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Chef vs Docker: What are the differences?
# Introduction
Here are some key differences between Chef and Docker.
1. **Deployment Environment**: Chef is used for configuration management and automating infrastructure tasks, while Docker is a containerization platform that enables you to package and run applications in lightweight containers.
2. **Packaging**: In Chef, the code and recipes are used to deploy and configure software on servers, while Docker uses images to package applications and their dependencies into deployable containers.
3. **Isolation**: Chef operates at the infrastructure level, managing configurations and ensuring consistency across servers, while Docker provides application-level isolation with containers, allowing for a more lightweight and efficient approach to running applications.
4. **Scalability**: Chef is well-suited for managing large-scale infrastructures and complex configurations, ensuring consistency across a wide range of servers, whereas Docker is designed for scalable deployment of applications, enabling you to quickly spin up and scale containers as needed.
5. **Dependency Management**: Chef enables you to manage dependencies and configurations across servers, ensuring that each server is configured correctly, while Docker simplifies dependency management by encapsulating applications and their dependencies within containers, reducing conflicts and compatibility issues.
6. **Workflow Integration**: Chef integrates with various workflow automation tools and can be part of a larger DevOps toolchain, while Docker is often used in combination with orchestration tools like Kubernetes for managing clusters of containers in a distributed environment.
In Summary, Chef focuses on infrastructure configuration management, while Docker specializes in containerization for application deployment.
I'm just getting started using Vagrant to help automate setting up local VMs to set up a Kubernetes cluster (development and experimentation only). (Yes, I do know about minikube)
I'm looking for a tool to help install software packages, setup users, etc..., on these VMs. I'm also fairly new to Ansible, Chef, and Puppet. What's a good one to start with to learn? I might decide to try all 3 at some point for my own curiosity.
The most important factors for me are simplicity, ease of use, shortest learning curve.
I have been working with Puppet and Ansible. The reason why I prefer ansible is the distribution of it. Ansible is more lightweight and therefore more popular. This leads to situations, where you can get fully packaged applications for ansible (e.g. confluent) supported by the vendor, but only incomplete packages for Puppet.
The only advantage I would see with Puppet if someone wants to use Foreman. This is still better supported with Puppet.
If you are just starting out, might as well learn Kubernetes There's a lot of tools that come with Kube that make it easier to use and most importantly: you become cloud-agnostic. We use Ansible because it's a lot simpler than Chef or Puppet and if you use Docker Compose for your deployments you can re-use them with Kubernetes later when you migrate
lxd/lxc and Docker aren't congruent so this comparison needs a more detailed look; but in short I can say: the lxd-integrated administration of storage including zfs with its snapshot capabilities as well as the system container (multi-process) approach of lxc vs. the limited single-process container approach of Docker is the main reason I chose lxd over Docker.
Pros of Chef
- Dynamic and idempotent server configuration110
- Reusable components76
- Integration testing with Vagrant47
- Repeatable43
- Mock testing with Chefspec30
- Ruby14
- Can package cookbooks to guarantee repeatability8
- Works with AWS7
- Has marketplace where you get readymade cookbooks3
- Matured product with good community support3
- Less declarative more procedural2
- Open source configuration mgmt made easy(ish)2
Pros of Docker
- Rapid integration and build up823
- Isolation691
- Open source521
- Testability and reproducibility505
- Lightweight460
- Standardization218
- Scalable185
- Upgrading / downgrading / application versions106
- Security88
- Private paas environments85
- Portability34
- Limit resource usage26
- Game changer17
- I love the way docker has changed virtualization16
- Fast14
- Concurrency12
- Docker's Compose tools8
- Easy setup6
- Fast and Portable6
- Because its fun5
- Makes shipping to production very simple4
- Highly useful3
- It's dope3
- Very easy to setup integrate and build2
- HIgh Throughput2
- Package the environment with the application2
- Does a nice job hogging memory2
- Open source and highly configurable2
- Simplicity, isolation, resource effective2
- MacOS support FAKE2
- Its cool2
- Docker hub for the FTW2
- Super2
- Asdfd0
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Cons of Chef
Cons of Docker
- New versions == broken features8
- Unreliable networking6
- Documentation not always in sync6
- Moves quickly4
- Not Secure3
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What is Chef?
What is Docker?
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