These release notes are for an old release of Salt. This release might contain known security and other issues that are fixed in the latest release.

# Salt 2016.11.0 Release Notes - Codename Carbon

## New Features

### Docker Introspection and Configuration

Major additions have been made to the Docker support in 2016.11.0. The new addition allows Salt to be executed within a Docker container without a minion running or installed in the container. This allows states to be run inside a container, but also all of Salt's remote execution commands to be run inside docker containers as well. This makes container introspection simple and powerful. See the tutorial on using this new feature here:

See Salt in Docker Containers.

### Advanced Ceph Control

Our friends over at SUSE have delivered a powerful new tool to make the deployment of Ceph storage systems using Salt very easy. These new Ceph tools allow for a storage system to be easily defined using the new ceph.quorum state.

### Thorium Additions and Improvements

The Thorium advanced reactor has undergone extensive testing and updates. These updates include many more Thorium states, a system for automating key management, the ability to use Thorium to easily replace old reactors and a great deal of stability and bug fixes.

### State Rollback Using Snapper

Rollback has been one of the most prevalent requests for Salt. We have researched it extensively and concluded that the only way to accomplish truly reliable rollback would be to execute it at the filesystem layer. To accomplish this we have introduced Snapper integration into Salt States.

Snapper is a tool which allows for simple and reliable snapshots of the filesystem to be made. With the new snapper_states option set to True in the minion config a snapshot will be made before and after every Salt State run.

These snapshots can be viewed, managed and rolled back to via the snapper execution module.

### Preserve File Perms in File States

This feature has been requested for years, the ability to set a flag and use the same file permissions for files deployed to a minion as the permissions set to the file on the master. Just set the keep_mode option on any file management state to True.

### Ponies!

We all agreed that cowsay was just not good enough, install the ponysay command and the new pony outputter will work. Fun for the whole family!

### Additional Features

- Minions can run in stand-alone mode to use beacons and engines without having to connect to a master. (Thanks @adelcast!)

- Added a `salt` runner to allow running salt modules via salt-run.

  >     salt-run salt.cmd test.ping
  >     # call functions with arguments and keyword arguments
  >     salt-run salt.cmd test.arg 1 2 3 a=1

- Added SSL support to Cassandra CQL returner. SSL can be enabled by setting `ssl_options` for the returner. Also added support for specifying `protocol_version` when establishing cluster connection.

- The `mode` parameter in the `file.managed` state, and the `file_mode` parameter in the `file.recurse` state, can both now be set to `keep` and the minion will keep the mode of the file from the Salt fileserver. This works only with files coming from sources prefixed with `salt://`, or files local to the minion (i.e. those which are absolute paths, or are prefixed with `file://`). For example:

      /etc/myapp/myapp.conf:
        file.managed:
          - source: salt://conf/myapp/myapp.conf
          - mode: keep

      /var/www/myapp:
        file.recurse:
          - source: salt://path/to/myapp
          - dir_mode: 755
          - file_mode: keep

- The `junos` state module is now available. It has all the functions that are present in the `junos` execution module.

- The `junos` state module is now available. It has all the functions that are present in the `junos` execution module.

- The minion data cache is a pluggable data store now. It's configurable with `cache` option. Default is `localfs`.

- User names in `client_acl` support glob matching now.

## New Top File Merging Strategy for States

A new strategy called `merge_all` has been added to provide a new way of merging top file matches when executing a highstate. See the `top_file_merging_strategy` documentation for further information.

In addition, the `same` merging strategy was not functioning as documented. This has now been corrected. While this is technically a bugfix, we decided to hold a change in top file merging until a feature release to minimize user impact.

## Improved Archive Extraction Support

The `archive.extracted` state has been overhauled. Notable changes include the following:

- When enforcing ownership (with the `user` and/or `group` arguments), the `if_missing` argument no longer has any connection to which path(s) have ownership enforced. Instead, the paths are determined using the either the newly-added `archive.list` function, or the newly-added `enforce_ownership_on` argument.

- `if_missing` also is no longer required to skip extraction, as Salt is now able to tell which paths would be present if the archive were extracted. It should, in most cases, only be necessary in cases where a semaphore file is used to conditionally skip extraction of the archive.

- Password-protected ZIP archives are now detected before extraction, and the state fails without attempting to extract the archive if no password was specified.

- By default, a single top-level directory is enforced, to guard against 'tar-bombs'. This enforcement can be disabled by setting `enforce_toplevel` to `False`.

- The `tar_options` and `zip_options` arguments have been deprecated in favor of a single `options` argument.

