SaltStack Tools

A set of tools to run and manage SaltStack deployments.

These tools complement a package based approach to states and configuration. The script bin/saltify configures the session to use these scripts. The packages directory can be set with the SALTIFY_PACKAGE environment variable and defaults to ${PWD}/../salt-packages.

Master tests

While packages are tested indipendenlty using kitchen-salt there is a need to also test that a salt-master is configured correctly in a bootstrap scenario.

On top of that having a virtual salt-master auto-configured in minutes is very useful for testing and experimenting.

The virtual salt-master is created with kitchen and kitchen-docker. Assuming you have ruby and docker installed, run the following:

. bin/saltify
install-gems

cd test/master
./collect-packages
kitchen converge docker

From zero to master

This are the step to create a new salt-master that runs in the way I described in http://www.spogliani.net/content/blog/saltstack-setup/

Download the latest raspbian from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/
Install it to an sdcard and start the RPi.
Upload salt-bootstrap.sh and all SPM packages (see https://github.com/stefano-pogliani/salt-packages) to the RPi.
Install the salt-master.
Install essential SPM packages using local install.
Accept any salt-minion keys needed.
Use salt-master orchestration to highstate all minions in the correct order.

Commands to do the above:

# Image install
export PI_DEV="/dev/mmcblk0"
export PI_IMG="2017-01-11-raspbian-jessie-lite.img"
sudo dd bs=4M if="${PI_IMG}" of="${PI_DEV}"

# Find RPi IP
sudo nmap 10.42.0.0/24
export RPI_IP="RPI IP ADDRESS"

# Prepare system
ssh pi@${RPI_IP}
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo raspi-config
sudo mkdir /data
sudo vi /etc/fstab
#  /dev/mmcblk0p3  /data           ext4    defaults,noatime  0       1
sudo shutdown -r now

# Copy salt script and packages.
scp -r ../salt-packages/out/ pi@${RPI_IP}:~/spm-packages
ssh pi@${RPI_IP}
wget https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/raw/stable/bootstrap-salt.sh
chmod +x bootstrap-salt.sh

# Install salt and packages to configure SPM repo.
sudo ./bootstrap-salt.sh -M -X -i "lon01-lef0"
sudo systemctl stop salt-minion
sudo systemctl stop salt-master

sudo spm local install spm-packages/sp-master-conf-201701-1.spm
sudo spm local install spm-packages/sp-nginx-201608-1.spm
sudo spm local install spm-packages/sp-spm-repo-201701-1.spm

sudo systemctl start salt-master
sudo systemctl start salt-minion

sudo salt lon01-lef0 saltutil.sync_states
sudo salt lon01-lef0 state.sls sp.spm.repo

# Fill and update SPM repo.
sudo rm /data/www/spm/repo/*
sudo cp spm-packages/* /data/www/spm/repo
sudo spm create_repo /data/www/spm/repo

# Can now install the SPM repo and the needed packages.
sudo spm local install spm-packages/sp-spm-repo-conf-201701-1.spm
sudo spm update_repo
sudo spm install --force sp-glue

# Set up GPG key
sudo mkdir -p /etc/salt/gpgkeys
sudo chmod 0700 /etc/salt/gpgkeys
sudo cp master-keys/* /etc/salt/gpgkeys
rm -r master-keys/

From zero to minion

This are the step to create a new salt-minion that runs in the way I described in http://www.spogliani.net/content/blog/saltstack-setup/

Download the latest raspbian from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/
Install it to an sdcard and start the RPi.
Upload salt-bootstrap.sh to the RPi.
Install the salt-minion.
Accept any salt-minion keys needed.
Control using the salt master.

Commands to do the above:

# Image install
export PI_DEV="/dev/mmcblk0"
export PI_IMG="2017-01-11-raspbian-jessie-lite.img"
sudo dd bs=4M if="${PI_IMG}" of="${PI_DEV}"

# Find RPi IP
sudo nmap 192.168.16.144/20
export RPI_IP="RPI IP ADDRESS"

# Prepare system
ssh pi@${RPI_IP}
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo raspi-config
sudo shutdown -r now

# Get salt bootstrap script.
ssh pi@${RPI_IP}
wget https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/raw/stable/bootstrap-salt.sh
chmod +x bootstrap-salt.sh

# Install salt-minion and ensure it is running.
sudo ./bootstrap-salt.sh -i "lon01-???#"
sudo vi /etc/salt/minion
# -> Update #master: salt to master: salt.dyno.sph
sudo systemctl restart salt-minion

Storage configuration

Most nodes are meant to be stateless and therfore the SD can be devided between the OS and a /data partiotion for applications and their data.

Persistent, non-synthesized data, is stored on a restricted number of nodes. These nodes are configured differently:

The SD Card is partitioned to split the OS and /var/log.
Data is stored on an external device.
Data is stored under LVM.

Setting up the internal storage:

# Image install
export PI_DEV="/dev/mmcblk0"
export PI_IMG="2017-01-11-raspbian-jessie-lite.img"
sudo dd bs=4M if="${PI_IMG}" of="${PI_DEV}"
sudo sync

# Re-partition the sd card to have space for `/var/log`.
sudo gparted "${PI_DEV}"

# Mount the RPi `/` and update its fstab.
sudo mount "${PI_DEV}p2" /media
echo "${PI_DEV}p3  /var/log        ext4    defaults,noatime  0       2" \
  | sudo tee -a /media/etc/fstab
sudo umount /media
sudo sync

# Enable SSH at boot.
# -> Eject/reinsert the sd card.
sudo touch PATH_TO_SD_BOOT/ssh

# -> Follow the above instruction to have a system with a salt-minion running.
# -> Ensure that the minion include `sp.storage.lvm2`.
# Proceed to the one-off drive configuration.
lsblk
sudo fdisk /dev/sdX <<EOS
p
d
n
p
1


t
8e
p
w

EOS

sudo pvcreate /dev/sdXY
sudo vgcreate vgdata /dev/sdXY
sudo lvcreate --size 100G --name lvdata vgdata
sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/vgdata/lvdata

VirtualPi with QEMU (broken)

It is possible to run a virtualise RPi using QEMU.

Install QEMU and create an image:

sudo dnf install qemu
export VIRPI_IMAGE=virpi/2016-09-23-raspbian-jessie-lite.img
virpi/make-image.sh

Run QEMU from the generated cow image: