How To Install Nginx On Ubuntu Using Chef

In this post we show how to install NGINX on Ubuntu using Chef on Windows 10 workstation.

All commands are executed in PowerShell on a Windows workstation.

Before You Begin

Install Chocolatey

If you do not have Chocolatey, you can install it by following the instructions on chocolatey.org. You may also see this post for instructions on how to set the Chocolatey cache location.

Install Chef Development Kit (ChefDK)

In PowerShell as Administrator:

choco install chefdk

Install VirtualBox and Vagrant

To install VirtualBox and Vagrant, follow the steps described in Ubuntu with Vagrant and VirtualBox on Windows.

Install Vagrant Plugins

vagrant plugin install vagrant-omnibus
vagrant plugin install vagrant-berkshelf
vagrant plugin install vagrant-hostmanager

Create Chef Cookbook

This directory will become the root of your source repository:

chef generate cookbook my_ubuntu_nginx
cd my_ubuntu_nginx

Ensure the apt cache is up to date

Reference the apt Cookbook

Add this line to metadata.rb:

depends 'apt', '~> 2.9.2'

To get the latest version string, run knife cookbook site show apt:

chef exec knife cookbook site show apt | grep latest_version
latest_version:     https://supermarket.chef.io/api/v1/cookbooks/apt/versions/2.9.2

Here is the complete file:

name 'my_ubuntu_nginx'
maintainer 'The Authors'
maintainer_email 'you@example.com'
license 'all_rights'
description 'Installs/Configures my_ubuntu_nginx'
long_description 'Installs/Configures my_ubuntu_nginx'
version '0.1.0'

depends 'apt', '~> 2.9.2'

Set the apt cookbook's default recipe to run

Add this line to recipes/default.rb:

include_recipe 'apt::default'

Here is the complete file:

#
# Cookbook Name:: my_ubuntu_nginx
# Recipe:: default
#
# Copyright (c) 2016 The Authors, All Rights Reserved.

include_recipe 'apt::default'

Test

chef exec berks install

This generates Berksfile.lock file.

Configure NGINX

Reference the nginx cookbook

We need the nginx cookbook for it's nginx::repo recipe. Add this line to metadata.rb:

depends 'nginx', '~> 2.7.6'

To get the latest version string, run knife cookbook site show nginx:

chef exec knife cookbook site show nginx | grep latest_version
latest_version:     https://supermarket.chef.io/api/v1/cookbooks/nginx/versions/2.7.6

Here is the complete file:

name 'my_ubuntu_nginx'
maintainer 'The Authors'
maintainer_email 'you@example.com'
license 'all_rights'
description 'Installs/Configures my_ubuntu_nginx'
long_description 'Installs/Configures my_ubuntu_nginx'
version '0.1.0'

depends 'apt', '~> 2.9.2'
depends 'nginx', '~> 2.7.6'

Write the install_nginx recipe

The first step is to create the recipe file, install_nginx.rb. Run the following command to generate it:

chef generate recipe install_nginx

Write out recipes/install_nginx.rb like this:

#
# Cookbook Name:: my_ubuntu_nginx
# Recipe:: install_nginx
#
# Copyright (c) 2016 The Authors, All Rights Reserved.

# Only needed if you want to install latest stable package from nginx.org
include_recipe 'nginx::repo'

package 'nginx' do
  action :install
end

service 'nginx' do
  supports status: true, restart: true, reload: true
  action :enable
end

Set the install_nginx recipe to run

Add this line to cookbooks/my_web_server/recipes/default.rb:

include_recipe 'my_ubuntu_nginx::install_nginx'

Here is the complete file:

#
# Cookbook Name:: my_ubuntu_nginx
# Recipe:: default
#
# Copyright (c) 2016 The Authors, All Rights Reserved.

include_recipe 'apt::default'
include_recipe 'my_ubuntu_nginx::install_nginx'

Update the integration test

Replace the contents of test/integration/default/serverspec/default_spec.rb with this code:

require 'spec_helper'

describe 'my_ubuntu_nginx::default' do
  # Serverspec examples can be found at
  # http://serverspec.org/resource_types.html
  describe package('nginx') do
    it { should be_installed }
  end

  describe service('nginx') do
    it { should be_enabled }
    it { should be_running }
  end
end

Test

Ruby Lint

chef exec rubocop

Chef Lint

chef exec foodcritic .

Unit Tests

Install / Update cookbooks:

chef exec berks install

Create a .rspec file:

touch .rspec

Paste these lines in .rspec

--color
--format documentation

Run:

chef exec rspec

Integration Tests

Update .kitchen.yml to include the Ubuntu platform only. This is how it should look:

---
driver:
  name: vagrant
  network:
    - ["private_network", {type: "dhcp"}]

provisioner:
  name: chef_zero

platforms:
  - name: ubuntu-14.04

suites:
  - name: default
    run_list:
      - recipe[my_ubuntu_nginx::default]

Run the integration tests:

chef exec kitchen test --destroy=never