Exploring templates

A template is an Embedded Ruby (ERB) file that is used to create configuration files based on variables and logic defined by a cookbook. A template can contain mixed Ruby code or expressions; it provides a great way to manage configuration files on any node.

Templates are used with a template resource, and each resource includes actions, attributes, and file sources. Template resources are very close to file resources; the only difference is that templates are based on Ruby code, and on the other hand, file resources are used to copy files to a particular location.

Templates should have the following two components:

• A template resource, which instructs the chef-client to perform any action
• A template file in the templates folder

The folder structure of cookbook templates will look similar to the following:

• default
• ubuntu-12.04
• ubuntu-14.04

If we notice our cookbooks directory, we will see that the templates folder is already created by Knife. Let's complete our recipe and...