Welcome to Chef Fundamentals
My name is Franklin Webber and I am a trainer at Chef.
Our expected outcome from the Chef Fundamentals coursework is that you will emerge with a basic understanding of Chef's core components, basic architecture, commonly used tools, and basic troubleshooting methods. This should be enough core material to start using Chef to automate common infrastructure tasks and express solutions to common infrastructure problems.
Chef is not, in itself, a solution to your infrastructure problems. Chef is an automation framework. You bring the domain expertise about their own business and its problems. Chef provides a platform for modeling solutions to those problems. Our job in this class is to work together to teach you how to express solutions to your unique problems with Chef. Together we get unicorns and rainbows, but we can't have one without the other.
Chef is essentially a programming language for infrastructure. As such, learning Chef is like learning any language: the best way to learn Chef is to use Chef. The more you use it, the better you Chef. The less you use it, the more likely it is you'll forget how to use Chef.
This class is just a "taste" of using Chef. We will focus on core Chef concepts to help you reach fluency fast. We will not have time to explore the entire Chef ecosystem.
However, you should feel free to Ask Me Anything. This training is really a discussion. Like most frameworks, applying real world context to Chef helps us learn Chef and reach fluency faster. We are all here with unique experiences and from unique teams that are using Chef in unique ways. It is important that we help give you the tools to derive your own answers about how to best use Chef. This is why we typically say, "what questions can we help you answer?" If we stray too far off topic, we will capture your questions and come back to them as time permits.
You should also feel free to ask for help. This class centers around hands on lab exercises. Each module builds upon previous concepts and previous exercises. If you cannot complete an exercise, you will probably not be able to complete the following exercises either. Ask for help when you need it. We will troubleshoot and fix bugs on the spot. In fact, sometimes a bug will be purposefully introduced to illustrate an object lesson. So if you need help, rejoice! You're helping the class become fluent with Chef when you ask for help.
Lastly, we cover the class agenda: