Book Image

Extending SaltStack

Book Image

Extending SaltStack

Overview of this book

Salt already ships with a very powerful set of tools, but that doesn't mean that they all suit your needs perfectly. By adding your own modules and enhancing existing ones, you can bring the functionality that you need to increase your productivity. Extending SaltStack follows a tutorial-based approach to explain different types of modules, from fundamentals to complete and full-functioning modules. Starting with the Loader system that drives Salt, this book will guide you through the most common types of modules. First you will learn how to write execution modules. Then you will extend the configuration using the grain, pillar, and SDB modules. Next up will be state modules and then the renderers that can be used with them. This will be followed with returner and output modules, which increase your options to manage return data. After that, there will be modules for external file servers, clouds, beacons, and finally external authentication and wheel modules to manage the master. With this guide in hand, you will be prepared to create, troubleshoot, and manage the most common types of Salt modules and take your infrastructure to new heights!
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Extending SaltStack
Credits
Foreword
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Chapter 1. Starting with the Basics

The vast majority of Salt users see it as a configuration management platform. And in truth, it handles that very well. But it did not start off with that as a design goal. In its early days, Salt was a communication framework that was designed to be useful even to those who did not write code. But for those who were willing, it was also designed to be heavily extensible to those users who had some Python in their toolbelt.

Before we get into writing modules, it will help to have a basic understanding of how the Salt module system works. In this chapter, you'll learn the following:

  • How the loader system works

  • How Salt uses Python