Bootstrapping Salt

|build|

• Bootstrap
  • Contributing
  • Examples
    • Install using curl
    • Install using wget
    • Install using Python
    • Installing via an Insecure One-Liner
    • Install on Windows
  • Supported Operating Systems
    • Debian and derivatives
    • Red Hat family
    • SUSE family
    • Ubuntu and derivatives
      • Ubuntu Best Effort Support: Non-LTS Releases
    • Other Linux distributions
    • UNIX systems
  • Using a custom salt bootstrap
  • Unsupported Distributions
  • Testing
• Testing in Vagrant
• Running in Docker

Before `Salt`_ can be used for provisioning on the desired machine, the binaries need to be installed. Since `Salt`_ supports many different distributions and versions of operating systems, the `Salt`_ installation process is handled by this shell script bootstrap-salt.sh. This script runs through a series of checks to determine operating system type and version to then install the `Salt`_ binaries using the appropriate methods. For Windows, use the bootstrap-salt.ps1 script.

NOTE

This README file is not the absolute truth as to what the bootstrap script is capable of. For that, please read the generated help by passing -h to the script or even better, `read the source`_.

Also, to secure your Salt installation, check out these instructions for `hardening salt`_.

Older versions of Salt prior to 3006 are no longer supported by this bootstrap script as they have reached their End-Of-Life. Only onedir-based architecture versions of Salt are supported by this bootstrap script.

Bootstrap

In every two-step installation example, you would be well-served to verify against the SHA256 sum of the downloaded bootstrap-salt.sh file.

The SHA256 sum of the bootstrap-salt.sh file, per release, is:

• 2024.11.29: 0ac87384dee051aceded69704485a5de0e4a308551a462b10c262111b57acff0
• 2024.11.27: e972bd1ef01d09cd1d9294374ef974c9e3dd9a2aee37cf3859144585fd8bf1d0
• 2024.11.26: 832c7a20b96e1df171d715323df9afff8a11aef42d15598c007f240bc89d723c
• 2024.11.21: ddf624c3a94d721da3f7629402a6c7ecc9dd96d13c1ead2a626314e97cee982a
• 2024.11.07: 70a9783649e129985563d1a86cf28b8984499643e62ae1dc47dc008bd204fcbb
• 2024.09.24: 88e4e4cad4b115a7b721dd9c21d5ee5df390b5b73b63de48f99399146f43f371
• 2024.07.23: 7212b6b497b5c3d2bf15bfe5301625ec7bc1bf3e2949cd47d8e2073614935bf8
• 2024.07.18: 92a74e7ff8a9032a7713c2b3955991d66aaca08a4eb9494ce3dd66b5044f6bc3
• 2024.07.16: 4f76d1549c71d696a605f97645d8633b6269c4d9ae54b1fbdfedca1dcf893e7a
• 2024.07.12: 526f4a5383db308081a120e26988679238ca6add4bf7a82120cbe71d57ab826e
• 2024.04.03: 450ba5cde4af8d6cb5c56c66791f87b918bcda70ccdfb10abf3cc294143c8073
• 2024.01.04: cebcbc67895e238d1cf0024922a7fe5c772b9aaba346490c8fa6193bb0d993d4
• 2023.11.16: 3757ed82161113fed4c711fd7332e922265eeeb54e6e4f657a08ea82d57cc3a2
• 2023.11.07: 91f8a3bfb8b14476f7793c7f20cec7bfc638c10c073786f9a8904a858a929784
• 2023.08.03: 963e559bdb85adecfbbec2c3b81190392bc59b24992e4491e919cd748eeafcb8
• 2023.07.25: eaaaadaed40fe2e791d59a9e48f24449428a35ca61782d9139f1272c05524323
• 2023.06.28: f45f5da8abee27ef385131f5cfa9382d3a15863d0a05688a0404d2f057b27776
• 2023.04.26: 516fa9cc2e258cb8484ff360b9674b46918f657985c21ca9301e42a3dd263d60
• 2023.04.21: e364428aa7a25f8e2c5e18e36e222351724c6cf35a1d57158f3357cde1e0a0f0
• 2023.04.06: 994bf7e8bd92fe6d70d291c7562aff299f5651046b4e76dfa506cee0d9bb0843

If you're looking for a one-liner to install Salt, please scroll to the bottom and use the instructions for Installing via an Insecure One-Liner.

There are also .sha256 files for verifying against in the repo for the stable branch. You can also get the correct sha256 sum for the stable release from https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh.sha256 and https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.ps1.sha256

Contributing

The Salt Bootstrap project is open and encouraging to code contributions. Please review the `Contributing Guidelines`_ for information on filing issues, fixing bugs, and submitting features.

The `Contributing Guidelines`_ also contain information about the Bootstrap release cadence and process.

