Salt

• State Management: The system uses state files—primarily written in YAML and Jinja—to define and apply infrastructure blueprints to multiple nodes simultaneously, enabling infrastructure-as-code deployments and drift remediation.
• Event-Driven Automation: The platform utilizes Beacons to continuously monitor infrastructure events and Reactors to trigger automated remediation workflows, such as restarting services or deploying updates without manual intervention.
• Remote Execution: The solution executes jobs and commands across distributed target groups using a scalable master-minion architecture, allowing administrators to manage environments ranging from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of nodes.
• Security & Compliance (Commercial Edition): The commercial VCF Salt tier adds an enterprise service layer (RaaS) that provides Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), centralized reporting, automated compliance enforcement against CIS benchmarks, and integrated vulnerability remediation workflows.

• Audience: IT system administrators, DevOps engineers, and security operations teams.
• Use Case: Automating large-scale infrastructure configuration, enforcing continuous security compliance, modernizing configuration management, and executing remote administrative tasks across distributed heterogeneous environments.

• Supported Operating Systems (Minions): Linux distributions, Windows, macOS, and supported network devices.
• Deployment Models: Supports Single Node, Basic Enterprise, and Distributed Enterprise architectures.
• Core Dependencies (Commercial Edition): Requires PostgreSQL for database management and Valkey for the caching layer.

The VMware Salt solution encompasses two distinct tiers: the community-supported Open Source Salt Project and the commercial enterprise edition, currently branded as VCF Salt (or VCF Salt RaaS). While the open-source engine relies primarily on a command-line interface and direct master-minion communication for core configuration management, the commercial edition adds a centralized, API-driven backend. This enterprise layer introduces a graphical user interface, advanced Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), native VMware ecosystem integrations, and proprietary security features like automated compliance remediation and vulnerability scanning.

Historically, the enterprise iteration of this platform has operated under several former names, including SaltStack Enterprise, vRealize Automation SaltStack Config, Aria Automation Config, and Tanzu Salt, all built upon the foundational open-source Salt engine.