Salt Table of Contents¶

Introduction to Salt
- The 30 second summary
- Simplicity
- Parallel execution
- Building on proven technology
- Python client interface
- Fast, flexible, scalable
- Open
- Salt Community
- Mailing List
- IRC
- Follow on GitHub
- Blogs
- Example Salt States
- Follow on ohloh
- Other community links
- Hack the Source
Installation
- Quick Install
- Platform-specific Installation Instructions
- Dependencies
- Optional Dependencies
- Upgrading Salt
Tutorials
- Introduction
- Basics
- States
- Advanced Topics
- Salt Virt
- LXC
- ESXi Proxy Minion
- Using Salt at scale
Targeting Minions
- Matching the minion id
- Grains
- Targeting with Pillar
- Subnet/IP Address Matching
- Compound matchers
- Node groups
- Batch Size
- SECO Range
Storing Static Data in the Pillar
- Declaring the Master Pillar
- Pillar namespace flattened
- Pillar Namespace Merges
- Including Other Pillars
- Viewing Minion Pillar
- Pillar "get" Function
- Refreshing Pillar Data
- Set Pillar Data at the Command Line
- Master Config In Pillar
- Minion Config in Pillar
- Master Provided Pillar Error
Reactor System
- Event System
- Mapping Events to Reactor SLS Files
- Fire an event
- Knowing what event is being fired
- Debugging the Reactor
- Understanding the Structure of Reactor Formulas
- A Complete Example
- Syncing Custom Types on Minion Start
The Salt Mine
- Mine vs Grains
- Mine Functions
- Mine Interval
- Mine in Salt-SSH
- Example
External Authentication System
- Access Control System
- Tokens
- OpenLDAP and similar systems
- Active Directory
Access Control System
Job Management
- The Minion proc System
- Functions in the saltutil Module
- The jobs Runner
- Scheduling Jobs
- States
- Highstates
- Runners
- Scheduler With Returner
Managing the Job Cache
- Default Job Cache
- Additional Job Cache Options
Storing Job Results in an External System
- External Job Cache - Minion-Side Returner
- Master Job Cache - Master-Side Returner
- Configure an External or Master Job Cache
Storing Data in Other Databases
- SDB Configuration
- SDB URIs
- Getting and Setting SDB Values
- Using SDB URIs in Files
- Writing SDB Modules
Salt Event System
- Event types
- Listening for Events
- Firing Events
- Firing Events from Python
Beacons
- Configuring Beacons
- Beacon Example
- Writing Beacon Plugins
Salt Engines
- Configuration
- Writing an Engine
Running Custom Master Processes
- Example Configuration
- Example Process Class
High Availability Features in Salt
- Multimaster
- Multimaster with Failover
- Syndic
- Syndic with Multimaster
Salt Syndic
- Configuring the Syndic
- Configuring the Syndic with Multimaster
- Running the Syndic
- Topology
- Syndic wait
- Syndic config options
Salt Proxy Minion
- New in 2015.8.2
- New in 2015.8
- Getting Started
- The __proxyenabled__ directive
- SSH Proxymodules
Salt Package Manager
- Building Packages
- Building Repositories
- Configuring Remote Repositories
- Installing Packages
- Pillars
- Loader Modules
- Removing Packages
- Technical Information
- SPM-Specific Loader Modules
- SPM Configuration
- Types of Packages
Salt Transport
- Pub Channel
- Req Channel
Windows Software Repository
- Configuration
- Install Windows Software
- Uninstall Windows Software
- Repository Location
- Maintaining Windows Repo Definitions in Git Repositories
- Creating a Package Definition SLS File
- Managing Windows Software on a Standalone Windows Minion
- Config Options for Minions 2015.8.0 and Later
- Config Options for Minions Before 2015.8.0
- Changes in Version 2015.8.0
- Troubleshooting
Windows-specific Behaviour
- Group parameter for files
- Dealing with case-insensitive but case-preserving names
- Dealing with various username forms
- Specifying the None group
- Symbolic link loops
- Modifying security properties (ACLs) on files
Salt Cloud
- Configuration
- Configuration Inheritance
- QuickStart
- Using Salt Cloud
- Core Configuration
- Windows Configuration
- Cloud Provider Specifics
- Miscellaneous Options
- Troubleshooting Steps
- Extending Salt Cloud
- Using Salt Cloud from Salt
- Feature Comparison
- Tutorials
netapi modules
- Writing netapi modules
- Introduction to netapi modules
- Client interfaces
Salt Virt
- Salt Virt Tutorial
