MYFACE
myface::default
myface::load_balancer
myface::app_proxy
myface::app_server
myface::cache_server
myface::worker_pool
myface::database_server

45. CRACK OPEN
MYFACE::DATABASE_SERVER
node.set[:mysql][:port] = 3309
node.set[:mysql][:tunable][:max_connections] = 1000
include_recipe "myface::_common_system"
include_recipe "mysql::server"

46. PUBLIC/PRIVATE RECIPES
PUBLIC RECIPE
‣ What you put in the
run_list of a node
‣ Documented in the
README
‣ Documented in the
metadata
PRIVATE RECIPE
‣ Not exposed to end user
‣ Should never be put in
the run_list of a node
‣ Always included into
other recipes
‣ Documented in the code
for other developers

47. WHAT’S IN
MYFACE::_COMMON_SYSTEM?
include_recipe "ntp::default"
# . . . MAYBE SETUP SOME USERS . . .
# . . . MAYBE SETUP SOME ADDITIONAL REPOS . . .

48. WORK IN
VERTICALS
FROM THE
OUTSIDE-INFAVOR DATA-
DRIVEN
COOKBOOKS
THE
BERKSHE
LF
WAY

49. COOK
BOOK
CHANGE A
COOKBOOK'S
BEHAVIOR AT
RUNTIME

50. TUNABLES OF MYFACE
1 listen on a different port or bind address
2 set memory usage of workers
3 any app config
4 set services to started or stopped states

51. 3 WAYS TO CONFIGURE
ATTRIBUTES
DATA BAGS
ENCRYPTED DATA BAGS

52. FAVOR CONFIGURING WITH ATTRIBUTES
‣ Path of least resistance for cookbook consumers
‣ Provide sensible defaults in the Attribute files
▾ Consider creating an attribute file for each recipe
‣ Can configure your application on an environment
level

53. WHEN TO USE DATA BAGS
USERS
GROUPS
YUM/APT
THINGS CONFIGURED BY "BASE"
COOKBOOK (IF YOU HAVE ONE)
ORGANIZATION LEVEL
CONFIGURATIONS

54. USE ENCRYPTED DATA BAGS
WHEN STORING SENSITIVE
DATA

55. WORK IN
VERTICALS
FROM THE
OUTSIDE-INFAVOR DATA-
DRIVEN
COOKBOOKS
WRITE WELL-
ENCAPSULATED
COOKBOOKS
THE
BERKSHE
LF
WAY

58. NOT VERSIONED
CAN’T BE PACKAGED / DISTRIBUTED
NOT NAMESPACED
STAHP USING ROLES
THEY ARE ORGANIZATION LEVEL DATA
ADDITIONAL SETUP COMPLEXITY FOR
THE USER

60. USE DATA BAGS WHERE THEY MAKE
SENSE
DO YOU NEED TO STORE
ORGANIZATION-WIDE DATA?
DO YOU NEED TO STORE
SENSITIVE DATA?
Use one
Use an encrypted one

61. USE DATA BAGS WHERE THEY MAKE
SENSE
MOST IMPORTANTLY…
VALIDATE YOUR DATA
BAGS!

62. 5 include_recipe "myface::app_proxy"
6 include_recipe "myface::app_server"
7 include_recipe "myface::cache_server"
8 include_recipe "myface::worker_pool"
9 include_recipe "myface::database"
DEFAULTS RECIPE IS SPECIAL

63. LIGHTWEIGHT RESOURCES AND
PROVIDERS (LWRP)
LIBRARIES
DEFINITIONS
COOKBOOKS ARE MORE THAN RECIPES
COOKBOOKS DON’T
NEED TO HAVE RECIPES

64. COOK
BOOK LIBRARY
COOKBOOK
PATTERN

65. LIBRARY COOKBOOKS
‣ Might have recipes, might not
‣ Contain LWRPs, Definitions, or Libraries useful to
other cookbook authors
‣ YUM Cookbook is a perfect example
▾ Contains a yum_key LWRP for adding repository keys to yum
▾ Contains a yum_repository LWRP for adding repositories to yum
▾ Contains some recipes to configure commonly used public yum
repositories on your machine

66. COOK
BOOK WRAPPER
COOKBOOK
PATTERN

67. WRAPPER COOKBOOKS
‣ Super lightweight
‣ Contain recipes
‣ Contain attribute overrides
‣ Riot-Java is a perfect example
▾ Contains a Oracle Java 6 recipe
▾ Contains a Oracle Java 7 recipe
▾ An abstraction on top of the Java cookbook for Riot engineers
▾ Overrides the default “install flavor” for Java
▾ Overrides the default location of the Java artifacts to an internal
location
▾ NOT A FORK OF THE JAVA COOKBOOK

