Executing states or highstate on a minion is perfect when you want to ensure that minion configured and running the way you want. Sometimes however you want to configure a set of minions all at once.
For example, if you want to set up a load balancer in front of a cluster of web servers you can ensure the load balancer is set up first, and then the same matching configuration is applied consistently across the whole cluster.
Orchestration is the way to do this.
New in version 0.17.0.
Note
Orchestrate Deprecates OverState
The Orchestrate Runner (originally called the state.sls runner) offers all the functionality of the OverState, but with some advantages:
All Requisites and Other Global State Arguments available in states can be used.
The states/functions will also work on salt-ssh minions.
The Orchestrate Runner replaced the OverState system in Salt 2015.8.0.
The orchestrate runner generalizes the Salt state system to a Salt master
context. Whereas the state.sls
, state.highstate
, et al. functions are
concurrently and independently executed on each Salt minion, the
state.orchestrate
runner is executed on the master, giving it a
master-level view and control over requisites, such as state ordering and
conditionals. This allows for inter minion requisites, like ordering the
application of states on different minions that must not happen simultaneously,
or for halting the state run on all minions if a minion fails one of its
states.
The state.sls
, state.highstate
, et al. functions allow you to statefully
manage each minion and the state.orchestrate
runner allows you to
statefully manage your entire infrastructure.
Orchestrate SLS files are stored in the same location as State SLS files. This
means that both file_roots
and gitfs_remotes
impact what SLS files are
available to the reactor and orchestrator.
It is recommended to keep reactor and orchestrator SLS files in their own
uniquely named subdirectories such as _orch/
, orch/
, _orchestrate/
,
react/
, _reactor/
, etc. This will avoid duplicate naming and will help
prevent confusion.
The Orchestrate Runner command format is the same as for the state.sls
function, except that since it is a runner, it is executed with salt-run
rather than salt
. Assuming you have a state.sls file called
/srv/salt/orch/webserver.sls
the following command, run on the master,
will apply the states defined in that file.
salt-run state.orchestrate orch.webserver
Note
state.orch
is a synonym for state.orchestrate
Changed in version 2014.1.1: The runner function was renamed to state.orchestrate
to avoid confusion
with the state.sls
execution function. In
versions 0.17.0 through 2014.1.0, state.sls
must be used.
New in version 2016.11.0.
To support salt orchestration on masterless minions, the Orchestrate Runner is
available as an execution module. The syntax for masterless orchestration is
exactly the same, but it uses the salt-call
command and the minion
configuration must contain the file_mode: local
option. Alternatively,
use salt-call --local
on the command line.
salt-call --local state.orchestrate orch.webserver
Note
Masterless orchestration supports only the salt.state
command in an
sls file; it does not (currently) support the salt.function
command.
To execute a function, use salt.function
:
# /srv/salt/orch/cleanfoo.sls
cmd.run:
salt.function:
- tgt: '*'
- arg:
- rm -rf /tmp/foo
salt-run state.orchestrate orch.cleanfoo
If you omit the "name" argument, the ID of the state will be the default name,
or in the case of salt.function
, the execution module function to run. You
can specify the "name" argument to avoid conflicting IDs:
copy_some_file:
salt.function:
- name: file.copy
- tgt: '*'
- arg:
- /path/to/file
- /tmp/copy_of_file
- kwarg:
remove_existing: true
When running a remote execution function in orchestration, certain return values for those functions may indicate failure, while the function itself doesn't set a return code. For those circumstances, using a "fail function" allows for a more flexible means of assessing success or failure.
A fail function can be written as part of a custom execution module. The function should accept one argument, and return a boolean result. For example:
def check_func_result(retval):
if some_condition:
return True
else:
return False
The function can then be referenced in orchestration SLS like so:
do_stuff:
salt.function:
- name: modname.funcname
- tgt: '*'
- fail_function: mymod.check_func_result
Important
Fail functions run on the master, so they must be synced using salt-run
saltutil.sync_modules
.
To execute a state, use salt.state
.
# /srv/salt/orch/webserver.sls
install_nginx:
salt.state:
- tgt: 'web*'
- sls:
- nginx
salt-run state.orchestrate orch.webserver
To run a highstate, set highstate: True
in your state config:
# /srv/salt/orch/web_setup.sls
webserver_setup:
salt.state:
- tgt: 'web*'
- highstate: True
salt-run state.orchestrate orch.web_setup
To execute another runner, use salt.runner
.