- The `archive_format` argument is now optional. The ending of the `source` argument is used to guess whether it is a tar, zip or rar file. If the `archive_format` cannot be guessed, then it will need to be specified, but in many cases it can now be omitted.

- Ownership enforcement is now performed irrespective of whether or not the archive needed to be extracted. This means that the state can be re-run after the archive has been fully extracted to repair changes to ownership.

A number of new arguments were also added. See the docs py:func:docs for the archive.extracted state <salt.states.archive.extracted> for more information.

Additionally, the following changes have been made to the `archive` execution module:

- A new function (`archive.list`) has been added. This function lists the files/directories in an archive file, and supports a `verbose` argument that gives a more detailed breakdown of which paths are files, which are directories, and which paths are at the top level of the archive.

- A new function (`archive.is_encrypted`) has been added. This function will return `True` if the archive is a password-protected ZIP file, `False` if not. If the archive is not a ZIP file, an error will be raised.

- `archive.cmd_unzip` now supports passing a password, bringing it to feature parity with `archive.unzip`. Note that this is still not considered to be secure, and `archive.unzip` is recommended for dealing with password-protected ZIP archives.

- The default value for the `extract_perms` argument to `archive.unzip` has been changed to `True`.

### Improved Checksum Handling in `file.managed`, `archive.extracted` States

When the `source_hash` argument for these states refers to a file containing checksums, Salt now looks for checksums matching the name of the source URI, as well as the file being managed. Prior releases only looked for checksums matching the filename being managed. Additionally, a new argument (`source_hash_name`) has been added, which allows the user to disambiguate ambiguous matches when more than one matching checksum is found in the `source_hash` file.

A more detailed explanation of this functionality can be found in the `file.managed` documentation, in the section for the new `source_hash_name` argument.

Note

This improved functionality is also available in the `2016.3` (Boron) release cycle, starting with the 2016.3.5 release.

## Config Changes

The following default config values were changed:

- `gitfs_ssl_verify`: Changed from `False` to `True`

- `git_pillar_ssl_verify`: Changed from `False` to `True`

- `winrepo_ssl_verify`: Changed from `False` to `True`

## Grains Changes

- All core grains containing `VMWare` have been changed to `VMware`, which is the official capitalization. Additionally, all references to `VMWare` in the documentation have been changed to `VMware` issue 30807. Environments using versions of Salt before and after Salt 2016.11.0 should employ case-insensitive grain matching on these grains.

      {% set on_vmware = grains['virtual'].lower() == 'vmware' %}

- On Windows the `cpu_model` grain has been changed to provide the actual cpu model name and not the cpu family.

  Old behavior:

      root@master:~# salt 'testwin200' grains.item cpu_model
      testwin200:
          ----------
          cpu_model:
              Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9, GenuineIntel

  New behavior:

      root@master:~# salt 'testwin200' grains.item cpu_model
      testwin200:
          ----------
          cpu_model:
              Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3520M CPU @ 2.90GHz

## Beacons Changes

- The `loadavg` beacon now outputs averages as integers instead of strings. (Via issue 31124.)

## Runner Changes

- Runners can now call out to utility modules via `__utils__`.

- ref:Utility modules <writing-utility-modules> (placed in `salt://_utils/`) are now able to be synced to the master, making it easier to use them in custom runners. A `saltutil.sync_utils` function has been added to the `saltutil runner` to facilitate the syncing of utility modules to the master.

## Pillar Changes

- Thanks to the new `saltutil.sync_utils` runner, it is now easier to get ref:utility modules <writing-utility-modules> synced to the correct location on the Master so that they are available in execution modules called from Pillar SLS files.

## Junos Module Changes

- The following new functionalities were added to the junos module

  - facts - Displays the facts gathered during the connection.

  - shutdown - Shut down or reboot a device running Junos OS.

  - install_config - Modify the configuration of a Junos device.

  - install_os - Install Junos OS software package.

  - zeroize - Remove all configuration information on the Routing Engines and reset all key values on a device.

  - file_copy - Copy file from proxy to the Junos device.

## Network Automation: NAPALM

Beginning with 2016.11.0, network automation is included by default in the core of Salt. It is based on a the NAPALM library and provides facilities to manage the configuration and retrieve data from network devices running widely used operating systems such: JunOS, IOS-XR, eOS, IOS, NX-OS etc.

- see the complete list of supported devices.

The connection is established via the `NAPALM proxy`.

