VMware vRealize Automation SaltStack Config: Deploy & Manage [V8.4]

This three-day, hands-on training course provides you with the advanced knowledge, skills, and tools to achieve competency in deploying and using VMware vRealize® Automation SaltStack® Config. SaltStack Config is a powerful software configuration management component available in VMware vRealize® Automation. With SaltStack Config you can easily define optimized, secure software states and enforce them across your entire environment, including virtualized, hybrid, or public cloud systems.

Who Can Benefit

• Experienced system administrators and cloud administrators

Skills Gained

• By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
• Use VMware vRealize® Lifecycle Manager™ to install SaltStack Config
• Describe the architecture of SaltStack Config
• Deploy Salt minions from VMware vRealize® Automation™
• Create simple, human-readable infrastructure-as-code to provision and configure systems and software anywhere in your environment
• Configure roles and permissions for users and groups to manage and interact with SaltStack Config
• Manage systems with Jinja and YAML code
• Automatically enforce desired states across your entire IT footprint
• Keep critical software up to date
• Enact change immediately across your entire enterprise with fast, scalable remote execution
• Use SaltStack Config orchestration
• Create and manage reactors and beacons that enable self-healing configurations

Prerequisites

• Before taking this course, you should have completed the VMware vRealize® Automation: Install, Configure, Manage [V8.3] course. You should also have the following understanding or knowledge:
• Good understanding of managing and working with various Linux and Windows operating systems
• Knowledge and working experience of VMware vSphere® environments

Course Content

Outline

• Course Introduction
• Introductions and course logistics
• Course objectives

• SaltStack Config Overview and Architecture
• Describe the purpose of SaltStack Config
• Define vRealize Automation and its services
• Define SaltStack SecOps
• SaltStack Config deployment types
• Components of SaltStack Config and their roles

• Installing SaltStack Config
• SaltStack Config installation from vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
• Accessing SaltStack Config console
• Salt minion types
• Installing Salt minion manually
• Installing Salt minion using cloudConfig
• Accepting minion keys

• SaltStack Config Security
• Overview of vRealize Automation roles
• Directory service connections
• Synchronizing with a directory service
• Editing directory service connections
• Deleting directory service connections
• Creation and management of local users
• Roles and permissions
• Advanced permissions

• Targeting Minions
• Configuring minion attributes, grains, and custom grains
• Creating minion target groups based on grains, globs, regular expressions, complex matching, and lists

• Remote Execution and Job Management
• Using modules, functions, and arguments
• Generating documentation on available modules and functions
• Creating, running, and scheduling jobs
• AD HOC jobs

• SaltStack Config States
• Overview of SaltStack Config states
• State files management
• State modules
• Testing and verifying states
• Package management
• SLS files
• Top file
• Creating initial SLS files

• SaltStack Config Pillar Data
• Pillar concepts
• Pillar configuration
• Using the get function
• Passing inline pillar data
• Managing users with SLS
• Using pillars in SaltStack states

• SaltStack Config State Requisites and Declarations
• ID compared to names
• State execution order
• Implicit orders
• Order declaration
• Requisite declarations
• Including other SLS files
• Altering states
• Using requisites and declarations to install and manage software

• Using Jinja and YAML
• SaltStack renderers
• YAML SaltStack configuration file format
• YAML lists, dictionaries, and block structures
• Jinja basics
• Using the Jinja renderer
• Grains with Jinja
• Jinja conditionals, lists, and loops
• YAML dictionary
• Jinja dictionary

• Managing Microsoft Windows Systems
• Software management
• Windows features and roles
• Local group policies
• Patching
• Windows software management
• Windows features management

• SaltStack Config Orchestration
• SaltStack Config orchestration
• SaltStack Config orchestration advantages
• Executing orchestration
• Orchestration state files
• Orchestration calls
• Requisites in orchestration

• Beacons and Reactors
• Beacons
• Beacons configuration
• Beacon state modules
• SaltStack Config event bus
• Reactors
• Reactors configuration
• Reactors state Files
• Orchestration with beacons and reactors