Job Results in Salt

Salt Returners

Before we discuss how to configure External and Master Job Cache, let’s discuss Salt Returners. 

Salt Returners help redirect the data to external stores. It performs any necessary operation on the data before sending it to the external cache. 

In Salt, after a job is performed the result is sent to the Salt Master until we specify a returner. A Returner will send the data to the specified External Cache and ALSO to the Salt Master. 

There are built-in returners for many different types of External Caches. Some of them are - jango_return, mysql, odbc, telegram_return, slack_returner, etc. 

Syntax of using a Returner

salt '*' <test.version> --return <returner1_name, returner2_name……, returnerN_name>

Configure Salt for External and Master Job Cache

After making the required configurations in the External Storage System, make the configurations in Salt to send the data to the External Storage System. 

You need to configure the External Cache to accept data from SaltStack. 

For Example, MySql should have the following configurations:

• A database is created using the schema that is required by the MySql returner (the inbuilt returner).
   
• A user that has access to the database.
   
• Optional SSL configuration.
   

The configuration file will look like this: 

mysql.host: 'salt'
mysql.user: 'salt'
mysql.pass: 'salt'
mysql.db: 'salt'
mysql.port: 3306

These returner configurations for the External Job Cache should be added to the Minion Configuration files, and for the Master Job Cache, they should be added to the Master Configuration files. 

For External Job Cache

For External Job Cache the Returner configurations can be declared in any one of these:

• Salt Minion Configuration file.
   
• Minion’s Grain.
   
• Minion’s Pillar Data.
   

NOTE: While using External Job Cache, the returner settings are added to the Minion Configuration file, but the External Job Cache setting is configured in the Master Configuration file. 

The configuration to enable the External Job Cache is given below:

ext_job_cache: <returner_name> 

If you are using MySql as the External Job Cache, the configuration will be as follows: 

ext_job_cache: mysql

For Master Job Cache

Fo Master Job Cache, the Returner Configurations should be declared in the Salt Master’s configuration file. 

The configuration to enable the Master Job Cache is given below: 

master_job_cache: <returner_name> 

If you are using MySql as the Master Job Cache, the configuration will be as follows:

master_job_cache: mysql

NOTE: After adding the configurations restart the Salt Master Service. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Salt Master?

The core idea of Salt is that of a Master who commands one or more Minions. The Master is the Central Management System. Executed on managed systems, the Salt minion communicates with Salt Master via instructions and configurations. Linux is the default operating system for the Salt Master, although any other system can be a minion.

What is a Minion?

Your servers, which power your apps and services, are called salt minions. These are the managed systems that respond to commands from Salt Master. The Salt master can target commands to particular minions by using the ID that has been assigned to each minion.

Which companies use SaltStack?

Various organizations use SaltStack software to manage and protect digital business infrastructure at scale, including TD Bank, IBM Cloud, LinkedIn, eBay, Lego, First Data, Adobe, Bloomberg, Sanofi, and thousands more.

Conclusion

Pat yourself on the back for finishing this article. In this article, we discussed the different ways of storing the results obtained from performing some jobs by the Salt Minion. We discussed the default storage methods and the methods to store the data in External Caches. 

Do not stop learning! We recommend you read these articles - 

🔥 Job Cache in Salt

🔥 Introduction to Salt

🔥 About Salt 

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