Configuring the Salt Minion¶

master¶

Default: salt

The hostname or ipv4 of the master.

Default: salt

master: salt

The option can can also be set to a list of masters, enabling multi-master mode.

master:
  - address1
  - address2

master: module.function
master_type: func

master:
  - address1
  - address2
master_type: failover

master_type¶

Default: str

The type of the master variable. Can be either func or failover.

If the master needs to be dynamically assigned by executing a function instead of reading in the static master value, set this to func. This can be used to manage the minion's master setting from an execution module. By simply changing the algorithm in the module to return a new master ip/fqdn, restart the minion and it will connect to the new master.

master_type: func

If this option is set to failover, master must be a list of master addresses. The minion will then try each master in the order specified in the list until it successfully connects.

master_type: failover

master_shuffle¶

Default: False

If master is a list of addresses, shuffle them before trying to connect to distribute the minions over all available masters. This uses Python's random.shuffle method.

master_shuffle: True

retry_dns¶

Default: 30

Set the number of seconds to wait before attempting to resolve the master hostname if name resolution fails. Defaults to 30 seconds. Set to zero if the minion should shutdown and not retry.

retry_dns: 30

master_port¶

Default: 4506

The port of the master ret server, this needs to coincide with the ret_port option on the Salt master.

master_port: 4506

user¶

Default: root

The user to run the Salt processes

user: root

sudo_runas¶

Default: None

The user to run salt remote execution commands as via sudo. If this option is enabled then sudo will be used to change the active user executing the remote command. If enabled the user will need to be allowed access via the sudoers file for the user that the salt minion is configured to run as. The most common option would be to use the root user. If this option is set the user option should also be set to a non-root user. If migrating from a root minion to a non root minion the minion cache should be cleared and the minion pki directory will need to be changed to the ownership of the new user.

sudo_user: root

pidfile¶

Default: /var/run/salt-minion.pid

The location of the daemon's process ID file

pidfile: /var/run/salt-minion.pid

root_dir¶

Default: /

This directory is prepended to the following options: pki_dir, cachedir, log_file, sock_dir, and pidfile.

root_dir: /

pki_dir¶

Default: /etc/salt/pki

The directory used to store the minion's public and private keys.

pki_dir: /etc/salt/pki

id¶

Default: the system's hostname

Explicitly declare the id for this minion to use. Since Salt uses detached ids it is possible to run multiple minions on the same machine but with different ids.

id: foo.bar.com

append_domain¶

Default: None

Append a domain to a hostname in the event that it does not exist. This is useful for systems where socket.getfqdn() does not actually result in a FQDN (for instance, Solaris).

append_domain: foo.org

cachedir¶

Default: /var/cache/salt

The location for minion cache data.

This directory may contain sensitive data and should be protected accordingly.

cachedir: /var/cache/salt

verify_env¶

Default: True

Verify and set permissions on configuration directories at startup.

verify_env: True

cache_jobs¶

Default: False

The minion can locally cache the return data from jobs sent to it, this can be a good way to keep track of the minion side of the jobs the minion has executed. By default this feature is disabled, to enable set cache_jobs to True.

cache_jobs: False

sock_dir¶

Default: /var/run/salt/minion

The directory where Unix sockets will be kept.

sock_dir: /var/run/salt/minion

backup_mode¶

Default: []

Backup files replaced by file.managed and file.recurse under cachedir.

backup_mode: minion

acceptance_wait_time¶

Default: 10

The number of seconds to wait until attempting to re-authenticate with the master.

acceptance_wait_time: 10

random_reauth_delay¶

When the master key changes, the minion will try to re-auth itself to receive the new master key. In larger environments this can cause a syn-flood on the master because all minions try to re-auth immediately. To prevent this and have a minion wait for a random amount of time, use this optional parameter. The wait-time will be a random number of seconds between 0 and the defined value.

random_reauth_delay: 60

acceptance_wait_time_max¶

Default: None

The maximum number of seconds to wait until attempting to re-authenticate with the master. If set, the wait will increase by acceptance_wait_time seconds each iteration.

acceptance_wait_time_max: None

recon_default¶

Default: 1000

The interval in milliseconds that the socket should wait before trying to reconnect to the master (1000ms = 1 second).

recon_default: 1000

recon_max¶

Default: 10000

The maximum time a socket should wait. Each interval the time to wait is calculated by doubling the previous time. If recon_max is reached, it starts again at the recon_default.

