Salt requires installation of a master. Salt is a configuration management tool that is used to automate the installation, configuration, and maintenance of multiple computer systems, including the software that runs on those systems. Other configuration management tools include Puppet, Chef, and Ansible.

Salt is written in Python and operates on Linux distributions, UNIXlike systems, and Microsoft Windows.

Salt can use a client/server architecture by installing Salt master software on the server and Salt minion software on managed nodes. Masters and minions communicate by using ZeroMQ. Salt can also be used without installing Salt minion software by using Salt Secure Shell (SSH). However, Salt SSH is much slower than ZeroMQ.

Knowledge of Ruby or Python is not required to use Salt. Configuration information is stored primarily in state modules that are typically written in YAML? however, Python or Python Domain Specific Language (PyDSL) can also be used for complex configuration scripts.

Like Salt, Ansible is written in Python and operates on Linux distributions, UNIXlike systems, and Microsoft Windows. However, unlike the other configuration management software packages, Ansible does not use agent software on managed nodes. Configurations are stored on the Ansible server in playbooks that are written in YAML. Managed nodes can download scripted modules from an Ansible server by using SSH.

Puppet is written in Ruby and operates on Linux distributions, UNIXlike systems, and Microsoft Windows. Puppet uses a client/server architecture? managed nodes running the Puppet Agent application can receive configurations from a master server running Puppet Server. Modules are written in Ruby or by using a Rubylike Puppet language.

Like Puppet, Chef is written in Ruby and operates on Linux distributions, UNIXlike systems, and Microsoft Windows. Chef can use a client/server architecture or a standalone client configuration. Configuration information is contained within cookbooks that are written in Ruby and are stored on a Chef Server.

Managed nodes running the Chef Client can pull cookbooks from the server. Standalone clients that do not have access to a server can run chefsolo and pull cookbooks from a local directory or from a tar.gz archive on the Internet.