SALT-CLOUD(1)

NAME
salt-cloud - Salt Cloud Command

Provision virtual machines in the cloud with Salt

SYNOPSIS

    salt-cloud -m /etc/salt/cloud.map
    salt-cloud -m /etc/salt/cloud.map NAME
    salt-cloud -m /etc/salt/cloud.map NAME1 NAME2
    salt-cloud -p PROFILE NAME
    salt-cloud -p PROFILE NAME1 NAME2 NAME3 NAME4 NAME5 NAME6

DESCRIPTION

Salt Cloud is the system used to provision virtual machines on various public clouds via a cleanly controlled profile and mapping system.

OPTIONS

--version
    Print the version of Salt that is running.

--versions-report
    Show program's dependencies and version number, and then exit

-h, --help
    Show the help message and exit

-c CONFIG_DIR, --config-dir=CONFIG_dir
    The location of the Salt configuration directory. This directory contains the configuration files for Salt master and minions. The default location on most systems is /etc/salt.

  Execution Options

-L LOCATION, --location=LOCATION
    Specify which region to connect to.

-a ACTION, --action=ACTION
    Perform an action that may be specific to this cloud provider. This argument requires one or more instance names to be specified.

-f <FUNC-NAME> <PROVIDER>, --function=<FUNC-NAME> <PROVIDER>
    Perform an function that may be specific to this cloud provider, that does not apply to an instance. This argument requires a provider to be specified (i.e.: nova).

-p PROFILE, --profile=PROFILE
    Select a single profile to build the named cloud VMs from. The profile must be defined in the specified profiles file.

-m MAP, --map=MAP
    Specify a map file to use. If used without any other options, this option will ensure that all of the mapped VMs are created. If the named VM already exists then it will be skipped.

-H, --hard
    When specifying a map file, the default behavior is to ensure that all of the VMs specified in the map file are created. If the --hard option is set, then any VMs that exist on configured cloud providers that are not specified in the map file will be destroyed. Be advised that this can be a destructive operation and should be used with care.

-d, --destroy
    Pass in the name(s) of VMs to destroy, salt-cloud will search the configured cloud providers for the specified names and destroy the VMs. Be advised that this is a destructive operation and should be used with care. Can be used in conjunction with the -m option to specify a map of VMs to be deleted.

-P, --parallel
    Normally when building many cloud VMs they are executed serially. The -P option will run each cloud vm build in a separate process allowing for large groups of VMs to be build at once.

    Be advised that some cloud provider's systems don't seem to be well suited for this influx of vm creation. When creating large groups of VMs watch the cloud provider carefully.

-u, --update-bootstrap
    Update salt-bootstrap to the latest stable bootstrap release.

-y, --assume-yes
    Default yes in answer to all confirmation questions.

-k, --keep-tmp
    Do not remove files from /tmp/ after deploy.sh finishes.

--show-deploy-args
    Include the options used to deploy the minion in the data returned.

--script-args=SCRIPT_ARGS
    Script arguments to be fed to the bootstrap script when deploying the VM.

  Query Options

-Q, --query
    Execute a query and return some information about the nodes running on configured cloud providers

-F, --full-query
    Execute a query and print out all available information about all cloud VMs. Can be used in conjunction with -m to display only information about the specified map.

-S, --select-query
    Execute a query and print out selected information about all cloud VMs. Can be used in conjunction with -m to display only information about the specified map.

--list-providers
    Display a list of configured providers.

--list-profiles
    Added in version 2014.7.0.

    Display a list of configured profiles. Pass in a cloud provider to view the provider's associated profiles, such as digitalocean, or pass in all to list all the configured profiles.

  Cloud Providers Listings

--list-locations=LIST_LOCATIONS
    Display a list of locations available in configured cloud providers. Pass the cloud provider that available locations are desired on, such as "linode", or pass "all" to list locations for all configured cloud providers

--list-images=LIST_IMAGES
    Display a list of images available in configured cloud providers. Pass the cloud provider that available images are desired on, such as "linode", or pass "all" to list images for all configured cloud providers

--list-sizes=LIST_SIZES
    Display a list of sizes available in configured cloud providers. Pass the cloud provider that available sizes are desired on, such as "AWS", or pass "all" to list sizes for all configured cloud providers

  Cloud Credentials

--set-password=<USERNAME> <PROVIDER>
    Configure password for a cloud provider and save it to the keyring. PROVIDER can be specified with or without a driver, for example: "--set-password bob rackspace" or more specific "--set-password bob rackspace:openstack" DEPRECATED!

  Output Options

--out
    Pass in an alternative outputter to display the return of data. This outputter can be any of the available outputters: highstate, json, key, overstatestage, pprint, raw, txt, yaml, and many others <#all-salt-output>.

    Some outputters are formatted only for data returned from specific functions. If an outputter is used that does not support the data passed into it, then Salt will fall back on the pprint outputter and display the return data using the Python pprint standard library module.

--out-indent OUTPUT_INDENT, --output-indent OUTPUT_INDENT
    Print the output indented by the provided value in spaces. Negative values disable indentation. Only applicable in outputters that support indentation.

--out-file=OUTPUT_FILE, --output-file=OUTPUT_FILE
    Write the output to the specified file.

--out-file-append, --output-file-append
    Append the output to the specified file.

--no-color
    Disable all colored output

--force-color
    Force colored output

    Note: When using colored output the color codes are as follows:

    green denotes success, red denotes failure, blue denotes changes and success and yellow denotes a expected future change in configuration.

--state-output=STATE_OUTPUT, --state_output=STATE_OUTPUT
    Override the configured state_output value for minion output. One of 'full', 'terse', 'mixed', 'changes' or 'filter'. Default: 'none'.

--state-verbose=STATE_VERBOSE, --state_verbose=STATE_VERBOSE
    Override the configured state_verbose value for minion output. Set to True or False. Default: none.

EXAMPLES

To create 4 VMs named web1, web2, db1, and db2 from specified profiles:

    salt-cloud -p fedora_rackspace web1 web2 db1 db2

To read in a map file and create all VMs specified therein:

    salt-cloud -m /path/to/cloud.map

To read in a map file and create all VMs specified therein in parallel:

    salt-cloud -m /path/to/cloud.map -P

To delete any VMs specified in the map file:

    salt-cloud -m /path/to/cloud.map -d

To delete any VMs NOT specified in the map file:

    salt-cloud -m /path/to/cloud.map -H

To display the status of all VMs specified in the map file:

    salt-cloud -m /path/to/cloud.map -Q

SEE ALSO

salt-cloud(7) salt(7) salt-master(1) salt-minion(1)

Author
Thomas S. Hatch <thatch45@gmail.com> and many others, please see the Authors file

Copyright
2026