salt

Remote execution and configuration management system

TLDR

Ping all minions

$ salt '*' test.ping

Run command on minions

$ salt '*' cmd.run '[command]'

Target specific minion

$ salt '[minion-id]' test.ping

Apply state

$ salt '*' state.apply

Apply specific state

$ salt '*' state.apply [webserver]

Install package

$ salt '*' pkg.install [nginx]

Show grains

$ salt '[minion]' grains.items

Copy file

$ salt '*' cp.get_file [salt://file.txt] [/tmp/file.txt]

salt is the primary command-line interface for SaltStack, a remote execution and configuration management system. It sends commands from the Salt master to minions (managed nodes), executing them in parallel across potentially thousands of systems simultaneously and returning results.Targeting determines which minions receive commands, using glob patterns (default), regular expressions (-E), grain-based matching (-G) for targeting by OS or hardware properties, or compound expressions (-C) combining multiple criteria. Execution modules provide hundreds of functions covering package management, file operations, service control, and system administration.States define the desired configuration of systems declaratively using YAML files. The state.apply function ensures minions converge to the defined state, making Salt suitable for both ad-hoc command execution and systematic infrastructure management.

PARAMETERS

TARGET

Minion pattern.

FUNCTION

Module.function to execute.

-G GRAIN

Target by grain.

-E

Regex target.

-L

List target.

-C

Compound target.

--async

Async execution.

--timeout SECS

Command timeout.

-v, --verbose

Verbose output.

INSTALL

sudo dnf install salt

sudo apk add salt-lts-master

sudo zypper install salt

nix profile install nixpkgs#salt

CAVEATS

Requires Salt master/minion setup. Large infrastructure needs tuning. State complexity grows.

HISTORY

Salt was created by Thomas Hatch and released in 2011. It became SaltStack, later acquired by VMware in 2020.