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I use Chef, but without the server (chef-solo). I have a hard time stomaching the idea of dealing with a Merb application (an abandoned framework) that has som

I use Chef, but without the server (chef-solo). I have a hard time stomaching the idea of dealing with a Merb application (an abandoned framework) that has some rather complex dependencies (couchdb & rabbitmq). That being said, plenty of peers have told me that they have not experienced any problems with running a Chef server. Maybe this means I should just fork up the cash for hosted Chef, but I don't see it as a 100$ a month value (I currently have 10 nodes and treat them all as ephemeral). I do wonder why this is never brought up. Is it not seen as a red flag to anyone else that the core of Chef is built on Merb?

rubyrescue 15y ago
Kevin Smith gave a talk a few weeks ago in Atlanta, that they're slowly removing those dependencies. He did specifically mention removing Couch and didn't mention Merb but based on his approach to deciding to remove Couch I'm sure he's going to address it.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
Woost 15y ago
Just as a warning: If you/anyone decides to self host a chef server, you have to get the chef-server cookbook (or your couchdb will never get compacted) and you can't be running ruby 1.9.1 (or the server will have ~1 week uptime before crashing randomly) As for the core being built on merb. I don't really notice it. You'll probably never have a reason to go into the chef-server internals to change something. Besides that, it's not like it has to be serving 30k requests per second or anything. Otherwise, the Issues I've run into with chef-server: it was a little annoying to get everything installed and playing together. Couchdb + solr are very temperamental. After everything was running and stabilized(1.9.1 bad!) I've had no issues with it.
- techscruggs 15y ago
  What version of chef server are you using? It appears to have been fixed a while again: http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-489 http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-489 . Perhaps your issue is not tied to your ruby version: http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-920 http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-920
  - Woost 15y ago
    The problem wasn't ruby 1.9, but ruby 1.9.1 specifically. I upgraded ruby to 1.9.2 and the stability issues went away. On 1.9.1 the server would randomly hang and require a kill -9+manual restart.
davnola 15y ago
It's not the core, it's just the webui. I never use it, choosing in preference the REPL and the `knife` command.
- techscruggs 15y ago
  Good to know, that does make my concern significantly more trivial.
lusis 15y ago
If you are unhappy with Merb then convert it to pure rack or sinatra and send a pull request. It works and it's seriously as low of a priority as I can imagine. The server is nothing more than an API endpoint. You can (and people have) rewritten the entire server component in Python.

rubyrescue 15y ago

Kevin Smith gave a talk a few weeks ago in Atlanta, that they're slowly removing those dependencies. He did specifically mention removing Couch and didn't mention Merb but based on his approach to deciding to remove Couch I'm sure he's going to address it.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

Woost 15y ago

Just as a warning: If you/anyone decides to self host a chef server, you have to get the chef-server cookbook (or your couchdb will never get compacted) and you can't be running ruby 1.9.1 (or the server will have ~1 week uptime before crashing randomly) As for the core being built on merb. I don't really notice it. You'll probably never have a reason to go into the chef-server internals to change something. Besides that, it's not like it has to be serving 30k requests per second or anything. Otherwise, the Issues I've run into with chef-server: it was a little annoying to get everything installed and playing together. Couchdb + solr are very temperamental. After everything was running and stabilized(1.9.1 bad!) I've had no issues with it.

techscruggs 15y ago
What version of chef server are you using? It appears to have been fixed a while again: http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-489 http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-489 . Perhaps your issue is not tied to your ruby version: http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-920 http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-920
- Woost 15y ago
  The problem wasn't ruby 1.9, but ruby 1.9.1 specifically. I upgraded ruby to 1.9.2 and the stability issues went away. On 1.9.1 the server would randomly hang and require a kill -9+manual restart.

davnola 15y ago

It's not the core, it's just the webui. I never use it, choosing in preference the REPL and the `knife` command.

techscruggs 15y ago
Good to know, that does make my concern significantly more trivial.

lusis 15y ago

If you are unhappy with Merb then convert it to pure rack or sinatra and send a pull request. It works and it's seriously as low of a priority as I can imagine. The server is nothing more than an API endpoint. You can (and people have) rewritten the entire server component in Python.