Get Started with Chef SaaS

This guide explains how to set up and configure Chef SaaS. For details on how to migrate from AWS OpsWorks, refer to the following page: AWS OpsWorks migration.

Prerequisites

Chef SaaS has the following prerequisites:

You must have a system with Chef Workstation installed.
Chef SaaS Starter Kit (provided by Progress Chef):
- SaaS Environment URL
- SaaS Credentials
- Pivotal PEM file for the initial setup of the environment. This PEM file is temporary and is replaced later.

Add Chef Infra Server in Chef SaaS

Follow these steps in Chef SaaS to add a Chef Infra Server:

Select Infrastructure in the top navigation.
Select Chef Infra Servers in the navigation on the left.
Select Add Chef Infra Server.
Fill out the fields as follows:
- Provide a unique name for the Chef Infra Server.
- Enter the FQDN by copying the same URL used to connect to Chef SaaS, for example: saas.example.com.
Select Add Chef Infra Server.

Configure Chef Workstation

For details on configuring Chef Workstation, refer to the following sections.

Create a Chef credentials file on your local workstation:
```
knife configure init
```
This prompts you with several questions:
- Enter the Chef Infra Server URL provided in the Starter Kit, for example: saas.example.com.
- For the existing API username or client_name, enter the superuser account provided in the Chef SaaS Starter Kit.
This creates a credentials file in the ~/.chef directory with contents similar to the following:
```
[default]
client_name         - 'pivotal'
client_key          = '/home/admin/.chef/pivotal.pem'
chef_server_url     - 'https://saas.example.com'
```
Copy the pivotal.pem file from the Chef SaaS Starter Kit to the ~/.chef directory.
This gives you the proper credentials to connect to Chef SaaS in the following steps.
Create an organization using the knife org create command. This organization acts as a top-level entity for role-based access control.
```
knife org create <ORGANIZATION_NAME> "<ORGANIZATION_FULL_NAME>"
```
Replace:
- <ORGANIZATION_NAME> with the user’s organization name.
- <ORGANIZATION_FULL_NAME> with the organization’s full name.
This returns a private key for the organization’s validator client.
Create a new user associated with the new organization and use the credentials file:
```
knife user create <USERNAME> --email <EMAIL> --password <PASSWORD>
```
Replace:
- <USERNAME> with the user’s username.
- <EMAIL> with the user’s e-mail address.
- <PASSWORD> with the user’s password.
Copy the new <FILE_NAME>.pem file created with this command to the ~/.chef directory before updating the credentials file later in this document.
Add the new user to the organization using the knife org user command:
```
knife org user add <ORGANIZATION_NAME> <USERNAME>
```
In the above code, replace:
- <ORGANIZATION_NAME> with user’s organization name.
- <USERNAME> with the user’s username.
Open the credentials file in the ~/.chef directory and update the following values:
- client_name to the new account created.
- client_key to the new PEM file that was created.
- chef_server_url to include the new organization.
An example of the credentials in the ~/.chef directory is as follows:
```
[default]
client_name         - 'CLIENT_NAME'
client_key          = '/home/admin/.chef/<USER_NAME>.pem'
chef_server_url     - 'https://saas-example.com'
```

Configure Chef Saas

The following steps add the organization to Chef SaaS. Connect to the URL provided by Progress Chef and log in with the admin account credentials:

Select Infrastructure in the top navigation.
Select Chef Infra Servers in the navigation on the left.
Select the Chef Infra Server created previously.
Select Add Chef Organization and:
- Provide the Name of the organization created using knife.
- For Admin User, enter the new account created using knife.
- For Admin Key, paste the contents of the new PEM file created with the user account.
- Select Add Chef Organization.

Verify the SSL configuration

Chef SaaS uses public certificates to ensure a secure connection to the service. To eliminate connection issues, verify the SSL connection and the certificate.

Verify the connection with the new organization:
```
knife ssl check
```

Verify the client connection

Finally, verify a successful connection to the new organization:
```
knife client list
```
This returns a list of Infra Client nodes and workstations that are registered with a Chef Infra Server.