Chef is a ruby framework for automating, reusing and documenting server configuration.

// Under construction ..

1. node -> A host where the Chef client will run.
2. Chef client -> The command line program that configures node.
3. Chef server ->
4. chef-repo -> All installations require a central workspace known as the chef-repo. This is a place where primitive objects--cookbooks, roles, environments, data bags, and chef-repo configuration files--are stored and managed.
5. recipe ->
6. resource ->
7. Knife -> Knife is the command line interface for Chef. The chef-repo contains a .chef directory (which is a hidden directory by default) in which the Knife configuration file (knife.rb) is located. This file contains configuration settings for the chef-repo.

The knife.rb file is automatically created by the starter kit. This file can be customized to support configuration settings used by cloud provider options and custom knife plugins. 8) cookbook -> A cookbook is the fundamental unit of configuration and policy distribution. A sample cookbook can be found in cookbooks/starter. After making changes to any cookbook, you must upload it to the Chef server using knife:

$ knife upload cookbooks/starter

9. role -> Roles provide logical grouping of cookbooks and other roles.
10. run-list ->
11. attribute ->
12. template ->
13. notification ->
14. .pem file -> Located inside the .chef directory are .pem files, which contain private keys used to authenticate requests made to the Chef server. The USERNAME.pem file contains a private key unique to the user (and should never be shared with anyone). The ORGANIZATION-validator.pem file contains a private key that is global to the entire organization (and is used by all nodes and workstations that send requests to the Chef server).
15. package ->

1. Idempotence -> You can run Chef several times, but it won't run same commands after the first run if none of your inputs to it have changed.