SaltStack Consulting

SaltStack, now known as Salt, is an open-source configuration management and remote execution tool. It automates the deployment and management of infrastructure and software across diverse environments. Salt employs a scalable, event-driven approach, enabling fast and efficient orchestration of complex systems. Its architecture is designed to handle the management of a vast number of servers, devices, and systems with high speed and flexibility. SaltStack supports both push and pull communication models through its agentless and agent-based setups, making it adaptable to various IT environments.

With the rise of Infrastructure-as-Code tools for provisioning infrastructure (such as Terraform), and Orchestration tools for running containers (such as Kubernetes), the need for Configuration Management decreased as it was used mostly to configure Operating Systems and provision resources.

However, there are still use-cases where companies manage the servers' Operating System directly, and they do so using Configuration Management tools.

A number of examples where managing the servers directly is required:

1. Bare-Metal or On-Premise servers
   Can't provision infrastructure using Infrastructure-as-Code tools (such as Terraform), and can't use fully-managed services for orchestration such as Kubernetes.
   In such cases Configuration Management tools will be used to manage groups of servers, install the applications' dependencies & configuration, and perhaps even install an orchestration tool such as Kubernetes.
2. Specific system requirements
   A given company might choose not to use an orchestration tool as a result of specific system requirements.
   An example would be a company that provides an SDK that communicates with the company's servers, and is implemented in clients' apps and systems, with a requirement by the clients that the SDK takes less than 5ms to respond.
   In that case the networking toll orchestration systems like Kubernetes have on every request will be unacceptable, and so that company will be forced to optimize for a very simple network topology with minimal "hops" between different parts of the system.

There is also the case where companies started with Configuration Management as their main way of building a platform for the developers, and the coupling to the Configuration Management tool became too complicated to be worth "untangling" in the short-term or even mid-term.

• Automates complex system configurations and software deployment processes, reducing manual effort and errors
• Offers high scalability and speed for managing large-scale infrastructures efficiently
• Supports a wide range of platforms, including cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments
• Provides powerful remote execution capabilities for quick commands or scripts across multiple systems
• Facilitates event-driven automation, allowing for real-time response to system events and changes
• Features an extensible and modular design, enabling custom modules and integrations
• Ensures secure communication and execution of commands with built-in encryption mechanisms
• Offers detailed state management, ensuring systems are in the desired state and compliant with policies
• Enhances collaboration and version control through its infrastructure as code approach
• Provides a robust community and comprehensive documentation for support and learning