Deploying SaltStack on Windows

[scottalanmiller]

Salt runs on nearly any OS, Windows Servers and Desktops are no exception. Unlike on UNIX, though, we cannot deploy using the universal Bootstrap script. Instead we can deploy using either Chocolatey or via a download and deploy. Either method is quite simple.

If you want to use Chocolatey, the command is simply:

choco install saltminion -y

Or to install manually, which is what I did, you can download the Salt Minion installer from here: https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/installation/windows.html

The current latest package is: https://repo.saltstack.com/windows/Salt-Minion-2016.11.1-AMD64-Setup.exe

Installation is simple and straightforward. Download, double click. Only information you need is the name of your Salt Master, if you've used the salt default and a ping will return the right host, you need change only the hostname of the system that you are installing and everything should work immediately. Yes, it's that simple!

This works across all modern Windows versions, both server and desktop.

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To configure your minion you just need to edit the file C:\salt\conf\minion

I like to do this with nano:

nano C:\salt\conf\minion

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If you need nano on Windows:

choco install nano -y