Chef is a systems integration framework, built to bring the benefits of
configuration management to your entire infrastructure. With Chef, you can:

* Manage your servers by writing code, not by running commands.
* Integrate tightly with your applications, databases, LDAP directories, and
  more.
* Easily configure applications that require knowledge about your entire
  infrastructure ("What systems are running my application?" "What is the
  current master database server?")

WWW: http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef