SaltStack Administration

Salt

We use SaltStack to configure our build master and the slaves. The sources are at: https://github.com/servo/saltfs/

Resources

• the Salt docs

Master Setup

Minions find out where their master is by reading /etc/salt/minion. They attempt to connect to all masters listed in that file.

This issue tracks how we moved the build/salt master from Linode to AWS.

File configuration notes on servo-master1:

file_roots:
  base:
    - /srv/salt
    
pillar_roots:
  base:
    - /srv/pillar

Upgrading Salt

• It's best to restart the service when the package is updated to keep the installed and running versions in sync, but restarting a master or minion service will interrupt an ongoing highstate.
• Masters need to be updated before minions, but salt '*' state.highstate cannot enforce ordering - Salt's orchestration can help with this.

Manual updates are fine for now since there are so few machines: first on the salt master, then on the minions.

For the discussion about whether to use Salt to manage Salt upgrades and files, see this issue

Adding Minions

Linux

⚠️ Setting up a master requires additional steps, these instructions only set up a minion.

Install the Salt minion:

# curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/servo/saltfs/master/.travis/install_salt | sh -s linux

Configure and start the Salt minion:

# printf 'master:\n  - servo-master1.servo.org' > /etc/salt/minion
# printf 'id: servo-linux10\n' >> /etc/salt/minion # replace servo-linux10 with the builder name
# service salt-minion start

OSX

install latest Xcode and commandline tools from the Appstore
sudo xcodebuild -license

install brew: 
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
brew install git
echo export PATH='/usr/local/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile
brew doctor (should say you are good to go)
sudo easy_install -s /usr/bin pip
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/servo/saltfs/master/.travis/install_salt | sh -s osx
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/saltstack/salt/develop/pkg/darwin/com.saltstack.salt.minion.plist
add     <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
        <key>PATH</key>
        <string>/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin</string>
        <key>HOME</key>
        <string>/Users/administrator</string>
    </dict>
right after the Label section
sudo cp com.saltstack.salt.minion.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/
sudo bash -c "echo '96.126.125.232 salt' >> /etc/hosts"
sudo mkdir /etc/salt
sudo mkdir /var/log/salt
sudo salt-run launchd.write_launchd_plist salt-minion
printf 'id: servo-mac10' | sudo tee /etc/salt/minion # replace servo-linux10 with the builder name 
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.saltstack.salt.minion.plist
set screen resolution to 1280x960 or else reftests will fail randomly
Create a standard user named 'Tom Servo', account name servo, give him a password, and log in. 
Set up to autologin on reboot. LEAVE LOGGED IN (else reftests will fail)
Do the following to stop coreaudiod from using 100% of a cpu:
sudo launchctl load -w /system/library/launchdaemons/com.apple.blued.plist

Enabling a minion for the first time

On master use salt-key -L to list pending minon keys. Then use salt-key -a KEY to accept new minion keys.

Verify by logging in to the master and doing salt '*' test.ping. Should see results from all minons.

After adding it to common.sls, do salt servo-NEWMACHINE state.highstate to install of the dependencies.