SaltStack, also known as Salt, is a powerful configuration management and orchestration tool that uses a central master to manage nodes, which are called minions. Salt can execute commands across multiple systems simultaneously, allowing for fast and scalable automation. Below, I'll outline how to set up basic operations in SaltStack and provide examples of how to use it for various tasks.

Setting Up SaltStack

Prerequisites

1. Master and Minion Setup: You need at least one Salt master and one or more Salt minions. Minions are the managed nodes.
2. Supported Operating System: SaltStack works on most Linux distributions, Windows, and macOS.

Installation

1. Install Salt Master:

   • On Ubuntu:

     sudo apt-get update
     sudo apt-get install salt-master
     
     

2. Install Salt Minion:

   • On Ubuntu:

     sudo apt-get install salt-minion
     
     

3. Configure Minion:

   • Set the master IP in the minion configuration file (/etc/salt/minion):

     master: ip_of_salt_master
     
     

4. Start Services:

   • Start the Salt master and minion services:

     sudo systemctl start salt-master
     sudo systemctl start salt-minion
     
     

5. Accept Minion Keys:

   • On the master, accept the minion keys:

     sudo salt-key -A
     
     

Basic SaltStack Commands and Examples

1. Test Connectivity

To test if your minions are properly connected and responding to the master:

salt '*' test.ping

This command should return True for each minion that is up and connected to the master.

2. Execute Commands

You can execute commands on all or specific minions:

salt '*' cmd.run 'uptime'

This command runs the uptime command on all connected minions.