SaltStack

SaltStack (or Salt) is a CLI-based tool that can be set up as a master-client model or a non-centralized model. Based in Python, Salt offers a push method and an SSH method of communication with clients. Salt allows for grouping of clients and configuration templates to simplify the control of the environment.

When to use it: Salt is a good choice if scalability and resiliency are a big concern. It’s good for system administrators thanks to its usability.

Price: Free open source version, and a SaltStack Enterprise version that is based on an annual per node subscription basis. Specific pricing is not listed on their site (just a “Contact us” link), but others have reported a $150 per node per year starting point.

Pros:

• Straightforward organization and usage once you’re past the setup phase.
• Their DSL is feature-rich and isn’t required for logic and states.
• Input, output, and configs are very consistent – all YAML.
• Introspection is very good. It’s easy to see what’s happening within Salt.
• Strong community.
• High scalability and resiliency in the master model with minions and hierarchical tiers.

Cons:

• Difficult to set up and to pick up for new users.
• Documentation is challenging to understand at the introductory level.
• Web UI is newer and less complete than other tool’s Web UIs in the space.
• Not great support for non-Linux OSs.

Quick Start Video of Puppet