[chef] Re: Ideas for using Chef across VPN

[dreamcat four < >]

It seems a good point to start from.

Its certainly possible to run a chef-server on some workstation which
has good connectivity and is always on. It is important that the
computer has enough spare memory for chef-server stack. I figure thats
about 1-2 ruby processes (for merb), plus java and solr. Something
like 200-400Mb RAM. Hosting inside a Virtual Machine will add a bit
more RAM to those basic requirements.

Of course the search index will be offline whenever chef-server is
offline. If the search index matters, it depends for what reasons the
search index is being used by the client nodes. That can come later
on, and it doesnt really matter to begin with.

For the VPN, that seems better and more flexible than SSH tunnel. Some
VPN providers like LogMeIn Hamachi are free to try out for
non-commercial use, and will provide you a virtual VPN gateway server
for your VPN hub. You are going to need to write some cookbook to
setup the VPN software locally on your nodes. It should be well worth
the time / effort. Such a recipe can be included for the chef-solo
bootstrap run.

Be sure to go to chef irc channels for help / advice.


On Sun, May 16, 2010 at 12:25 PM, Dmitry V'yal 
<
 >
 wrote:
> Hello chef-list,
>
> I administer several geographically separated workstations which are hidden
> behind NATs. Currently we're working through OpenVPN with a server on a VPS
> which is used as web hosting and mail server, which I want to configure with
> Chef too.
>
> I have some ideas about using chef-solo to bootstrap chef-client and OpenVPN
> client on the workstations but I'm interesting in comments from more
> experienced chef users.
>
> Is it a feasible idea? How best to manage openvpn keys?
>
> Another question what bothers me, is where to place the chef-server. We
> don't have a separate host for it and seems to me it's better not to combine
> server with a client doing something useful. Would it be a good solution to
> have it as a guest os in VirtualBox on one of workstations? Is it required
> that chef-server is online 24/7 or it can be activated only then something
> in configuration changed?
>
> As a newbie I have many more questions, but these are most urgent. Thanks
> for attention.
>
> Best wishes,
> Dmitry
>