There are several ways to access Salt programatically.
Salt CLI tools can, of course, be called from shell scripts. Reference the help output to see what structured output formats are supported. For example:
salt '*' disk.usage --out=json
Salt provides a REST API, currently as a separate sister-project. It will be merged into Salt core.
https://github.com/saltstack/salt-api
This API utilizes Salt's Python interface documented below. It is also useful as a reference implementation.
Salt provides several entry points for interfacing with Python applications. These entry points are often referred to as *Client() APIs.
Some clients require access to Salt's opts dictionary. (The dictionary representation of the master or minion config files.)
A common pattern for fetching the opts dictionary is to defer to environment variables if they exist or otherwise fetch the config from the default location.
import salt.config
master_opts = salt.config.master_config(
os.environ.get('SALT_MASTER_CONFIG', '/etc/salt/master'))
minion_opts = salt.config.client_config(
os.environ.get('SALT_MINION_CONFIG', '/etc/salt/minion'))
The interface used by the salt CLI tool on the Salt Master
LocalClient is used to send a command to Salt minions to execute execution modules and return the results to the Salt Master.
Importing and using LocalClient must be done on the same machine as the Salt Master and it must be done using the same user that the Salt Master is running as. (Unless external_auth is configured and authentication credentials are included in the execution).
import salt.client
local = salt.client.LocalClient()
local.cmd('*', 'test.fib', [10])
Synchronously execute a command on targeted minions
The cmd method will execute and wait for the timeout period for all minions to reply, then it will return all minion data at once.
>>> import salt.client
>>> local = salt.client.LocalClient()
>>> local.cmd('*', 'cmd.run', ['whoami'])
{'jerry': 'root'}
With extra keyword arguments for the command function to be run:
local.cmd('*', 'test.arg', ['arg1', 'arg2'], kwarg={'foo': 'bar'})
Compound commands can be used for multiple executions in a single publish. Function names and function arguments are provided in separate lists but the index values must correlate and an empty list must be used if no arguments are required.
>>> local.cmd('*', [
'grains.items',
'sys.doc',
'cmd.run',
],
[
[],
[],
['uptime'],
])
Parameters: |
|
---|---|
Returns: | A dictionary with the result of the execution, keyed by minion ID. A compound command will return a sub-dictionary keyed by function name. |
Asynchronously send a command to connected minions
Prep the job directory and publish a command to any targeted minions.
Returns: | A dictionary of (validated) pub_data or an empty dictionary on failure. The pub_data contains the job ID and a list of all minions that are expected to return data. |
---|
>>> local.run_job('*', 'test.sleep', [300])
{'jid': '20131219215650131543', 'minions': ['jerry']}
Asynchronously send a command to connected minions
The function signature is the same as cmd() with the following exceptions.
Returns: | A job ID or 0 on failure. |
---|
>>> local.cmd_async('*', 'test.sleep', [300])
'20131219215921857715'
Execute a command on a random subset of the targeted systems
The function signature is the same as cmd() with the following exceptions.
Parameters: | sub -- The number of systems to execute on |
---|
>>> SLC.cmd_subset('*', 'test.ping', sub=1)
{'jerry': True}
Yields the individual minion returns as they come in
The function signature is the same as cmd() with the following exceptions.
Returns: | A generator |
---|
>>> ret = local.cmd_iter('*', 'test.ping')
>>> for i in ret:
... print i
{'jerry': {'ret': True}}
{'dave': {'ret': True}}
{'stewart': {'ret': True}}
Blocks while waiting for individual minions to return.
The function signature is the same as cmd() with the following exceptions.
Returns: | None until the next minion returns. This allows for actions to be injected in between minion returns. |
---|
>>> ret = local.cmd_iter('*', 'test.ping')
>>> for i in ret:
... print i
None
{'jerry': {'ret': True}}
{'dave': {'ret': True}}
None
{'stewart': {'ret': True}}
Starts a watcher looking at the return data for a specified JID
Returns: | all of the information for the JID |
---|
Gather the return data from the event system, break hard when timeout is reached.