- The Salt Virt Runner
- Based on Live State Data
- Deploy from Network or Disk
Understanding YAML
- Rule One: Indentation
- Rule Two: Colons
- Rule Three: Dashes
- Learning More
Master Tops System
Salt SSH
- Getting Started
- Salt SSH Roster
- Deploy ssh key for salt-ssh
- Calling Salt SSH
- States Via Salt SSH
- Targeting with Salt SSH
- Configuring Salt SSH
- Running Salt SSH as non-root user
- Define CLI Options with Saltfile
- Debugging salt-ssh
Salt Rosters
- How Rosters Work
Reference
- Full list of builtin auth modules
- Command Line Reference
- Client ACL system
- Python client API
- Full list of Salt Cloud modules
- Configuration file examples
- Configuring Salt
- Configuring the Salt Master
- Configuring the Salt Minion
- Running the Salt Master/Minion as an Unprivileged User
- Logging
- External Logging Handlers
- Salt File Server
- Full list of builtin fileserver modules
- Full list of builtin grains modules
- Salt code and internals
- Full list of builtin execution modules
- Full list of netapi modules
- Full list of builtin output modules
- Peer Communication
- Pillars
- Full list of builtin pillar modules
- Full list of builtin proxy modules
- Renderers
- Returners
- Full list of builtin roster modules
- Salt Runners
- State Enforcement
- Full list of builtin state modules
- Execution Modules
- Master Tops
- Full list of builtin master tops modules
- Full list of builtin wheel modules
- Full list of builtin beacon modules
- Full list of builtin engine modules
- Full list of builtin sdb modules
- Full list of builtin serializers
- Full list of builtin queues
Salt Best Practices
- General rules
- Structuring States and Formulas
- Structuring Pillar Files
- Variable Flexibility
- Modularity Within States
- Storing Secure Data
Hardening Salt
- General hardening tips
- Salt hardening tips
Troubleshooting
- Troubleshooting the Salt Master
- Troubleshooting the Salt Minion
- Running in the Foreground
- What Ports do the Master and Minion Need Open?
- Using salt-call
- Too many open files
- Salt Master Stops Responding
- Salt and SELinux
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
- Common YAML Gotchas
- Live Python Debug Output
- Salt 0.16.x minions cannot communicate with a 0.17.x master
- Debugging the Master and Minion
Developing Salt
- Overview
- Salt Client
- Salt Master
- Salt Minion
- A Note on ClearFuncs vs. AESFuncs
- Contributing
- Deprecating Code
- Dunder Dictionaries
- External Pillars
- Installing Salt for development
- GitHub Labels and Milestones
- Logging Internals
- Modular Systems
- Package Providers
- Reporting Bugs
- Community Projects That Use Salt
- Salt Topology
- Translating Documentation
- Developing Salt Tutorial
- Salt's Test Suite
- raet
- SaltStack Git Policy
- Salt Conventions
Release notes
- Latest Branch Release
- Previous Releases
Salt Based Projects
- Salt Sandbox
Security disclosure policy
- Security response procedure
- Receiving security announcements
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Salt open-core?
- I think I found a bug! What should I do?
- What ports should I open on my firewall?
- I'm seeing weird behavior (including but not limited to packages not installing their users properly)
- My script runs every time I run a state.highstate. Why?
- When I run test.ping, why don't the Minions that aren't responding return anything? Returning False would be helpful.
- How does Salt determine the Minion's id?
- I'm trying to manage packages/services but I get an error saying that the state is not available. Why?
- Why aren't my custom modules/states/etc. available on my Minions?
- Module X isn't available, even though the shell command it uses is installed. Why?
- Can I run different versions of Salt on my Master and Minion?
- Does Salt support backing up managed files?
- Is it possible to deploy a file to a specific minion, without other minions having access to it?
- What is the best way to restart a Salt daemon using Salt?
- Salting the Salt Master
- Is Targeting using Grain Data Secure?
Glossary

Docs for previous releases are available on readthedocs.org.

Latest Salt release: 2015.8.7

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Introduction to Salt