In the current release, the following modules were included:

- `NAPALM grains` - Select network devices based on their characteristics

- `NET execution module` - Networking basic features

- `NTP execution module`

- `BGP execution module`

- `Routes execution module`

- `SNMP execution module`

- `Users execution module`

- `Probes execution module`

- `NTP peers management state`

- `SNMP configuration management state`

- `Users management state`

## Cisco NXOS Proxy Minion

Beginning with 2016.11.0, there is a proxy minion that can be used to configure nxos cisco devices over ssh.

- `Proxy Minion`

- `Execution Module`

- `State Module`

## Cisco Network Services Orchestrator Proxy Minion

Beginning with 2016.11.0, there is a proxy minion to use the Cisco Network Services Orchestrator as a proxy minion.

- `Proxy Minion`

- `Execution Module`

- `State Module`

## Junos Module Changes

- The following new functionalities were added to the junos module

  - facts - Displays the facts gathered during the connection.

  - shutdown - Shut down or reboot a device running Junos OS.

  - install_config - Modify the configuration of a Junos device.

  - install_os - Install Junos OS software package.

  - zeroize - Remove all configuration information on the Routing Engines and reset all key values on a device.

  - file_copy - Copy file from proxy to the Junos device.

## Returner Changes

- Any returner which implements a save_load function is now required to accept a minions keyword argument. All returners which ship with Salt have been modified to do so.

## Renderer Changes

Added the ability to restrict allowed renderers. Two new config parameters, `renderer_whitelist` and `renderer_blacklist` are introduced for this purpose.

## eAuth Changes

- External auth modules' `auth` method can return an ACL list for the given username instead of `True`. This list should be in the same format as described in the eAuth documentation. It will be used for the user instead of one set in master config.

  Example of the `auth` method return that allows a user to execute functions in the `test` and `network` modules on the minions that match the `web*` target and allow access to `wheel` and `runner` modules:

      [{"web*": ["test.*", "network.*"]}, "@wheel", "@runner"]

- External auth is supported by salt-run and salt-key now. Note that master must be started to use them with eAuth.

## External Module Packaging

Modules may now be packaged via entry-points in setuptools. See external module packaging tutorial for more information.

## Functionality Changes

- The `onfail` requisite now uses OR logic instead of AND logic. issue 22370

- The consul external pillar now strips leading and trailing whitespace. issue 31165

- The win_system.py state is now case sensitive for computer names. Previously computer names set with a state were converted to all caps. If you have a state setting computer names with lower case letters in the name that has been applied, the computer name will be changed again to apply the case sensitive name.

- The `mac_user.list_groups` function in the `mac_user` execution module now lists all groups for the specified user, including groups beginning with an underscore. In previous releases, groups beginning with an underscore were excluded from the list of groups.

- The `junos.call_rpc` function in the `junos` execution module can now be used to call any valid rpc. Earlier it used to call only "get_software_information".

- A new option for minions called `master_tries` has been added. This specifies the number of times a minion should attempt to contact a master to attempt a connection. This allows better handling of occasional master downtime in a multi-master topology.

- The default hash_type is now sha256 instead of md5. You will need to make sure both your master and minion share the same hash_type.

- Nodegroups consisting of a simple list of minion IDs can now also be declared as a yaml list. The below two examples are equivalent:

      # Traditional way
      nodegroups:
        - group1: L@host1,host2,host3

      # New way (optional)
      nodegroups:
        - group1:
          - host1
          - host2
          - host3

## New Azure ARM Cloud Driver

A new cloud driver has been added for Azure ARM, aka, the Azure Resource Manager. The older Azure driver is still required to work with the older Azure API. This new driver works with the newer ARM API, which is managed via the newer Azure Portal website.