Caller is the same interface used by the salt-call command-line tool on the Salt Minion.
Importing and using Caller must be done on the same machine as a Salt Minion and it must be done using the same user that the Salt Minion is running as.
Usage:
import salt.client
caller = salt.client.Caller()
caller.function('test.ping')
# Or call objects directly
caller.sminion.functions['cmd.run']('ls -l')
Call a single salt function
The interface used by the salt-run CLI tool on the Salt Master
It executes runner modules which run on the Salt Master.
Importing and using RunnerClient must be done on the same machine as the Salt Master and it must be done using the same user that the Salt Master is running as.
Salt's external_auth can be used to authenticate calls. The eauth user must be authorized to execute runner modules: (@runner). Only the master_call() below supports eauth.
Execute the runner in a multiprocess and return the event tag to use to watch for the return
Execute a runner function
>>> opts = salt.config.master_config('/etc/salt/master')
>>> runner = salt.runner.RunnerClient(opts)
>>> runner.cmd('jobs.list_jobs', [])
{
'20131219215650131543': {
'Arguments': [300],
'Function': 'test.sleep',
'StartTime': '2013, Dec 19 21:56:50.131543',
'Target': '*',
'Target-type': 'glob',
'User': 'saltdev'
},
'20131219215921857715': {
'Arguments': [300],
'Function': 'test.sleep',
'StartTime': '2013, Dec 19 21:59:21.857715',
'Target': '*',
'Target-type': 'glob',
'User': 'saltdev'
},
}
Return a dictionary of functions and the inline documentation for each
Pass in the runner function name and the low data structure
runner.low({'fun': 'jobs.lookup_jid', 'jid': '20131219215921857715'})
Execute a runner function through the master network interface (eauth).
This function requires that external_auth is configured and the user is authorized to execute runner functions: (@runner).
runner.master_call({
'fun': 'jobs.list_jobs',
'username': 'saltdev',
'password': 'saltdev',
'eauth': 'pam',
})
An interface to Salt's wheel modules
Wheel modules interact with various parts of the Salt Master.
Importing and using WheelClient must be done on the same machine as the Salt Master and it must be done using the same user that the Salt Master is running as. Unless external_auth is configured and the user is authorized to execute wheel functions: (@wheel).
Execute a wheel function
>>> opts = salt.config.master_config('/etc/salt/master')
>>> wheel = salt.wheel.Wheel(opts)
>>> wheel.call_func('key.list_all')
{'local': ['master.pem', 'master.pub'],
'minions': ['jerry'],
'minions_pre': [],
'minions_rejected': []}
Return a dictionary of functions and the inline documentation for each
Execute a wheel function through the master network interface (eauth).
This function requires that external_auth is configured and the user is authorized to execute wheel functions: (@wheel).
>>> wheel.master_call(**{
'fun': 'key.finger',
'match': 'jerry',
'eauth': 'auto',
'username': 'saltdev',
'password': 'saltdev',
})
{'data': {
'_stamp': '2013-12-19_22:47:44.427338',
'fun': 'wheel.key.finger',
'jid': '20131219224744416681',
'return': {'minions': {'jerry': '5d:f6:79:43:5e:d4:42:3f:57:b8:45:a8:7e:a4:6e:ca'}},
'success': True,
'tag': 'salt/wheel/20131219224744416681',
'user': 'saltdev'
},
'tag': 'salt/wheel/20131219224744416681'}
The client class to wrap cloud interactions
Execute a single action via the cloud plugin backend
Examples:
client.action(fun='show_instance', names=['myinstance']) client.action(fun='show_image', provider='my-ec2-config', kwargs={'image': 'ami-10314d79'})
Create the named VMs, without using a profile
Example:
Destroy the named VMs
Query all instance information
List all available images in configured cloud systems
List all available locations in configured cloud systems
List all available sizes in configured cloud systems
Pass the cloud function and low data structure to run
Pass in a profile to create, names is a list of vm names to allocate
Query basic instance information
Query select instance information
Current Salt release: 2014.1.6
Docs for previous releases on salt.rtfd.org.