saltstack is an awesome configuration management tool to ensure that you have complete control over the configuration of all of the computers in your environment. It is an enterprise-class tool, run by very large companies with very many computers. Big companies like eBay, LEGO, and Liberty Mutual! I have a bunch of raspberry pi computers, running various tasks, that need some level of consistency or, at least, a quick way to set up new hosts in my house. I’ve got a bank of PI 3’s running this website. I’ve got one running my monitoring software, Munin. I’ve got a pi-hole, a transmission server, and a couple of pis hidden behind the TVs in the house, running KODI.
So, I need a way to do all the tedious tasks of adding a new raspberry to the network: removing unused software, setting the passwords, turning off IPv6, installing the monitoring client, etc. To that end, I install salt-minion on each new raspberry pi that I turn on in the house.
First, you’ll new a salt-master. Installation of that can be found here. Once you have the salt-master in place, you can start adding salt-minions. The steps are simple. Here’s the commands for cutting and pasting. What follows includes the responses from the host.
wget -O - http://repo.saltstack.com/py3/debian/10/armhf/latest/SALTSTACK-GPG-KEY.pub | sudo apt-key add - echo 'deb http://repo.saltstack.com/py3/debian/10/armhf/latest buster main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/saltstack.list apt-get update apt-get install salt-minion
The first task is to setup the saltstack repo. Add the gpg key and then add the repo source.
root@zero:~# wget -O - http://repo.saltstack.com/py3/debian/10/armhf/latest/SALTSTACK-GPG-KEY.pub | sudo apt-key add - --2020-04-13 14:12:07-- http://repo.saltstack.com/py3/debian/10/armhf/latest/S ALTSTACK-GPG-KEY.pub Resolving repo.saltstack.com (repo.saltstack.com)… 13.225.205.88, 13.225.205.6 2, 13.225.205.109, … Connecting to repo.saltstack.com (repo.saltstack.com)|13.225.205.88|:443… connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 200 OK Length: 1727 (1.7K) [application/octet-stream] Saving to: ‘STDOUT’ 100%[===================>] 1.69K --.-KB/s in 0s 2020-04-13 14:12:08 (14.1 MB/s) - written to stdout [1727/1727] OK root@zero-syl:~# echo 'deb http://repo.saltstack.com/py3/debian/10/armhf/latest buster main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/saltstack.list
Now, update apt with the new source:
root@zero-syl:~# apt-get update
Get:1 http://repo.saltstack.com/py3/debian/10/armhf/latest buster InRelease [2,129 B]
Get:2 http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian buster InRelease [15.0 kB]
Get:3 http://archive.raspbian.org/raspbian stretch InRelease [15.0 kB]
Get:4 http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian buster InRelease [25.1 kB]
Get:5 http://repo.saltstack.com/py3/debian/10/armhf/latest buster/main armhf Packages [2,306 B]
Get:6 http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian buster/main armhf Packages [13.0 MB]
Get:7 http://archive.raspbian.org/raspbian stretch/main armhf Packages [11.7 MB]
Get:8 http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian buster/main armhf Packages [326 kB]
Fetched 25.1 MB in 1min 31s (275 kB/s)
Reading package lists… Done
Now that your installation is aware of the new saltstack repo, you can begin the installation:
root@zero-syl:~# apt-get install salt-minion Reading package lists… Done Building dependency tree Reading state information… Done The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: python-apt python-backports-abc python-concurrent.futures python-croniter python-dateutil python-msgpack python-singledispatch python-systemd python-tz python-zmq Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them. The following additional packages will be installed: python3-croniter python3-distro python3-msgpack python3-systemd python3-tz python3-yaml salt-common Suggested packages: python3-pycurl python3-twisted python3-augeas The following NEW packages will be installed: python3-croniter python3-distro python3-msgpack python3-systemd python3-tz python3-yaml salt-common salt-minion 0 upgraded, 8 newly installed, 0 to remove and 40 not upgraded. Need to get 7,184 kB of archives. After this operation, 32.1 MB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y Get:1 http://repo.saltstack.com/py3/debian/10/armhf/latest buster/main armhf salt-common all 3000.1+ds-1 [6,860 kB] Get:2 http://mirror.umd.edu/raspbian/raspbian buster/main armhf python3-tz all 2019.1-1 [27.1 kB] Get:3 http://mirror.umd.edu/raspbian/raspbian buster/main armhf python3-croniter all 0.3.24-2 [17.3 kB] Get:4 http://mirror.umd.edu/raspbian/raspbian buster/main armhf python3-distro all 1.3.0-1 [14.3 kB] Get:5 http://mirror.umd.edu/raspbian/raspbian buster/main armhf python3-msgpack armhf 0.5.6-1+b1 [91.2 kB] Get:6 http://mirror.umd.edu/raspbian/raspbian buster/main armhf python3-systemd armhf 234-2+b1 [34.1 kB] Get:7 http://mirror.umd.edu/raspbian/raspbian buster/main armhf python3-yaml armhf 3.13-2 [111 kB] Get:8 http://repo.saltstack.com/py3/debian/10/armhf/latest buster/main armhf salt-minion all 3000.1+ds-1 [28.3 kB] Fetched 7,184 kB in 4s (1,941 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package python3-tz. (Reading database … 140730 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack …/0-python3-tz_2019.1-1_all.deb … Unpacking python3-tz (2019.1-1) … Selecting previously unselected package python3-croniter. Preparing to unpack …/1-python3-croniter_0.3.24-2_all.deb … Unpacking python3-croniter (0.3.24-2) … Selecting previously unselected package python3-distro. Preparing to unpack …/2-python3-distro_1.3.0-1_all.deb … Unpacking python3-distro (1.3.0-1) … Selecting previously unselected package python3-msgpack. Preparing to unpack …/3-python3-msgpack_0.5.6-1+b1_armhf.deb … Unpacking python3-msgpack (0.5.6-1+b1) … Selecting previously unselected package python3-systemd. Preparing to unpack …/4-python3-systemd_234-2+b1_armhf.deb … Unpacking python3-systemd (234-2+b1) … Selecting previously unselected package python3-yaml. Preparing to unpack …/5-python3-yaml_3.13-2_armhf.deb … Unpacking python3-yaml (3.13-2) … Selecting previously unselected package salt-common. Preparing to unpack …/6-salt-common_3000.1+ds-1_all.deb … Unpacking salt-common (3000.1+ds-1) … Selecting previously unselected package salt-minion. Preparing to unpack …/7-salt-minion_3000.1+ds-1_all.deb … Unpacking salt-minion (3000.1+ds-1) … Setting up python3-distro (1.3.0-1) … Setting up python3-yaml (3.13-2) … Setting up python3-tz (2019.1-1) … Setting up python3-msgpack (0.5.6-1+b1) … Setting up python3-systemd (234-2+b1) … Setting up python3-croniter (0.3.24-2) … Setting up salt-common (3000.1+ds-1) … Setting up salt-minion (3000.1+ds-1) … Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.5-2) … Processing triggers for systemd (241-7~deb10u3+rpi1) … root@zero-syl:~# systemctl enable --now salt-minion Synchronizing state of salt-minion.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install. Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable salt-minion
Now, double-check the minion_id. The minion_id is the name that salt uses to address this host. It does not need to match the hostname. In my case, I like to make sure that it does. Edit the minion_id file for correctness.
root@zero-syl:~# vi /etc/salt/minion_id
Done! Reboot and look for the new minion reporting in on your salt-master.
