Minimal saltstack with could setup with simple cheat sheet style notes(don't forget to create AWS key named MainKey.pem to /etc/salt/ and chmod 0400 /etc/salt/MainKey.pem)

etc-salt-cloud.profiles.d-ubuntu.conf

ubuntu_aws_small:
  provider: dev
  image: ami-a73264ce
  size: m1.small
  ssh_interface: private
  ssh_username: ubuntu

etc-salt-cloud.providers.d-dev.conf

dev:
  minion:
    master: hq.east.example.com

  grains:
    type: dev

  ssh_interface: private_ips

  id: IDDDDDDDDDDD
  key: 'yourkey'

  # Make sure this key is owned by root with permissions 0400.
  private_key: /etc/salt/MainKey.pem
  keyname: MainKey
  securitygroup: Dev


  # ec2-user/ubuntu
  ssh_username: ubuntu

  provider: ec2

etc-salt-master

fileserver_backend:
  - roots
  - git

gitfs_remotes:
  - git://github.com/saltstack-formulas/openssh-formula.git

SaltStack-Cheat-Sheet.md

Read first!

http://docs.saltstack.com/topics/troubleshooting/

http://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/troubleshooting/yaml_idiosyncrasies.html

http://docs.saltstack.com/topics/tutorials/walkthrough.html

http://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/ref/renderers/all/salt.renderers.jinja.html

OS X

http://docs.saltstack.com/topics/installation/osx.html

• brew install salt
• sudo launchctl limit maxfiles 4096 8192
• sudo mkdir /etc/salt
• echo "max_open_files: 8192" | sudo tee -a /etc/salt/master

Ubuntu

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:saltstack/salt
• sudo apt-get update
• apt-get install salt-master
• apt-get install salt-cloud
• chmod 0400 /etc/salt/MainKey.pem
• apt-get install python-pip
• pip install GitPython
• ssh -T git@github.com
• start salt-master

Examples

http://saltstarters.org/

Example commands

See http://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/targeting/compound.html

# salt '*' sys.doc
# salt -E '.*' cmd.run 'ls -l | grep foo'
# salt -L foo.bar.baz,quo.qux cmd.run 'ps aux | grep foo'
# salt '*' grains.items
# salt -G 'os:Fedora' test.ping
# salt '*' pillar.items
# salt 'supply.*' network.ip_addrs
# salt '*' saltutil.refresh_pillar
# salt '*' pillar.item mine_functions
# salt '*' mine.get '*' grains.items
# salt -C 'G@circle:live and G@data_volume_attached:True'
# salt '*' state.sls sfym.app
# salt -C 'E@^((?!frontline).)*$' cmd.run 'dpkg --purge nginx'
# salt -C 'E@^((?!frontline).)*$' cmd.run 'rm -rf /etc/nginx/'
# salt '*' state.highstate test=True

Use formulas

These are kind of packages for salt http://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/development/conventions/formulas.html all you need to do is include them and their dependencies in gitfs_remotes in /etc/salt/master file.

Upgrade and restart minions

• salt '*' pkg.list_upgrades
• salt '*' pkg.upgrade
• salt '*' system.reboot

Troubleshoot

Verify yaml validity

# salt '*' state.show_sls apache
# salt '*' state.show_highstate

Show verbose log

for master

# stop salt-master
# salt-master -l debug

for minion

# stop salt-minion
# salt-minion -l debug

Guides

http://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/troubleshooting/

or

• stop master/minion
• rm -rf /var/cache/salt
• start master/minion

Never ending job

or with error "The function "state.highstate" is running as PID 28604 and was started at 2014, Apr 28 13:02:34.845199 with jid 20140428130234845199"

• salt 'server' saltutil.running
• salt 'server' saltutil.kill_job 20140428130234845199

Failed to authenticate, is this user permitted to execute commands?

see saltstack/salt#12248

# killall salt-master
# start salt-master

# cat >> /etc/security/limits.conf
root soft nofile 20000
root hard nofile 30000

State files(*.sls)

http://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/ref/states/highstate.html#state-declaration

Gui Beta

https://github.com/saltstack/halite

srv-pillar-base_pkgs.sls

base_pkgs:
  - wget
  - vim
  - htop
  - git

srv-pillar-openssh.sls

sshd_config:
  Port: 50022
  PasswordAuthentication: no
  X11Forwarding: no
  RSAAuthentication: yes
  PubkeyAuthentication: yes
  UsePAM: yes

srv-salt-base_pkgs.sls

base_pkgs:
  pkg.installed:
    - names:
{% for pkg in pillar.base_pkgs %}
      - {{ pkg }}
{% endfor %}

srv-salt-top.sls

base:

  '*':
    - base_pkgs
    - openssh.config