For example to use the cloud.profile
runner in your orchestration state
additional options to replace values in the configured profile, use this:
# /srv/salt/orch/deploy.sls
create_instance:
salt.runner:
- name: cloud.profile
- prof: cloud-centos
- provider: cloud
- instances:
- server1
- opts:
minion:
master: master1
To get a more dynamic state, use jinja variables together with
inline pillar data
.
Using the same example but passing on pillar data, the state would be like
this.
# /srv/salt/orch/deploy.sls
{% set servers = salt['pillar.get']('servers', 'test') %}
{% set master = salt['pillar.get']('master', 'salt') %}
create_instance:
salt.runner:
- name: cloud.profile
- prof: cloud-centos
- provider: cloud
- instances:
- {{ servers }}
- opts:
minion:
master: {{ master }}
To execute with pillar data.
salt-run state.orch orch.deploy pillar='{"servers": "newsystem1",
"master": "mymaster"}'
New in version 2018.3.0.
State (salt.state
) jobs are able to report failure via the state
return dictionary. Remote execution (salt.function
)
jobs are able to report failure by setting a retcode
key in the
__context__
dictionary. However, runner (salt.runner
) and wheel
(salt.wheel
) jobs would only report a False
result when the
runner/wheel function raised an exception. As of the 2018.3.0 release, it is
now possible to set a retcode in runner and wheel functions just as you can do
in remote execution functions. Here is some example pseudocode:
def myrunner():
...
# do stuff
...
if some_error_condition:
__context__["retcode"] = 1
return result
This allows a custom runner/wheel function to report its failure so that requisites can accurately tell that a job has failed.
Many states/functions can be configured in a single file, which when combined with the full suite of Requisites and Other Global State Arguments, can be used to easily configure complex orchestration tasks. Additionally, the states/functions will be executed in the order in which they are defined, unless prevented from doing so by any Requisites and Other Global State Arguments, as is the default in SLS files since 0.17.0.
bootstrap_servers:
salt.function:
- name: cmd.run
- tgt: 10.0.0.0/24
- tgt_type: ipcidr
- arg:
- bootstrap
storage_setup:
salt.state:
- tgt: 'role:storage'
- tgt_type: grain
- sls: ceph
- require:
- salt: webserver_setup
webserver_setup:
salt.state:
- tgt: 'web*'
- highstate: True
Given the above setup, the orchestration will be carried out as follows:
The shell command bootstrap
will be executed on all minions in the
10.0.0.0/24 subnet.
A Highstate will be run on all minions whose ID starts with "web", since
the storage_setup
state requires it.
Finally, the ceph
SLS target will be executed on all minions which have
a grain called role
with a value of storage
.
Note
Remember, salt-run is always executed on the master.
Orchestration jobs return output in a specific data structure. That data structure is represented differently depending on the outputter used. With the default outputter for orchestration, you get a nice human-readable output. Assume the following orchestration SLS:
good_state:
salt.state:
- tgt: myminion
- sls:
- succeed_with_changes
bad_state:
salt.state:
- tgt: myminion
- sls:
- fail_with_changes
mymod.myfunc:
salt.function:
- tgt: myminion
mymod.myfunc_false_result:
salt.function:
- tgt: myminion
Running this using the default outputter would produce output which looks like this:
fa5944a73aa8_master:
----------
ID: good_state
Function: salt.state
Result: True
Comment: States ran successfully. Updating myminion.
Started: 21:08:02.681604
Duration: 265.565 ms
Changes:
myminion:
----------
ID: test succeed with changes
Function: test.succeed_with_changes
Result: True
Comment: Success!
Started: 21:08:02.835893
Duration: 0.375 ms
Changes:
----------
testing:
----------
new:
Something pretended to change
old:
Unchanged
Summary for myminion
------------
Succeeded: 1 (changed=1)
Failed: 0
------------
Total states run: 1
Total run time: 0.375 ms
----------
ID: bad_state
Function: salt.state
Result: False
Comment: Run failed on minions: myminion
Started: 21:08:02.947702
Duration: 177.01 ms
Changes:
myminion:
----------
ID: test fail with changes
Function: test.fail_with_changes
Result: False
Comment: Failure!
Started: 21:08:03.116634
Duration: 0.502 ms
Changes:
----------
testing:
----------
new:
Something pretended to change
old:
Unchanged
Summary for myminion
------------
Succeeded: 0 (changed=1)
Failed: 1
------------
Total states run: 1
Total run time: 0.502 ms
----------
ID: mymod.myfunc
Function: salt.function
Result: True
Comment: Function ran successfully. Function mymod.myfunc ran on myminion.
