We use it for integration management.
Solutions Architect with 201-500 employees
The scalability and technical support are very good
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability of the product is quite nice."
- "The agent on the server sometimes acts finicky."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The community.
What needs improvement?
The agent on the server sometimes acts finicky.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
Buyer's Guide
Chef
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Chef. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable most of the time. There hasn't been any downtime.
We did not go with the traditional architecture, so we decided to use the AWS systems by decoupling the traditional architecture.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the product is quite nice. We have deployed it across six to seven organizations.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is very good.
How was the initial setup?
The integration and configuration in our AWS environment is very good.
It works well with most operation management systems, and where it doesn't, we upgrade the system.
What was our ROI?
We have seen ROI.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We tried Ansible and Jenkins. However, because we use Terraform in our products, these weren't the most fitting solutions. Chef was the best solution for helping us build our infrastructure.
What other advice do I have?
Find use cases and do your research.
We only use the AWS version. We tried the other versions, but we found that they were lacking in functionality.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
CTO at FCamara
It integrates with many products in ILT and data management areas with each of them providing cloud computing
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is automation."
- "The AWS monitoring, AWS X-Ray, and some other features could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
I have used in my current company for three years, and with other clients for more than ten years.
How has it helped my organization?
My clients are happy, which is the most important thing.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is automation.
What needs improvement?
The AWS monitoring, AWS X-Ray, and some other features could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have some issues in Brazilian region with stability. However, in US region, we have no issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is pretty good. We have nothing to complain about, except the price.
How is customer service and technical support?
I would rate the technical support as a ten out of ten.
Amazon is a great partner.
How was the initial setup?
The integration and configuration are pretty good in the AWS environment. The problems are usually on our side, not on AWS' side.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is always a problem. It is high. There is room for improvement. I do like purchasing on the AWS Marketplace, but I would like the ability to negotiate and have some flexibility in the pricing on it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I don't like some of the products offered by VMware. I like the automation offered by Chef and Puppet.
We chose Chef because some clients have some legacy systems and decided to work with them. We don't really like work with VMs, but when we have to, we use Puppet.
What other advice do I have?
I have used the on-premise and AWS versions. I prefer the AWS for troubleshooting.
It integrates with many products in ILT, data management, and the server areas with each of them providing cloud computing, like EC2 and API Gateway.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
Buyer's Guide
Chef
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Chef. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
AWS Content Support Manager at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Great for configuration management and integration, especially in AWS
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the language that it uses: Ruby."
- "I would like to see more security features for Chef and more automation."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for training.
How has it helped my organization?
All the Chef enthusiasts who come to us to learn and train, improve their skillsets to get jobs. It's a really easy product in AWS. It's easy to teach and easy to understand.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the language that it uses: Ruby.
Regarding integration and configuration of the product, they're pretty manageable. The layers are really easy to configure.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see more security features for Chef and more automation.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's working great. It's stable. We try to produce real-world scenarios with the students as much as possible.
How was the initial setup?
It's a really easy product in AWS. It's easy to teach and easy to understand.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We considered Puppet and Ansible. We went with Chef because Chef uses Ruby and Ruby is pretty popular right now.
What other advice do I have?
Compare it to the other services that you use.
Everything can always be improved. If you have a specific need in configuration management and integration, Chef is a great product, especially with AWS.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Chef Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Popular Comparisons
Microsoft Intune
Microsoft Configuration Manager
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
BigFix
VMware Aria Automation
Red Hat Satellite
AWS Systems Manager
BMC TrueSight Server Automation
Puppet Enterprise
AWS CloudFormation
CFEngine Enterprise
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Chef Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- When evaluating Configuration Management, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?
- Infrastructure-as-code vs infrastructure configuration
- What is automated configuration management?
- What are the advantages of using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools?
- Why is Configuration Management important for companies?