## New Modules

### Beacons

- `salt.beacons.avahi_announce`

- `salt.beacons.bonjour_announce`

- `salt.beacons.haproxy`

- `salt.beacons.status`

### Clouds

- `salt.cloud.clouds.azurearm`

### Engines

- `salt.engines.hipchat`

- `salt.engines.http_logstash`

### Modules

- `salt.modules.boto_cloudwatch_event`

- `salt.modules.celery`

- `salt.modules.ceph`

- `salt.modules.influx08`

- `salt.modules.inspectlib.entities`

- `salt.modules.inspectlib.fsdb`

- `salt.modules.inspectlib.kiwiproc`

- `salt.modules.inspector`

- `salt.modules.libcloud_dns`

- `salt.modules.openstack_mng`

- `salt.modules.servicenow`

- `salt.modules.testinframod`

- `salt.modules.win_lgpo`

- `salt.modules.win_pki`

- `salt.modules.win_psget`

- `salt.modules.win_snmp`

- `salt.modules.xbpspkg`

### Outputters

- `salt.output.pony`

### Pillar

- `salt.pillar.csvpillar`

- `salt.pillar.http_json`

- `salt.pillar.makostack`

### Returners

- `salt.returners.zabbix_return`

### Runners

- `salt.runners.auth`

- `salt.runners.event`

- `salt.runners.smartos_vmadm`

- `salt.runners.vistara`

### SDB

- `salt.sdb.env`

### States

- `salt.states.boto_cloudwatch_event`

- `salt.states.csf`

- `salt.states.ethtool`

- `salt.states.influxdb08_database`

- `salt.states.influxdb08_user`

- `salt.states.libcloud_dns`

- `salt.states.snapper`

- `salt.states.testinframod`

- `salt.states.win_lgpo`

- `salt.states.win_pki`

- `salt.states.win_snmp`

### Thorium

- `salt.thorium.calc`

- `salt.thorium.key`

- `salt.thorium.runner`

- `salt.thorium.status`

- `salt.thorium.wheel`

## Deprecations

### General Deprecations

- `env` to `saltenv`

  All occurrences of `env` and some occurrences of `__env__` marked for deprecation in Salt 2016.11.0 have been removed. The new way to use the salt environment setting is with a variable called `saltenv`:

      def fcn(msg="", env="base", refresh=True, saltenv="base", **kwargs): ...

  has been changed to

      def fcn(msg="", refresh=True, saltenv="base", **kwargs): ...

  - If `env` (or `__env__`) is supplied as a keyword argument to a function that also accepts arbitrary keyword arguments, then a new warning informs the user that `env` is no longer used if it is found. This new warning will be removed in Salt 2017.7.0.

        def fcn(msg="", refresh=True, saltenv="base", **kwargs): ...

        # will result in a warning log message
        fcn(msg="add more salt", env="prod", refresh=False)

  - If `env` (or `__env__`) is supplied as a keyword argument to a function that does not accept arbitrary keyword arguments, then python will issue an error.

        def fcn(msg="", refresh=True, saltenv="base"): ...

        # will result in a python TypeError
        fcn(msg="add more salt", env="prod", refresh=False)

  - If `env` (or `__env__`) is supplied as a positional argument to a function, then undefined behavior will occur, as the removal of `env` and `__env__` from the function's argument list changes the function's signature.

        def fcn(msg="", refresh=True, saltenv="base"): ...

        # will result in refresh evaluating to True and saltenv likely not being a string at all
        fcn("add more salt", "prod", False)

- Deprecations in `minion.py`:

  - The `salt.minion.parse_args_and_kwargs` function has been removed. Please use the `salt.minion.load_args_and_kwargs` function instead.

### Cloud Deprecations

- The `vsphere` cloud driver has been removed. Please use the `vmware` cloud driver instead.

- The `private_ip` option in the `linode` cloud driver is deprecated and has been removed. Use the `assign_private_ip` option instead.

- The `create_dns_record` and `delete_dns_record` functions are deprecated and have been removed from the `digital_ocean` driver. Use the `post_dns_record` function instead.

### Execution Module Deprecations

- The `blockdev` execution module had four functions removed:

  - dump

  - tune

  - resize2fs

  - wipe

  The `disk` module should be used instead with the same function names.

- The `boto_vpc` execution module had two functions removed, `boto_vpc.associate_new_dhcp_options_to_vpc` and `boto_vpc.associate_new_network_acl_to_subnet` in favor of more concise function names, `boto_vpc.create_dhcp_options` and `boto_vpc.create_network_acl`, respectively.

- The `data` execution module had `getval` and `getvals` functions removed in favor of one function, `get`, which combines the functionality of the removed functions.

- File module deprecations:

  - The `contains_regex_multiline` function was removed. Use `file.search` instead.

  - Additional command line options for `file.grep` should be passed one at a time. Please do not pass more than one in a single argument.

- The `lxc` execution module has the following changes:

  - The `run_cmd` function was removed. Use `lxc.run` instead.

  - The `nic` argument was removed from the `lxc.init` function. Use `network_profile` instead.

  - The `clone` argument was removed from the `lxc.init` function. Use `clone_from` instead.

  - passwords passed to the `lxc.init` function will be assumed to be hashed, unless `password_encrypted=False`.

  - The `restart` argument for `lxc.start` was removed. Use `lxc.restart` instead.

  - The old style of defining lxc containers has been removed. Please use keys under which LXC profiles should be configured such as `lxc.container_profile.profile_name`.

- The `env` and `activate` keyword arguments have been removed from the `install` function in the `pip` execution module. The use of `bin_env` replaces both of these options.

