Salt state files can't be found in the VCF Salt (RaaS web GUI) File Server, even though they are used by minions

Products

• VCF Automation

Issue/Introduction

• In VCF Salt 8.x, Salt state (SLS) files may be visible in the HighState view or used by minions, but do not appear in the RaaS web GUI File Server tab.
• Looking to find SLS files but can't see them in the web UI filesystem, even though folder/environment names look similar.
• This usually occurs when files are stored locally on the Salt Master rather than the RaaS database.

Environment

VCF Salt 8.x, formerly known as Aria Automation Config / Saltstack Enterprise

Cause

The Salt Master and RaaS file servers are separate. These are the "file_roots" and "sseapi" fileserver backends: existing on the master's filesystem and the RaaS DB respectively.

If files can't be found in RaaS, they are likely found by the master on its own directory tree.

Resolution

1. Log in to the Salt Master via SSH and su/sudo to root user 
2. Find what the filesystem roots are (the 5 can be adjusted to print more lines) :
   • grep -A5 'file_roots' /etc/salt/master /etc/salt/master.d/*.conf
3.  Then if this returned /srv/salt for example, and the files are named like salt_example_file search under here for the filenames:
   • find /srv/salt -iname '*example*'