Examples

To view the latest options and descriptions for salt-bootstrap, use -h and the terminal:

./salt-bootstrap.sh -h

Usage :  bootstrap-salt.sh [options] <install-type> [install-type-args]

Installation types:
  - stable               Install latest stable release. This is the default
                         install type
  - stable [branch]      Install latest version on a branch. Only supported
                         for packages available at packages.broadcom.com
  - stable [version]     Install a specific version. Only supported for
                         packages available at packages.broadcom.com
                         To pin a 3xxx minor version, specify it as 3xxx.0
  - testing              RHEL-family specific: configure EPEL testing repo
  - git                  Install from the head of the master branch
  - git [ref]            Install from any git ref (such as a branch, tag, or
                         commit)
  - onedir               Install latest onedir release.
  - onedir [version]     Install a specific version. Only supported for
                         onedir packages available at packages.broadcom.com

  - onedir_rc            Install latest onedir RC release.
  - onedir_rc [version]  Install a specific version. Only supported for
                         onedir RC packages available at packages.broadcom.com

Examples:
  - bootstrap-salt.sh
  - bootstrap-salt.sh stable
  - bootstrap-salt.sh stable 3006
  - bootstrap-salt.sh stable 3006.1
  - bootstrap-salt.sh testing
  - bootstrap-salt.sh git
  - bootstrap-salt.sh git 3006.7
  - bootstrap-salt.sh git v3006.8
  - bootstrap-salt.sh git 3007.1
  - bootstrap-salt.sh git v3007.1
  - bootstrap-salt.sh git 06f249901a2e2f1ed310d58ea3921a129f214358
  - bootstrap-salt.sh onedir
  - bootstrap-salt.sh onedir 3006
  - bootstrap-salt.sh onedir_rc
  - bootstrap-salt.sh onedir_rc 3008


Options:
  -a  Pip install all Python pkg dependencies for Salt. Requires -V to install
      all pip pkgs into the virtualenv.
      (Only available for Ubuntu based distributions)
  -A  Pass the salt-master DNS name or IP. This will be stored under
      \${BS_SALT_ETC_DIR}/minion.d/99-master-address.conf
  -b  Assume that dependencies are already installed and software sources are
      set up. If git is selected, git tree is still checked out as dependency
      step.
  -c  Temporary configuration directory
  -C  Only run the configuration function. Implies -F (forced overwrite).
      To overwrite Master, Syndic or Api configs, -M,-S or -W, respectively, must
      also be specified. Salt installation will be ommitted, but some of the
      dependencies could be installed to write configuration with -j or -J.
  -d  Disables checking if Salt services are enabled to start on system boot.
      You can also do this by touching /tmp/disable_salt_checks on the target
      host. Default: \${BS_FALSE}
  -D  Show debug output
  -f  Force shallow cloning for git installations.
      This may result in an "n/a" in the version number.
  -F  Allow copied files to overwrite existing (config, init.d, etc)
  -g  Salt Git repository URL. Default: https://github.com/saltstack/salt.git
  -h  Display this message
  -H  Use the specified HTTP proxy for all download URLs (including https://).
      For example: http://myproxy.example.com:3128
  -i  Pass the salt-minion id. This will be stored under
      \${BS_SALT_ETC_DIR}/minion_id
  -I  If set, allow insecure connections while downloading any files. For
      example, pass '--no-check-certificate' to 'wget' or '--insecure' to
      'curl'. On Debian and Ubuntu, using this option with -U allows obtaining
      GnuPG archive keys insecurely if distro has changed release signatures.
  -j  Replace the Minion config file with data passed in as a JSON string. If
      a Minion config file is found, a reasonable effort will be made to save
      the file with a ".bak" extension. If used in conjunction with -C or -F,
      no ".bak" file will be created as either of those options will force
      a complete overwrite of the file.
  -J  Replace the Master config file with data passed in as a JSON string. If
      a Master config file is found, a reasonable effort will be made to save
      the file with a ".bak" extension. If used in conjunction with -C or -F,
      no ".bak" file will be created as either of those options will force
      a complete overwrite of the file.
  -k  Temporary directory holding the minion keys which will pre-seed
      the master.
  -K  If set, keep the temporary files in the temporary directories specified
      with -c and -k
  -l  Disable ssl checks. When passed, switches "https" calls to "http" where
      possible.
  -L  Also install salt-cloud and required python-libcloud package
  -M  Also install salt-master
  -n  No colours
  -N  Do not install salt-minion
  -p  Extra-package to install while installing Salt dependencies. One package
      per -p flag. You are responsible for providing the proper package name.
  -P  Allow pip based installations. On some distributions the required salt
      packages or its dependencies are not available as a package for that
      distribution. Using this flag allows the script to use pip as a last
      resort method. NOTE: This only works for functions which actually
      implement pip based installations.
  -q  Quiet salt installation from git (setup.py install -q)
  -Q  Quickstart, install the Salt master and the Salt minion.
      And automatically accept the minion key.
  -R  Specify a custom repository URL. Assumes the custom repository URL
      points to a repository that mirrors Salt packages located at
      packages.broadcom.com. The option passed with -R replaces the
      "packages.broadcom.com". If -R is passed, -r is also set. Currently only
      works on CentOS/RHEL and Debian based distributions and macOS.
  -s  Sleep time used when waiting for daemons to start, restart and when
      checking for the services running. Default: 3
  -S  Also install salt-syndic
  -r  Disable all repository configuration performed by this script. This
      option assumes all necessary repository configuration is already present
      on the system.
  -U  If set, fully upgrade the system prior to bootstrapping Salt
  -v  Display script version
  -V  Install Salt into virtualenv
      (only available for Ubuntu based distributions)
  -W  Also install salt-api
  -x  Changes the Python version used to install Salt (default: Python 3).
      Python 2.7 is no longer supported.
  -X  Do not start daemons after installation

