Using Chef on Windows

Introduction

While the principles behind Chef remain the same across both Linux/Windows platforms, using Chef on Windows means using different Chef providers. Developing Chef providers on Windows also presents unique challenges as Ruby is not as pervasive and does not give access to critical functionality that many Chef providers may require.

Available Chef Providers

RightScale's Windows RightImages provide access to the following Chef Providers:

• Powershell, HttpRequest, RubyBlock: fully functional.
• File, Directory, Template, RemoteFile, RemoteDirectory: these providers are all functional however the owner and group attributes are not supported.
• Execute, Script, Ruby: these providers are all functional however the following command arguments are ignored: timeout, user, group and umask.
• Perl, Python: same as above, also Perl and/or Python must be installed and in the path.
   

In addition to the Chef providers listed above, RightLink on Windows allows you to write your own Chef providers all in Powershell.  See Powershell Chef Providers.