- `reg` execution module

  Functions in the `reg` execution module had misleading and confusing names for dealing with the Windows registry. They failed to clearly differentiate between hives, keys, and name/value pairs. Keys were treated like value names. There was no way to delete a key.

  New functions were added in 2015.5 to properly work with the registry. They also made it possible to edit key default values as well as delete an entire key tree recursively. With the new functions in place, the following functions have been deprecated:

  - read_key

  - set_key

  - create_key

  - delete_key

  Use the following functions instead:

  - for `read_key` use `read_value`

  - for `set_key` use `set_value`

  - for `create_key` use `set_value` with no `vname` and no `vdata`

  - for `delete_key` use `delete_key_recursive`. To delete a value, use `delete_value`.

- The `hash_hostname` option was removed from the `salt.modules.ssh` execution module. The `hash_known_hosts` option should be used instead.

- The `human_readable` option was removed from the `uptime` function in the `status` execution module. The function was also updated in 2015.8.9 to return a more complete offering of uptime information, formatted as an easy-to-read dictionary. This updated function replaces the need for the `human_readable` option.

- The `persist` kwarg was removed from the `win_useradd` execution module. This option is no longer supported for Windows. `persist` is only supported as part of user management in UNIX/Linux.

- The `zpool_list` function in the `zpool` execution module was removed. Use `list` instead.

### Outputter Module Deprecations

- The `compact` outputter has been removed. Set `state_verbose` to `False` instead.

### Runner Module Deprecations

- The `grains.cache` runner no longer accepts `outputter` or `minion` as keyword arguments. Users will need to specify an outputter using the `--out` option. `tgt` is replacing the `minion` kwarg.

- The `fileserver` runner no longer accepts the `outputter` keyword argument. Users will need to specify an outputter using the `--out` option.

- The `jobs` runner no longer accepts the `outputter` keyword argument. Users will need to specify an outputter using the `--out` option.

- `virt` runner module:

  - The `hyper` kwarg was removed from the `init`, `list`, and `query` functions. Use the `host` option instead.

  - The `next_hyper` function was removed. Use the `next_host` function instead.

  - The `hyper_info` function was removed. Use the `host_info` function instead.

### State Module Deprecations

- The `env` and `activate` keyword arguments were removed from the `installed` function in the `pip` state module. The use of `bin_env` replaces both of these options.

- `reg` state module

  The `reg` state module was modified to work with the new functions in the execution module. Some logic was left in the `reg.present` and the `reg.absent` functions to handle existing state files that used the final key in the name as the value name. That logic has been removed so you now must specify value name (`vname`) and, if needed, value data (`vdata`).

  For example, a state file that adds the version value/data pair to the Software\Salt key in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive used to look like this:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Salt\\version:
        reg.present:
          - value: 2016.3.1

  Now it should look like this:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Salt
        reg.present:
          - vname: version
          - vdata: 2016.3.1

  A state file for removing the same value added above would have looked like this:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Salt\\version:
        reg.absent:

  Now it should look like this:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Salt
        reg.absent:
          - vname: version

  This new structure is important as it allows salt to deal with key default values which was not possible before. If vname is not passed, salt will work with the default value for that hivekey.

  Additionally, since you could only delete a value from a the state module, a new function (`key_absent`) has been added to allow you to delete a registry key and all subkeys and name/value pairs recursively. It uses the new `delete_key_recursive` function.

  For additional information see the documentation for the `reg` execution and state modules.

- `lxc` state module: The following functions were removed from the `lxc` state module:

  - `created`: replaced by the `present` state.

  - `started`: replaced by the `running` state.

  - `cloned`: replaced by the `present` state. Use the `clone_from` argument to set the name of the clone source.

- The `hash_hostname` option was removed from the `salt.states.ssh_known_hosts` state. The `hash_known_hosts` option should be used instead.

- The `always` kwarg used in the `built` function of the `pkgbuild` state module was removed. Use `force` instead.

### Utils Module Deprecations

- The use of `jid_dir` and `jid_load` were removed from the `salt.utils.jid`. `jid_dir` functionality for job_cache management was moved to the `local_cache` returner. `jid_load` data is now retrieved from the `master_job_cache`.

- `ip_in_subnet` function in `salt.utils.network.py` has been removed. Use the `in_subnet` function instead.

- The `iam` utils module had two functions removed: `salt.utils.iam.get_iam_region` and `salt.utils.iam.get_iam_metadata` in favor of the aws utils functions `salt.utils.aws.get_region_from_metadata` and `salt.utils.aws.creds`, respectively.