Managing Linux in Real Time with SaltStack

Dive into a comprehensive live tutorial on managing Linux systems in real-time using SaltStack. Learn how to deploy and configure a heterogeneous SaltStack cluster, covering installation, key concepts like grains and pillars, and practical applications. Explore remote command execution, targeting minions, querying grains, and installing software across multiple systems. Gain hands-on experience writing and running states, including cron jobs and file management. Discover how to extend SaltStack with custom metadata, handle different operating systems, and automate SSH key provisioning. Perfect for system administrators and DevOps professionals looking to enhance their infrastructure management skills.

- Holding Screen
- Introductions
- Deploying a heterogeneous cluster Machines and OS with SaltStack on Packet’s bare metal with Pulumi and TypeScript
- Extending SaltStack with Packet’s metadata as grains
- Covering SaltStack’s Vocabulary: Grains and Pillars
- Binding SaltStack to the private IPv4 address
- Ed has a cool use-case for Tailscale, connecting his SaltStack nodes over disparate private networks
- Connecting to our SaltStack master / Checking it works!
- Approving our first minion key
- Oops! Our provisioning on the CentOS machine failed. Lets fix it Fuck you, Python 2
- Introduction to SaltStack CLI
- Executing remote commands on minions
- Targeting minions
- Querying grains
- Fixing the Ubuntu machine Fuck you, Python 2
- SaltStack communication method. Spoiler: event driven through zero-mq
- Python / wheel on Arm needs compiled, so it’s a bit slower.
- Installing software to our minions through SaltStack’s package module
- Looking at state modules
- Writing our first state using the cron state module
- Running a single state from the file root
- Adding the file state module to our first state: creating a directory and writing a file
- Provisioning all our machines with SSH keys from our custom grain data