Aria Automation Config minion service status returns 'DNS lookup or connection check of 'salt' failed'

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

• The  'salt-minion.service' status returns " Active: active (running)" but reports the following error:

systemctl status salt-minion.service
● salt-minion.service - The Salt Minion
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/salt-minion.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2025-10-01 13:50:38 AEST; 20h ago
       Docs: man:salt-minion(1)
             file:///usr/share/doc/salt/html/contents.html
             https://docs.saltproject.io/en/latest/contents.html
   Main PID: #####(python3.10)
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 99200)
     Memory: 58.9M
        CPU: 3.994s
     CGroup: /system.slice/salt-minion.service
             ├─##### /opt/saltstack/salt/bin/python3.10 /usr/bin/salt-minion
             └─##### "/opt/saltstack/salt/bin/python3.10 /usr/bin/salt-minion MultiMinionProcessManager MinionProcessManager"
    salt-minion[#####]: [ERROR] DNS lookup or connection check of 'salt' failed.
    salt-minion[#####]: [ERROR] Master hostname: 'salt' not found or not responsive. Retrying in 30 seconds

Environment

VMware Aria Automation Config 8.x

Cause

The issue occurs when the internal DNS cannot resolve the name 'salt' to the Salt Master's IP address, or when the minion configuration file (/etc/salt/minion) doesn't specify the Salt Master's FQDN or IP.

Resolution

Follow the configurations recommended in 'Salt in 10 Minutes'.

• Set the internal DNS to resolve the name 'salt' back to the Salt Master IP address.
• Otherwise, edit minion configuration file '/etc/salt/minion' to ensure the 'master' option specifies the Salt Master's FQDN or IP address.