Salt supported operating systems#
Together with the Salt version support lifecycle guidelines, this document is intended to clearly define how long a particular version of Salt will receive official packages, testing, and technical support from the Salt Project.
Salt runs on and manages many versions of Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. However, Salt’s ability to run on a specific operating system depends on whether that operating system will run the salt-master service or the salt-minion service.
Salt uses the master-client model in which a master node issues commands to a client node and the client runs the command. In the Salt ecosystem, the Salt master is a node that is running the salt-master service. It issues commands to one or more Salt minions, which are nodes that are running the salt-minion service and that are registered with that particular Salt master.
Some operating systems might be able to run both the salt-master service and the salt-minion service, which means nodes running that system can both manage and be managed by Salt.
Other operating systems may only be able to run the salt-minion package and can only be managed by a Salt master running a different operating system.
If you are setting up your environment for the first time, you should install a Salt master on a dedicated management server or VM, and then install a Salt minion on each system that you want to manage using Salt.
Overview of supported operating systems#
| Arch | Master | Minion | Full or Reasonable-effort | Tested | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AlmaLinux 8 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| AlmaLinux 9 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| Amazon Linux 2 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Full | Yes | |
| Amazon Linux 2023 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Full | Yes | |
| Arch Linux (latest) | x86_64, aarch64 | Yes | Yes | Reasonable | Yes |
| CentOS 7 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| CentOS Stream 8 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | |
| CentOS Stream 9 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | |
| Debian 10 | amd64, arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| Debian 11 | amd64, arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| Debian 12 | amd64, arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| Fedora 37 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| Fedora 38 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| FreeBSD 12.4 | Yes | Yes | Reasonable | ||
| FreeBSD 13.1 | Yes | Yes | Reasonable | ||
| macOS 12 | x86_64 | Yes | Full | ||
| macOS 13 | x86_64 | Yes | Full | ||
| macOS 13 | arm64 | Yes | Full | ||
| openSUSE Leap 15.4 | Yes | Yes | Reasonable | ||
| Oracle Linux 7, 8, 9 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | [1] |
| Photon OS 3 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | |
| Photon OS 4 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | |
| Photon OS 5 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | |
| RedHat 7 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| RedHat 8 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| RedHat 9 | x86_64, aarch64 / arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| SLES 12 SP5 | Yes | Yes | Full | ||
| SLES 15 SP4 | Yes | Yes | Full | ||
| Ubuntu 20.04 | amd64, arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| Ubuntu 22.04 | amd64, arm64 | Yes | Yes | Full | Yes |
| Windows Desktop 10 | x86, AMD64 | Yes | Full | ||
| Windows Desktop 11 | x86, AMD64 | Yes | Full | ||
| Windows 2016 | x86, AMD64 | Yes | Full | Yes | |
| Windows 2019 | x86, AMD64 | Yes | Full | Yes | |
| Windows 2022 | x86, AMD64 | Yes | Full | Yes |
| [1] | Use RedHat or CentOS packages instead. |
Support definitions#
Arch#
Arch is short for architecture. The Salt Project supports the following architectures:
| Operating system family | Architecture support | Example systems |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux |
|
Amazon Linux |
| Debian |
|
Debian, Ubuntu |
| MacOS |
|
MacOS |
| RedHat |
|
RedHat, CentOS, Fedora |
| Windows |
|
Windows desktop, Windows server |
Master#
Master support is defined as:
- The salt-master service can run on this operating system.
- A node running this operating system can act as the Salt master, which means it can send commands and communicate with connected Salt minions.
Minion#
Minion supported is defined as:
- The salt-minion service can run on this operating system.
- A node running this operating system can act a Salt minion, which means this system or device can be managed by a Salt master.
Full#
Full support is defined as:
- Packages and all required dependencies created by Salt Project or official upstream packager.
- Packages hosted by the Salt Project.
- Tested by the Salt Project.
- The Salt Project provides full technical support for VMware customers.
- The Salt Project will fix bugs for VMware customers.
Reasonable-effort#
Reasonable-effort support is defined as:
- Packages created and hosted by the Salt Project community.
- Some testing done by the Salt Project.
- The Salt Project provides best-effort technical support for VMware customers.
- The Salt Project may fix bugs for VMware customers.
Tested#
The full automated test suite is run for the operating system packages.
Full support policy by operating system#
This section outlines the general support and package creation policy for each operating system that is listed as having full support by the Salt Project. These guidelines are intended to help you understand how long a particular operating system will receive official packages, testing, and technical support.
AlmaLinux#
Actively supported versions of AlmaLinux.
Amazon Linux#
Amazon Linux 2 and 2023 are supported.
CentOS#
CentOS versions through Production Phase 3 Support. Versions in ELS are not supported by the Salt Project.
Fedora#
Fedora version support mirrors that of the upstream maintainer.
RedHat#
RedHat versions through Production Phase 3 Support. Versions in ELS are not supported by the Salt Project.
macOS#
The latest three versions of macOS, including arm64 (M Series).
Oracle Linux#
Oracle Linux versions 7, 8, and 9.
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/linux/overview/index.html
Photon OS#
Photon OS 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0.
SLES#
SLES versions through General Support. Versions in LTSS are not supported.
Ubuntu#
Ubuntu LTS versions through end-of-life. Ubuntu optional Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) is not supported.
Windows#
Windows versions through Extended Support.
Reasonable-effort support policy by operating system#
This section outlines the general support policy for each operating system that is listed as having reasonable-effort support by the Salt Project. These guidelines are intended to help you understand how long a particular operating system might receive reasonable-effort support.
Since the Salt Project does not create or maintain the packages for these operating systems, no guarantee is made as to availability of packages. These guidelines are for reasonable-effort support only.
Arch Linux#
Latest version of Arch Linux.
openSUSE#
openSUSE version support mirrors that of the upstream maintainer.