The Salt Bootstrap script has a wide variety of options that can be passed as well as several ways of obtaining the bootstrap script itself. Note that the use of sudo is not needed when running these commands as the root user.

NOTE

The examples below show how to bootstrap Salt directly from GitHub or another Git repository. Run the script without any parameters to get latest stable Salt packages for your system from the Salt Project's repository. See first example in the Install using wget section.

Install using curl

If you want to install a package of a specific release version, from the Salt Project repo:

curl -o bootstrap-salt.sh -L https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh -P stable 3006.1

If you want to install a specific release version, based on the Git tags:

curl -o bootstrap-salt.sh -L https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh git v3006.1

Using curl to install latest development version from GitHub:

curl -o bootstrap-salt.sh -L https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh git master

To install a specific branch from a Git fork:

curl -o bootstrap-salt.sh -L https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh -g https://github.com/myuser/salt.git git mybranch

If all you want is to install a salt-master using latest Git:

curl -o bootstrap-salt.sh -L https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh -M -N git master

If your host has Internet access only via HTTP proxy, from the Salt Project repo:

PROXY='http://user:[email protected]:3128'
curl -o bootstrap-salt.sh -L -x "$PROXY" https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh -P -H "$PROXY" stable

If your host has Internet access only via HTTP proxy, installing via Git:

PROXY='http://user:[email protected]:3128'
curl -o bootstrap-salt.sh -L -x "$PROXY" https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh -H "$PROXY" git

Install using wget

Using wget to install your distribution's stable packages:

wget -O bootstrap-salt.sh https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh

Installing a specific version from git using wget:

wget -O bootstrap-salt.sh https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh git v3006.8

Installing a specific version package from the Salt Project repo using wget:

wget -O bootstrap-salt.sh https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh -P stable 3006.8

NOTE

On the above examples we added -P which will allow PIP packages to be installed if required. However, the -P flag is not necessary for Git-based bootstraps.

Install using Python

If you already have Python installed, python 3.10, then it's as easy as:

python -m urllib "https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh" > bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh -P stable 3006.1

With python version 3:

python3 -c 'import urllib.request; print(urllib.request.urlopen("https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh").read().decode("ascii"))' > bootstrap-salt.sh
sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh git v3006.1

Note: Python 2.x is no longer supported given it reached it's End-Of-Life Jan. 1st, 2020

Installing via an Insecure One-Liner

The following examples illustrate how to install Salt via a one-liner.

NOTE

Warning! These methods do not involve a verification step and assume that the delivered file is trustworthy.

Any of the examples above which use two lines can be made to run in a single-line configuration with minor modifications.

Installing the latest stable release of Salt (default):

curl -L https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh | sudo sh

Using wget to install your distribution's stable packages:

wget -O - https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh | sudo sh

Installing a target version package of Salt from the Salt Project repo:

curl -L https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh | sudo sh -s -- stable 3006.8

Installing the latest master branch of Salt from git:

curl -L https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.sh | sudo sh -s -- git master

Note: use of git is recommended for development environments, for example: testing new features of Salt which have not yet been released. It is recommended that production environments should use stable.

Install on Windows

Using PowerShell to install latest stable version:

[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]'Tls12'
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.ps1 -OutFile "$env:TEMP\bootstrap-salt.ps1"
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser & "$env:TEMP\bootstrap-salt.ps1"

Display information about the install script parameters:

Get-Help $env:TEMP\bootstrap-salt.ps1 -Detailed

Using cygwin to install latest stable version:

curl -o bootstrap-salt.ps1 -L https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/releases/latest/download/bootstrap-salt.ps1
"/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell.exe" -NoProfile -InputFormat None -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = 3072; iex ./bootstrap-salt.ps1"

Supported Operating Systems

The salt-bootstrap script officially supports the distributions outlined in Salt's Supported Operating Systems document, (BSD-based OSs, Solaris and AIX are no longer supported). The operating systems listed below should reflect this document but may become out of date. If an operating system is listed below, but is not listed on the official supported operating systems document, the level of support is "best-effort".

