DEVOPSdigest

SaltStack announced the availability of SaltStack Enterprise 5.0, an intelligent orchestration platform for the software-defined data center.

SaltStack Enterprise 5.0 is powered by Salt open source software but now offers a completely new graphical user interface made possible by the new SaltStack Enterprise API.

SaltStack Enterprise 5.0 delivers scalability, security, visibility and usability to enterprise DevOps and IT operations organizations looking to unlock the full power of Salt orchestration and automation. SaltStack delivers event-driven automation for natively integrated configuration management, infrastructure security and compliance, cloud and container control, and DevOps orchestration. The result is the most intelligent and scalable IT systems automation platform built for modern infrastructure and application requirements.

Marc Chenn, SaltStack CEO and co-founder, said, “We’ve built a next-generation systems management platform with capabilities and benefits never offered before. SaltStack Enterprise is unique in its ability to intelligently automate traditional systems management tasks such as configuration management, cloud control, container orchestration and infrastructure security compliance through autonomous machine orchestration. SaltStack is making modern enterprise infrastructure secure and efficient in ways not possible before.”

The SaltStack Enterprise API (eAPI) is substantially differentiated from the open source Salt REST API. The eAPI manages and aggregates all communications between the new SaltStack Enterprise graphical user interface and all attached Salt Masters and Minions while enabling efficient consumption of massive amounts of Salt-generated data and events.

SaltStack Enterprise 5.0 delivers numerous additive features for improved scalability, security and usability made possible through the proprietary SaltStack Enterprise API including:

- An integrated database with encrypted sensitive data and auditable system activity, users and tasks

- Efficient data consumption through event aggregation and data filtering

- New graphical user interface with out-of-the-box and custom dashboards and reports, and point and click usability

- Role-based access control with LDAP integration

- Auditable job history with reusable jobs and persistent targets

- Greater scalability and redundancy through a new multi-master architecture

Additional new features included with SaltStack Enterprise 5.0 include:

- A curated content library for orchestrating and automating the most common and time-consuming jobs

- Support for AIX, Solaris, Windows, Mac OSX and Linux

- Integrations with the most-popular enterprise IT solutions from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Nutanix, ServiceNow, SUSE, VMware and Zenoss

- All the benefits of Salt open source innovation packaged and tested for enterprise consumption

- Dedicated, prioritized SaltStack support unique to SaltStack Enterprise customers

The SaltStack eAPI is natively integrated with Salt open source software making an in-place upgrade to existing Salt implementations easy and immediate. While Salt open source is often the perfect solution for development and test environments managed by highly technical DevOps staff, SaltStack Enterprise is designed specifically for enterprise IT operations teams running regulated, production environments at scale.

Thomas Hatch, SaltStack CTO and co-founder, said, “Salt open source software has always been the most scalable and performant DevOps orchestration and IT automation platform, but in some ways it was not ready for full enterprise consumption. So we put a lot of work into the new SaltStack Enterprise API and graphical user interface so enterprise IT organizations can more easily adopt SaltStack across all levels of the organization.

“Specifically, we’ve done the heavy lifting often required of open source software adoption by building a front-end analytics engine making Salt easier to use, consume and secure for enterprise IT teams. Instead of spending valuable developer time and resources to set up, configure, integrate and maintain Salt open source software, simply turn on SaltStack Enterprise 5.0.”

In addition to automating typical data center tasks like configuration management, server deployment and cloud control, SaltStack Enterprise can be used for:

- Infrastructure and application security policy configuration, audit, remediation and compliance

- Autonomous auto-scaling of data center capacity based on system events

- Docker container orchestration and containerized code introspection

- DevOps orchestration and intelligent configuration drift control

SaltStack Enterprise 5.0 is now available via a subscription license priced by managed node.