==================
Pillar Walkthrough
==================

.. note::

    This walkthrough assumes that the reader has already completed the initial
    Salt :doc:`walkthrough </topics/tutorials/walkthrough>`.

The pillar interface inside of Salt is one of the most important components
of a Salt deployment. Pillar is the interface used to generate arbitrary data
for specific minions. The data generated in pillar is made available to almost
every component of Salt and is used for a number of purposes:

Highly Sensitive Data:
    Information transferred via pillar is guaranteed to only be presented to the
    minions that are targeted, this makes pillar the engine to use in Salt for
    managing security information, such as cryptographic keys and passwords.
Minion Configuration:
    Minion modules such as the execution modules, states, and returners can
    often be configured via data stored in pillar.
Variables:
    Variables which need to be assigned to specific minions or groups of
    minions can be defined in pillar and then accessed inside sls formulas
    and template files.
Arbitrary Data:
    Pillar can contain any basic data structure, so a list of values, or a
    key/value store can be defined making it easy to iterate over a group
    of values in sls formulas

Pillar is therefore one of the most important systems when using Salt, this
walkthrough is designed to get a simple pillar up and running in a few minutes
and then to dive into the capabilities of pillar and where the data is
available.

Setting Up Pillar
=================

The pillar is already running in Salt by default. The data in the minion's
pillars can be seen via the following command:

.. code-block:: bash

    salt '*' pillar.items

.. note::
    Prior to version 0.16.2, this function is named ``pillar.data``. This
    function name is still supported for backwards compatibility.

By default the contents of the master configuration file are loaded into
pillar for all minions, this is to enable the master configuration file to
be used for global configuration of minions.

The pillar is built in a similar fashion as the state tree, it is comprised
of sls files and has a top file, just like the state tree. The pillar is stored
in a different location on the Salt master than the state tree. The default
location for the pillar is in /srv/pillar.

.. note::

    The pillar location can be configured via the `pillar_roots` option inside
    the master configuration file.

To start setting up the pillar, the /srv/pillar directory needs to be present:

.. code-block:: bash

    mkdir /srv/pillar

Now a simple top file, following the same format as the top file used for
states needs to be created:

``/srv/pillar/top.sls``:

.. code-block:: yaml

    base:
      '*':
        - data

This top file associates the data.sls file to all minions. Now the
``/srv/pillar/data.sls`` file needs to be populated:

``/srv/pillar/data.sls``:

.. code-block:: yaml

    info: some data

Now that the file has been saved the minions' pillars will be updated:

.. code-block:: bash

    salt '*' pillar.items

The key ``info`` should now appear in the returned pillar data.

More Complex Data
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pillar files are sls files, just like states, but unlike states they do not
need to define :strong:`formulas`, the data can be arbitrary, this example for
instance sets up user data with a UID:

``/srv/pillar/users/init.sls``:

.. code-block:: yaml

    users:
      thatch: 1000
      shouse: 1001
      utahdave: 1002
      redbeard: 1003

.. note::

    The same directory lookups that exist in states exist in pillar, so the
    file ``users/init.sls`` can be referenced with ``users`` in the :term:`top
    file`.

The top file will need to be updated to include this sls file:

``/srv/pillar/top.sls``:

.. code-block:: yaml

    base:
      '*':
        - data
        - users

Now the data will be available to the minions. To use the pillar data in a
state just access the pillar via Jinja:

``/srv/salt/users/init.sls``

.. code-block:: jinja

    {% for user, uid in pillar.get('users', {}).items() %}
    {{user}}:
      user.present:
        - uid: {{uid}}
    {% endfor %}

This approach allows for users to be safely defined in a pillar and then the
user data is applied in an sls file.

Paramaterizing States With Pillar
=================================

One of the most powerful abstractions in pillar is the ability to parameterize
states. Instead of defining macros or functions within the state context the
entire state tree can be freely parameterized relative to the minion's pillar.

This approach allows for Salt to be very flexible while staying very
straightforward. It also means that simple sls formulas used in the state tree
can be directly parameterized without needing to refactor the state tree.

A simple example is to set up a mapping of package names in pillar for
separate Linux distributions:

``/srv/pillar/pkg/init.sls``:

.. code-block:: jinja

    pkgs:
      {% if grains['os_family'] == 'RedHat' %}
      apache: httpd
      vim: vim-enhanced
      {% elif grains['os_family'] == 'Debian' %}
      apache: apache2
      vim: vim
      {% elif grains['os'] == 'Arch' %}
      apache: apache
      vim: vim
      {% endif %}

The new ``pkg`` sls needs to be added to the top file:

``/srv/pillar/top.sls``:

.. code-block:: yaml

    base:
      '*':
        - data
        - users
        - pkg

Now the minions will auto map values based on respective operating systems
inside of the pillar, so sls files can be safely parameterized:

``/srv/salt/apache/init.sls``:

.. code-block:: jinja

    apache:
      pkg.installed:
        - name: {{ pillar['pkgs']['apache'] }}

Or, if no pillar is available a default can be set as well:

.. note::

    The function ``pillar.get`` used in this example was added to Salt in
    version 0.14.0

``/srv/salt/apache/init.sls``:

.. code-block:: jinja

    apache:
      pkg.installed:
        - name: {{ salt['pillar.get']('pkgs:apache', 'httpd') }}

In the above example, if the pillar value ``pillar['pkgs']['apache']`` is not
set in the minion's pillar, then the default of ``httpd`` will be used.

.. note::

    Under the hood, pillar is just a python dict, so python dict methods such
    as `get` and `items` can be used.

Pillar Makes Simple States Grow Easily
======================================

One of the design goals of pillar is to make simple sls formulas easily grow
into more flexible formulas without refactoring or complicating the states.

A simple formula:

``/srv/salt/edit/vim.sls``:

.. code-block:: yaml

    vim:
      pkg:
        - installed

    /etc/vimrc:
      file.managed:
        - source: salt://edit/vimrc
        - mode: 644
        - user: root
        - group: root
        - require:
          - pkg: vim

Can be easily transformed into a powerful, parameterized formula:

``/srv/salt/edit/vim.sls``:

.. code-block:: jinja

    vim:
      pkg:
        - installed
        - name: {{ pillar['pkgs']['vim'] }}

    /etc/vimrc:
      file.managed:
        - source: {{ pillar['vimrc'] }}
        - mode: 644
        - user: root
        - group: root
        - require:
          - pkg: vim

Where the vimrc source location can now be changed via pillar:

``/srv/pillar/edit/vim.sls``:

.. code-block:: jinja

    {% if grain['id'].startswith('dev') %}
    vimrc: salt://edit/dev_vimrc
    {% elif grain['id'].startswith('qa') %}
    vimrc: salt://edit/qa_vimrc
    {% else %}
    vimrc: salt://edit/vimrc
    {% endif %}

Ensuring that the right vimrc is sent out to the correct minions.

More On Pillar
==============

The pillar data is generated on the Salt master and securely distributed to
minions. Salt is not restricted to the pillar sls files when defining the
pillar but can retrieve data from external sources. This can be useful when
information about an infrastructure is stored in a separate location.

Reference information on pillar and the external pillar interface can be found
in the Salt documentation:

:doc:`Pillar </topics/pillar/index>`