Started: 21:08:03.125011
Duration: 159.488 ms
Changes:
myminion:
True
----------
ID: mymod.myfunc_false_result
Function: salt.function
Result: False
Comment: Running function mymod.myfunc_false_result failed on minions: myminion. Function mymod.myfunc_false_result ran on myminion.
Started: 21:08:03.285148
Duration: 176.787 ms
Changes:
myminion:
False
Summary for fa5944a73aa8_master
------------
Succeeded: 2 (changed=4)
Failed: 2
------------
Total states run: 4
Total run time: 778.850 ms
However, using the json
outputter, you can get the output in an easily
loadable and parsable format:
salt-run state.orchestrate test --out=json
{
"outputter": "highstate",
"data": {
"fa5944a73aa8_master": {
"salt_|-good_state_|-good_state_|-state": {
"comment": "States ran successfully. Updating myminion.",
"name": "good_state",
"start_time": "21:35:16.868345",
"result": true,
"duration": 267.299,
"__run_num__": 0,
"__jid__": "20171130213516897392",
"__sls__": "test",
"changes": {
"ret": {
"myminion": {
"test_|-test succeed with changes_|-test succeed with changes_|-succeed_with_changes": {
"comment": "Success!",
"name": "test succeed with changes",
"start_time": "21:35:17.022592",
"result": true,
"duration": 0.362,
"__run_num__": 0,
"__sls__": "succeed_with_changes",
"changes": {
"testing": {
"new": "Something pretended to change",
"old": "Unchanged"
}
},
"__id__": "test succeed with changes"
}
}
},
"out": "highstate"
},
"__id__": "good_state"
},
"salt_|-bad_state_|-bad_state_|-state": {
"comment": "Run failed on minions: test",
"name": "bad_state",
"start_time": "21:35:17.136511",
"result": false,
"duration": 197.635,
"__run_num__": 1,
"__jid__": "20171130213517202203",
"__sls__": "test",
"changes": {
"ret": {
"myminion": {
"test_|-test fail with changes_|-test fail with changes_|-fail_with_changes": {
"comment": "Failure!",
"name": "test fail with changes",
"start_time": "21:35:17.326268",
"result": false,
"duration": 0.509,
"__run_num__": 0,
"__sls__": "fail_with_changes",
"changes": {
"testing": {
"new": "Something pretended to change",
"old": "Unchanged"
}
},
"__id__": "test fail with changes"
}
}
},
"out": "highstate"
},
"__id__": "bad_state"
},
"salt_|-mymod.myfunc_|-mymod.myfunc_|-function": {
"comment": "Function ran successfully. Function mymod.myfunc ran on myminion.",
"name": "mymod.myfunc",
"start_time": "21:35:17.334373",
"result": true,
"duration": 151.716,
"__run_num__": 2,
"__jid__": "20171130213517361706",
"__sls__": "test",
"changes": {
"ret": {
"myminion": true
},
"out": "highstate"
},
"__id__": "mymod.myfunc"
},
"salt_|-mymod.myfunc_false_result-mymod.myfunc_false_result-function": {
"comment": "Running function mymod.myfunc_false_result failed on minions: myminion. Function mymod.myfunc_false_result ran on myminion.",
"name": "mymod.myfunc_false_result",
"start_time": "21:35:17.486625",
"result": false,
"duration": 174.241,
"__run_num__": 3,
"__jid__": "20171130213517536270",
"__sls__": "test",
"changes": {
"ret": {
"myminion": false
},
"out": "highstate"
},
"__id__": "mymod.myfunc_false_result"
}
}
},
"retcode": 1
}
The 2018.3.0 release includes a couple fixes to make parsing this data easier and
more accurate. The first is the ability to set a return code in a custom runner or wheel
function, as noted above. The second is a change to how failures are included
in the return data. Prior to the 2018.3.0 release, minions that failed a
salt.state
orchestration job would show up in the comment
field of the
return data, in a human-readable string that was not easily parsed. They are
now included in the changes
dictionary alongside the minions that
succeeded. In addition, salt.function
jobs which failed because the
fail function returned False
used to handle their failures in the same way salt.state
jobs did, and this
has likewise been corrected.
The orchestrate runner can be used to execute states on the master without
using a minion. For example, assume that salt://foo.sls
contains the
following SLS:
/etc/foo.conf:
file.managed:
- source: salt://files/foo.conf
- mode: 0600
In this case, running salt-run state.orchestrate foo
would be the
equivalent of running a state.sls foo
, but it would execute on the master
only, and would not require a minion daemon to be running on the master.
This is not technically orchestration, but it can be useful in certain use cases.
Only one SLS target can be run at a time using this method, while using
state.sls
allows for multiple SLS files to
be passed in a comma-separated list.