<p>This book begins with an introduction to the functionality and benefits of using Chef to manage Windows systems. From there, you are shown an overview of the Chef architecture and how to prepare a Windows host so that it can be managed by Chef, followed by an example of writing code to install a popular .NET application with Chef.<br /><br />This book looks at how Windows system administrators can effectively leverage Chef as an automated system management tool to simplify their lives through managed infrastructure. Included are practical examples that will help you to understand how to take advantage of Chef when managing your infrastructure.<br /><br />By the end of the book, you will be able to deploy software, provision hosts (including cloud servers), develop and test recipes for multiple platforms, and manage Windows hosts using the powerful tools that Chef provides.</p>