Short example:

• reconnect 1: the socket will wait 'recon_default' milliseconds
• reconnect 2: 'recon_default' * 2
• reconnect 3: ('recon_default' * 2) * 2
• reconnect 4: value from previous interval * 2
• reconnect 5: value from previous interval * 2
• reconnect x: if value >= recon_max, it starts again with recon_default

recon_max: 10000

recon_randomize¶

Default: True

Generate a random wait time on minion start. The wait time will be a random value between recon_default and recon_default and recon_max. Having all minions reconnect with the same recon_default and recon_max value kind of defeats the purpose of being able to change these settings. If all minions have the same values and the setup is quite large (several thousand minions), they will still flood the master. The desired behavior is to have time-frame within all minions try to reconnect.

recon_randomize: True

dns_check¶

Default: True

When healing, a dns_check is run. This is to make sure that the originally resolved dns has not changed. If this is something that does not happen in your environment, set this value to False.

dns_check: True

cache_sreqs¶

Default: True

The connection to the master ret_port is kept open. When set to False, the minion creates a new connection for every return to the master. environment, set this value to False.

cache_sreqs: True

ipc_mode¶

Default: ipc

Windows platforms lack POSIX IPC and must rely on slower TCP based inter- process communications. Set ipc_mode to tcp on such systems.

ipc_mode: ipc

tcp_pub_port¶

Default: 4510

Publish port used when ipc_mode is set to tcp.

tcp_pub_port: 4510

tcp_pull_port¶

Default: 4511

Pull port used when ipc_mode is set to tcp.

tcp_pull_port: 4511

disable_modules¶

Default: [] (all modules are enabled by default)

The event may occur in which the administrator desires that a minion should not be able to execute a certain module. The sys module is built into the minion and cannot be disabled.

This setting can also tune the minion, as all modules are loaded into ram disabling modules will lover the minion's ram footprint.

disable_modules:
  - test
  - solr

disable_returners¶

Default: [] (all returners are enabled by default)

If certain returners should be disabled, this is the place

disable_returners:
  - mongo_return

module_dirs¶

Default: []

A list of extra directories to search for Salt modules

module_dirs:
  - /var/lib/salt/modules

returner_dirs¶

Default: []

A list of extra directories to search for Salt returners

returners_dirs:
  - /var/lib/salt/returners

states_dirs¶

Default: []

A list of extra directories to search for Salt states

states_dirs:
  - /var/lib/salt/states

grains_dirs¶

Default: []

A list of extra directories to search for Salt grains

grains_dirs:
  - /var/lib/salt/grains

render_dirs¶

Default: []

A list of extra directories to search for Salt renderers

render_dirs:
  - /var/lib/salt/renderers

cython_enable¶

Default: False

Set this value to true to enable auto-loading and compiling of .pyx modules, This setting requires that gcc and cython are installed on the minion

cython_enable: False

providers¶

Default: (empty)

A module provider can be statically overwritten or extended for the minion via the providers option. This can be done on an individual basis in an SLS file, or globally here in the minion config, like below.

providers:
  service: systemd

renderer¶

Default: yaml_jinja

The default renderer used for local state executions

renderer: yaml_jinja

state_verbose¶

Default: False

state_verbose allows for the data returned from the minion to be more verbose. Normally only states that fail or states that have changes are returned, but setting state_verbose to True will return all states that were checked

state_verbose: True

state_output¶

Default: full

The state_output setting changes if the output is the full multi line output for each changed state if set to 'full', but if set to 'terse' the output will be shortened to a single line.

state_output: full

autoload_dynamic_modules¶

Default: True

autoload_dynamic_modules Turns on automatic loading of modules found in the environments on the master. This is turned on by default, to turn of auto-loading modules when states run set this value to False

autoload_dynamic_modules: True

Default: True

clean_dynamic_modules keeps the dynamic modules on the minion in sync with the dynamic modules on the master, this means that if a dynamic module is not on the master it will be deleted from the minion. By default this is enabled and can be disabled by changing this value to False

clean_dynamic_modules: True

environment¶

Default: None

Normally the minion is not isolated to any single environment on the master when running states, but the environment can be isolated on the minion side by statically setting it. Remember that the recommended way to manage environments is to isolate via the top file.

environment: None

file_client¶

Default: remote

The client defaults to looking on the master server for files, but can be directed to look on the minion by setting this parameter to local.

file_client: remote

use_master_when_local¶

Default: False

When using a local file_client, this parameter is used to allow the client to connect to a master for remote execution.

