The goal of this use case is to programmatically install the Salt minion service on a minion by connecting a Windows VM to your Automation Config environment.

Prerequisites

Before you can deploy a minion using the API in a Windows environment you must:
  • Have a Automation Config environment with RaaS deployed.
  • Have a Salt master and Salt minion installed.
  • Have a Windows VM deployed.

Procedure

  1. Verify that the folder etc/salt/cloud.deploy.d on the Salt master contains these files.
    A list of the required files in the cloud.deploy.d directory on a Salt Master

    If you do not see the files, contact support.

    Note: The xxxx in the filename, for example, salt-xxxx-windows--x86.tar.gz, should match the version of the Salt master. To verify the version of the Salt master, run the salt-master -V command on the Salt master.
  2. If your environment is air-gapped, complete these steps:
    1. Open the RaaS configuration file in /etc/raas/raas.
    2. Add these lines to the configuration file: 
      minion_deployment:
  airgap_install: true
    3. Restart the RaaS service using the service raas restart command.
    Note: If you are using a hardened Linux VM, there are some situations where scripts cannot be run from /tmp on the VM.
    • If you are using Automation Assembler version 8.10.2 or higher: Add the additionalAuthParams property to the Automation Config resource in your cloud template. For more information, see Add the Automation Config resource to the cloud template. 
      additionalAuthParams:
  profile:
    tmp_dir: /var/cache/salt
    • If you are using Automation Assembler version 8.10.1 or lower: Modify the /etc/salt/cloud.providers.d/ssc_saltify_provider.conf file with 
      ssc_saltify_provider:
  driver: saltify
  tmp_dir: /var/cache/salt
      If this configuration file does not exist, create it and add the setting above.
  3. In the Salt master's terminal, install the following libraries by running the pip3 install pypsexec smbprotocol and pip3 install impacket --ignore-installed commands.
    Note: This step is not required when using LCM to install the Automation Config appliance that includes the Salt Master. However, this step is necessary when manually installing the Salt Master.
  4. To identify the FQDN of the Salt master, run the salt saltmaster grains.get fqdn command in the Salt master's terminal.
  5. On your Windows machine, verify that the C: \Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file is configured with the Salt master's IP and FQDN.
  6. Open PowerShell on the Windows machine and run the following command to open the required ports:
    Port Commands
    445 New-NetFirewallRule -Name "SMB445" - DisplayName "SMB445" -Protocol TCP - LocalPort 445

    Enable-Psremoting
  7. In the Salt master's terminal, use this command to open ports 4505 and 4506 on the Salt master:
    Port Commands
    4505-4506 netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Salt" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=4505-4506

    See Understanding Automation Config for more information about the Salt communication model.

  8. Ensure that the FQDN is configured for the Salt master by running the ping [FQDN] command on your Windows machine.
    The results of running the ping FQDN command on a Windows machine
  9. Make this API call using an SSEAPI client with the correct credentials for your environment.
    Note: If you integrated Automation Config with VMware Aria Automation, the VMware Aria Automation service makes this API call for you when you deploy minions using a cloud template. 
    from sseapiclient import APIClient

client = APIClient('https://<master-ip>', '<ssc-username>', '<sscpassword>', ssl_validate_cert=False)


client.api.minions.deploy_minion(

 master_id = '<master-id>',

 host_name_ip = '<prospective minion’s ip>',

 os = ‘<prospective minion’s os>’,

 minion_id = '<desired-minion-name-for-prospective-minion>',

 username = '<ssh-username-for-prospective-minion>', 

 password = '<ssh-password-for-prospective-minion>',

)
    The deploy.minion function begins running in your Automation Config environment. You can verify that the job is running in the Activity tab of the Automation Config user interface or by running the python3 command, followed by client.api.minions.get_minion_deployments().

Results

The minion was successfully deployed and configured from your Windows environment and API call.

What to do next

Verify that the minion was deployed successfully by running a test.ping command against the minion using the Run Command window or by running the \* test.ping and \* test.versions commands in the Salt master command window.