Install a chef server on debian with fabric.

chef.conf

upstream chef_server {
  server 127.0.0.1:4000 fail_timeout=0;
}

upstream chef_server_webui {
  server 127.0.0.1:4040 fail_timeout=0;
}

server {
  listen 443 default ssl;
  ssl_certificate /etc/chef/certificates/chef-api.crt;
  ssl_certificate_key /etc/chef/certificates/chef-api.key;
  server_name %(chef_api)s.%(domain)s;
  access_log /var/log/nginx/chef-server.access.log;
  error_log /var/log/nginx/chef-server.error.log warn;

  root /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-server-webui-10.12.0/public;

  location @chef_server {
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https;
    proxy_set_header Host $http_host;

    proxy_pass http://chef_server;
  }

  location / {
    try_files $uri @chef_server;
  }
}

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name %(chef_api)s.%(domain)s;
  access_log /var/log/nginx/chef-server.access.log;
  error_log /var/log/nginx/chef-server.error.log warn;

  rewrite ^(.+)$ https://%(chef_api)s.%(domain)s$1 permanent;
}

server {
  listen 443;
  ssl_certificate /etc/chef/certificates/chef.crt;
  ssl_certificate_key /etc/chef/certificates/chef.key;
  server_name %(chef)s.%(domain)s;
  access_log /var/log/nginx/chef-server.access.log;
  error_log /var/log/nginx/chef-server.error.log warn;

  root /opt/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-server-webui-10.12.0/public;

  location @chef_server_webui {
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https;
    proxy_set_header Host $http_host;

    proxy_pass http://chef_server_webui;
  }

  location ~ ^.+\.css$ {
    expires 120h;

    try_files $uri @chef_server_webui;
  }

  location ~ ^.+\.js$ {
    expires 24h;

    try_files $uri @chef_server_webui;
  }

  location / {
    try_files $uri @chef_server_webui;
  }
}

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name %(chef)s.%(domain)s;
  access_log /var/log/nginx/chef-server.access.log;
  error_log /var/log/nginx/chef-server.error.log warn;

  rewrite ^(.+)$ https://%(chef)s.%(domain)s$1 permanent;
}

fabfile.py

"""Fabric script that installs a chef server."""
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

from fabric import api, contrib, operations

DEPENDENCIES = ['sudo', 'vim']
DEPENDENCIES_CHEF = ['opscode-keyring', 'chef', 'chef-server']

api.env.chef_api_prefix = 'chef-api'
api.env.chef_prefix = 'chef'
api.env.domain = 'yourdomain.com'


def bootstrap():
    """Bootstrap a chef server."""
    api.sudo('aptitude update')
    api.sudo('aptitude install -y lsb-release')
    api.sudo('echo "deb http://apt.opscode.com/ `lsb_release -cs`-0.10 main" '
             '| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opscode.list')
    api.sudo('mkdir -p /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d')
    api.sudo('gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 83EF826A')
    api.sudo('gpg --export packages@opscode.com | sudo tee '
             '/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/opscode-keyring.gpg > /dev/null')
    api.sudo('aptitude update')


def install_chef():
    """Install the chef server.

    You will be asked for a chef server url, a rabbit mq password and
    a default password for the chef web ui.
    """
    api.sudo('aptitude install -y %s' % ' '.join(DEPENDENCIES))
    api.sudo('aptitude install -y %s' % ' '.join(DEPENDENCIES_CHEF))


def install_nginx():
    """Install a nginx webserver."""
    api.sudo('aptitude install -y nginx')
    api.sudo('/etc/init.d/nginx start')
    update_nginx()


def update_nginx():
    """Update the nginx configuration."""
    dest = '/etc/nginx/sites-available/chef.conf'
    context = {
        'chef': api.env.chef_prefix,
        'chef_api': api.env.chef_api_prefix,
        'domain': api.env.domain
    }
    contrib.files.upload_template('chef.conf', dest, context=context,
                                  use_sudo=True)
    with api.cd('/etc/chef/certificates'):
        operations.put('chef-api.crt', 'chef-api.crt', use_sudo=True)
        operations.put('chef-api.key', 'chef-api.key', use_sudo=True)
        operations.put('chef.crt', 'chef.crt', use_sudo=True)
        operations.put('chef.key', 'chef.key', use_sudo=True)
    api.sudo('chown root:root /etc/nginx/sites-available/chef.conf')
    if api.sudo('test -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/chef.conf',
                warn_only=True).failed:
        api.sudo('ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/chef.conf '
                 '/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/chef.conf')
    if api.sudo('nginx -t', warn_only=True).succeeded:
        api.sudo('/etc/init.d/nginx restart')


def get_validator():
    """Download the chef validator key."""
    api.sudo('cp /etc/chef/validation.pem /tmp/chef-validator.pem')
    api.sudo('chown %s /tmp/chef-validator.pem' % api.env.user)
    operations.get('/tmp/chef-validator.pem', 'chef-validator.pem')
    api.sudo('rm /tmp/chef-validator.pem')


def deploy():
    """Deploy a chef server."""
    bootstrap()
    install_chef()
    install_nginx()
    get_validator()

The ssl certificate files (chef-api.crt, chef-api.key, chef.crt, chef.key) must be available in the working directory.

Change the environment variables according to your setup. The default would generate a nginx config for:

• https://chef.yourdomain.com (web ui) and
• https://chef-api.yourdomain.com (chef api)