[chef] Newbie design related doubt

[Varun Shankar < >]

I know that attributes can be configured in cookbooks (attribute files and recipes), roles, and environments. 

Suppose I have a requirement on the following lines:

- Two environments: alpha and beta

- Two web servers: web-1, web-2

- Apache should run on port 80 on web-1 in alpha

- Apache should run on port 8080 on web-2 in alpha

- Apache should run on port 8081 on web-1 and web-2 in beta

I can have two approaches:

SOLUTION 1. Write a role cookbook (using application/library pattern) and override the apache[listen_ports] attribute in the role cookbook. Again override the apache[listen_ports] attribute in my chef-repo/environments/alpha.rb and chef-repo/environments/beta.rb file. But this way the configuration for Apache is scattered in multiple places (environment files, role cookbooks and the apache community cookbook).

SOLUTION 2. Write a wrapper cookbook over the community apache cookbook. In the attribute file of my wrapper cookbook, I write logic like this:

apache[listen_ports] = 8080

if env is alpha

  if role is web1

    apache[listen_ports] = 80

  elseif role is web2

    apache[listen_ports] = 8080

end

This way all apache settings are consolidated in one place i.e. in the cookbook.

I have seen all the blog posts suggest the first solution. Why is the second solution a bad idea?