68. WORK IN
VERTICALS
FROM THE
OUTSIDE-INFAVOR DATA-
DRIVEN
COOKBOOKS
WRITE WELL-
ENCAPSULATED
COOKBOOKS
HAVE SHORT
ITERATION
LOOPS
THE
BERKSHE
LF
WAY

69. OLD WORKFLOW
EDIT
COOKBOOK
UPLOAD
COOKBOOK
PROVISION
MACHINE
BOOTSTRAP
MACHINE
RUN
CHEF
CLIENT
SSH
AND
VALIDATE
5-30
minutes

70. NEW WORKFLOW
EDIT
COOKBOOK
VAGRANT
UP
/
VAGRANT
PROVISION
TEST
/
SSH
AND
VALIDATE
5
seconds
–
1
minute

72. BERKSHELF VAGRANT PLUG-IN
$ vagrant plugin install vagrant-berkshelf
Installing the 'vagrant-berkshelf' plugin. This can take a few minutes...
Installed the plugin 'vagrant-berkshelf (1.2.0)'!

73. Bringing machine 'default' up with 'virtualbox' provider...
[Berkshelf] Updating Vagrant's berkshelf: '/Users/reset/.berkshelf/vagrant/berkshelf-20130424-40671-t43soz’
Generating chef JSON and uploading...
Running chef-solo...
[2013-04-25T03:01:31+00:00] INFO: *** Chef 10.14.2 ***
[2013-04-25T03:01:32+00:00] INFO: Setting the run_list to ["recipe[minitest-handler::default]", "recipe[myface::default]"] from JSON
[2013-04-25T03:01:32+00:00] INFO: Starting Chef Run for myface-berkshelf
#### CHEF RUN GOES HERE ####
[2013-04-25T03:02:10+00:00] INFO: Chef Run complete in 38.330025825 seconds
[2013-04-25T03:02:10+00:00] INFO: Running report handlers
Run options: -v --seed 41224
# Running tests:
minitesthandler::default#test_0001_runs_no_tests = 0.00 s = .
myface::default#test_0001_runs_no_tests_by_default =
0.00 s = .
Finished tests in 0.002425s, 824.7576 tests/s, 0.0000 assertions/s.
2 tests, 0 assertions, 0 failures, 0 errors, 0 skips
[2013-04-25T03:02:10+00:00] INFO: Report handlers complete
PROVISION NEW ENVIRONMENT IN
MINUTES
$ vagrant up
1 minute 20 secon

75. Running chef-solo...
[2013-04-25T03:01:31+00:00] INFO: *** Chef 10.14.2 ***
[2013-04-25T03:01:32+00:00] INFO: Setting the run_list to ["recipe[minitest-handler::default]", "recipe[myface::default]"] from JSON
[2013-04-25T03:01:32+00:00] INFO: Starting Chef Run for myface-berkshelf
#### CHEF RUN GOES HERE ####
[2013-04-25T03:02:10+00:00] INFO: Chef Run complete in 0.520326234 seconds
[2013-04-25T03:02:10+00:00] INFO: Running report handlers
Run options: -v --seed 41224
# Running tests:
minitesthandler::default#test_0001_runs_no_tests = 0.00 s = .
myface::default#test_0001_runs_no_tests_by_default =
0.00 s = .
Finished tests in 0.002425s, 824.7576 tests/s, 0.0000 assertions/s.
2 tests, 0 assertions, 0 failures, 0 errors, 0 skips
[2013-04-25T03:02:10+00:00] INFO: Report handlers complete
CONVERGE IN SECONDS
$ vagrant provision
7 seconds

76. WORK IN
VERTICALS
FROM THE
OUTSIDEFAVOR DATA-
DRIVEN
COOKBOOKS
WRITE WELL-
ENCAPSULATED
COOKBOOKS
HAVE SHORT
ITERATION
LOOPS
THE
BERKSHE
LF
WAY

77. LEARN
MORE AT
BERKSHE
LF.COM

78. CONTRIBUTE
GITHUB.COM/
RIOTGAMES/
BERKSHELF
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
OR JOIN US
WWW.RIOTGAMES.COM/CAREERS

79. CALL ME
MAYBE?Jamie Winsor
@resetexistence
github.com/reset