Minion deployment failing on Linux machines

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

Error on Aria Automation during Salt-minion Deployment "salt.exceptions.SaltException: Remote host <Minion-ID> is not accessible using provided credentials"

 

Environment

VMware Aria Automation Config 8.x
VMware Aria Automation 8.x

Cause

The Salt Minion was unable to connect to the Salt Master on ports 4505–4506. This was confirmed by reviewing the Minion logs, which showed "unable to connect to Salt Master" errors.

1. Ports 4505 and 4506 were not open in the Salt Master OS firewall.

2. The Salt Master process had a different PATH environment variable compared to the shell, resulting in Salt using a different SSH binary than the one used by logged-in users.

   • SSH binary versions:

     • /bin/ssh → v8.0

     • /usr/local/bin/ssh → v8.8

Additionally, on the Linux VM, the OpenSSH configuration used for the user "Custom-User" differs from that used for the root account.

 

Resolution

 

Resolution Steps:

1. Open Required Ports on Salt Master Firewall (run only on the master):

   firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=4505-4506/tcp
   firewall-cmd --reload
   

2. Enable and Start Salt Master Service:

   sudo systemctl enable salt-master && sudo systemctl start salt-master
   

3. Update Salt Master Service File to Include Correct PATH:

   • Backup the service file:

     cp /usr/lib/systemd/system/salt-master.service /usr/lib/systemd/system/salt-master.service.bak
     

   • Edit /usr/lib/systemd/system/salt-master.service and under [Service] add:

     Environment="PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin"
     

   • Reload systemd and restart the service:

     systemctl daemon-reload
     systemctl stop salt-master
     systemctl start salt-master
     

4. Confirm Minion Installation:
   After making the above changes, the Linux Minion installation completed successfully.

Additional Recommendations:

• Ensure Minions have network access to the Salt Master on ports 4505–4506.

• Update the VM template to include all dependent packages and OS updates before deployment.