Saltstack concepts

Overview

Salt Components

master:         # central server. pushes configuration to minions.
    states:     # *.sls files containing program/system setup recipes
    pillar:     # *.sls files containing secrets, passwords, keys

minion:         # receives instructions from master, applies configuration to current machine.
    grains:     # facts about a machine (ostype, hostname, processor-type, ...)

External Components

gpg:            # program to encrypt/decrypt things
jinja:          # templating engine (use python/dictionary substitution within configfiles)

Project Structure Overview

../
    #=======
    pillars/
    #=======
        passwd/
            hostname1.sls        ## passwords for users by hostname
            hostname2.sls

        ssh/                     ## public/private keys, and a dictionary
            hostname1_pub.sls    ## of hostnames, and which users will
            hostname1_prv.sls    ## receive it's sshkey
            hostname2_pub.sls
            hostname2_prv.sls

            user_keyfiles.sls

        progs/                   ## any program specific keyfiles
            taskwarrior/
            tarsnap/

        top.sls                  ## which hostnames receive which pillar
                                 ## variables

    #======
    states/
    #======

        docs/               ## offline copies of API documentation
            python/
                pyside.sls
                python2.sls
                python3.sls
                ...

        progs/              ## individual programs, and configurations
            editors/        ## categorized by group
                vim/
                emacs/
                eclipse/
            system/
            media/
            messaging/
            organization/
            ...

        roles/               ## files that simply include other state-files 
            unix_base.sls    ## these can be applied to machines as starting-points
            unix_dev.sls     ## before server-specific configuration is applied to it
            unix_home.sls
            win32_base.sls
            win32_home.sls

        hosts/               ## host-specific instructions and configfiles
            wintermute/
            mordin/
            melody/
            velma/

        top.sls              ## determines what statefiles are applied automatically
                             ## to each hostname. 
                             ##
                             ## ex:
                             ##    wintermute and mordin should both have
                             ##    'unix_base', 'unix_dev', and 'unix_home' 
                             ##    state-files applied to them.