Since Salt is written in Python, the packages available from the Salt Project's repository are CPU architecture independent and could be installed on any hardware supported by Linux kernel. However, the Salt Project does package Salt's binary dependencies only for x86_64 (amd64) and AArch64 (arm64).

It is recommended to use git bootstrap mode as described above to install Salt on other architectures, such as x86 (i386) or ARM EABI (armel). You also may need to disable repository configuration and allow pip installations by providing -r and -P options to the bootstrap script, i.e.:

sudo sh bootstrap-salt.sh -r -P git master

NOTE

Bootstrap may fail to install Salt on the cutting-edge version of distributions with frequent release cycles such as: Amazon Linux, Fedora, openSUSE Tumbleweed, or Ubuntu non-LTS. Check the versions from the list below. Also, see the `Unsupported Distro`_ section.

Debian and derivatives

• Cumulus Linux 2/3
• Debian GNU/Linux 9/10/11/12
• Devuan GNU/Linux 1/2/3/4/5
• Kali Linux 1.0 (based on Debian 7)
• Linux Mint Debian Edition 1 (based on Debian 8)

Red Hat family

• Amazon Linux 2
• Amazon Linux 2023
• CentOS 8/9
• Cloud Linux 6/7
• Fedora 40 (install latest stable from standard repositories)
• Oracle Linux 8/9
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8/9
• Scientific Linux 8/9

SUSE family

• openSUSE Leap 15 (see note below)
• openSUSE Leap 42.3
• openSUSE Tumbleweed 2015
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4, 12 SP2

NOTE: Leap 15 installs Python 3 Salt packages by default. Salt is packaged by SUSE, and Leap 15 ships with Python 3.

sh bootstrap-salt.sh -x python3 git v3006.1

Ubuntu and derivatives

• KDE neon (based on Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04)
• Linux Mint 17/18

Ubuntu Best Effort Support: Non-LTS Releases

This script provides best-effort support for current, non-LTS Ubuntu releases. If package repositories are not provided on the `Salt Project's Ubuntu repository`_ for the non-LTS release, the bootstrap script will attempt to install the packages for the most closely related LTS Ubuntu release instead.

For example, when installing Salt on Ubuntu 24.10, the bootstrap script will setup the repository for Ubuntu 24.04 from the `Salt Project's Ubuntu repository`_ and install the 24.04 packages.

Non-LTS Ubuntu releases are not supported once the release reaches End-of-Life as defined by `Ubuntu's release schedule`_.

Other Linux distributions

• Alpine Linux 3.5/edge
• Arch Linux
• Gentoo

UNIX systems

BSD:

• No longer supported

SunOS:

• No longer supported

Using a custom salt bootstrap

By default the salt-cloud -p provisioning command will use the latest release from this repository to bootstrap new minions. If

• your needs are not met by that script,
• you want to lock salt bootstrap to a specific release, or
• you want to use an unreleased development version of this script

you can add your bootstrap-salt script to your salt cloud configuration and point to it with the script attribute.

Read more: https://docs.saltproject.io/en/latest/topics/cloud/deploy.html

Unsupported Distributions

If you are running a Linux distribution that is not supported yet or is not correctly identified, please run the following commands and report their output when creating an issue:

sudo find /etc/ -name \*-release -print -exec cat {} \;
command lsb_release -a

For information on how to add support for a currently unsupported distribution, please refer to the `Contributing Guidelines`_.

Testing

There are a couple of ways to test the bootstrap script. Running the script on a fully-fledged VM is one way. Other options include using Vagrant or Docker.

Testing in Vagrant

Vagrant_ can be used to easily test changes on a clean machine. The Vagrantfile defaults to an Ubuntu box. First, install Vagrant, then:

vagrant up
vagrant ssh

Running in Docker

It is possible to run and use Salt inside a Docker_ container on Linux machines. Let's prepare the Docker image using the provided Dockerfile to install both a Salt Master and a Salt Minion with the bootstrap script:

docker build -t local/salt-bootstrap .

Start your new container with Salt services up and running:

docker run --detach --name salt --hostname salt local/salt-bootstrap

And finally "enter" the running container and make Salt fully operational:

docker exec -i -t salt /bin/bash
salt-key -A -y

Salt is ready and working in the Docker container with the Minion authenticated on the Master.

NOTE

The Dockerfile here inherits the Ubuntu 20.04 public image. Use it as an example or starting point of how to make your own Docker images with suitable Salt components, custom configurations, and even `pre-accepted Minion keys`_ already installed.