use_master_when_local: False

file_roots¶

Default:

base:
  - /srv/salt

When using a local file_client, this parameter is used to setup the fileserver's environments. This parameter operates identically to the master config parameter of the same name.

file_roots:
  base:
    - /srv/salt
  dev:
    - /srv/salt/dev/services
    - /srv/salt/dev/states
  prod:
    - /srv/salt/prod/services
    - /srv/salt/prod/states

hash_type¶

Default: md5

The hash_type is the hash to use when discovering the hash of a file on the local fileserver. The default is md5, but sha1, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512 are also supported.

hash_type: md5

pillar_roots¶

Default:

base:
  - /srv/pillar

When using a local file_client, this parameter is used to setup the pillar environments.

pillar_roots:
  base:
    - /srv/pillar
  dev:
    - /srv/pillar/dev
  prod:
    - /srv/pillar/prod

open_mode¶

Default: False

Open mode can be used to clean out the PKI key received from the Salt master, turn on open mode, restart the minion, then turn off open mode and restart the minion to clean the keys.

open_mode: False

verify_master_pubkey_sign¶

Default: False

Enables verification of the master-public-signature returned by the master in auth-replies. Please see the tutorial on how to configure this properly Multimaster-PKI with Failover Tutorial

verify_master_pubkey_sign: True

If this is set to True, master_sign_pubkey must be also set to True in the master configuration file.

master_sign_key_name¶

Default: master_sign

The filename without the .pub suffix of the public key that should be used for verifying the signature from the master. The file must be located in the minion's pki directory.

master_sign_key_name: <filename_without_suffix>

always_verify_signature¶

Default: False

If verify_master_pubkey_sign is enabled, the signature is only verified, if the public-key of the master changes. If the signature should always be verified, this can be set to True.

always_verify_signature: True

log_file¶

Default: /var/log/salt/minion

The minion log can be sent to a regular file, local path name, or network location. See also log_file.

Examples:

log_file: /var/log/salt/minion

log_file: file:///dev/log

log_file: udp://loghost:10514

log_level¶

Default: warning

The level of messages to send to the console. See also log_level.

log_level: warning

log_level_logfile¶

Default: warning

The level of messages to send to the log file. See also log_level_logfile. When it is not set explicitly it will inherit the level set by log_level option.

log_level_logfile: warning

log_datefmt¶

Default: %H:%M:%S

The date and time format used in console log messages. See also log_datefmt.

log_datefmt: '%H:%M:%S'

log_datefmt_logfile¶

Default: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S

The date and time format used in log file messages. See also log_datefmt_logfile.

log_datefmt_logfile: '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'

log_fmt_console¶

Default: [%(levelname)-8s] %(message)s

The format of the console logging messages. See also log_fmt_console.

log_fmt_console: '[%(levelname)-8s] %(message)s'

log_fmt_logfile¶

Default: %(asctime)s,%(msecs)03.0f [%(name)-17s][%(levelname)-8s] %(message)s

The format of the log file logging messages. See also log_fmt_logfile.

log_fmt_logfile: '%(asctime)s,%(msecs)03.0f [%(name)-17s][%(levelname)-8s] %(message)s'

log_granular_levels¶

Default: {}

This can be used to control logging levels more specifically. See also log_granular_levels.

failhard¶

Default: False

Set the global failhard flag, this informs all states to stop running states at the moment a single state fails

failhard: False

default_include¶

Default: minion.d/*.conf

The minion can include configuration from other files. Per default the minion will automatically include all config files from minion.d/*.conf where minion.d is relative to the directory of the minion configuration file.

include¶

Default: not defined

The minion can include configuration from other files. To enable this, pass a list of paths to this option. The paths can be either relative or absolute; if relative, they are considered to be relative to the directory the main minion configuration file lives in. Paths can make use of shell-style globbing. If no files are matched by a path passed to this option then the minion will log a warning message.

# Include files from a minion.d directory in the same
# directory as the minion config file
include: minion.d/*.conf

# Include a single extra file into the configuration
include: /etc/roles/webserver

# Include several files and the minion.d directory
include:
  - extra_config
  - minion.d/*
  - /etc/roles/webserver

update_url¶

Default: False (Update feature is disabled)

The url to use when looking for application updates. Esky depends on directory listings to search for new versions. A webserver running on your Master is a good starting point for most setups.

update_url: 'http://salt.example.com/minion-updates'

update_restart_services¶

Default: [] (service restarting on update is disabled)

A list of services to restart when the minion software is updated. This would typically just be a list containing the minion's service name, but you may have other services that need to go with it.

update_restart_services: ['salt-minion']