Introduction to Retail Formulas

Formulas are pre-written Salt states, that are used to configure your SUSE Multi-Linux Manager for Retail installation.

You can use the SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Web UI to apply common SUSE Multi-Linux Manager formulas. For the most commonly used formulas, see Salt Formulas.

All formulas must be accurately configured for your SUSE Multi-Linux Manager for Retail installation to function correctly.

1. Branch server formulas

The formulas you need to configure on a branch server depend on whether you are using a legacy SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Proxy 4.3 branch server, or a containerized SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 branch server.

Branch servers are configured using formulas. Formulas can be configured using SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Web UI, or the SUSE Multi-Linux Manager API.

1.1. Legacy branch server (SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Proxy 4.3)

To fully configure a SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Proxy 4.3, some formulas need to be enabled and configured on the branch server.

The following formulas are required:

The following formulas are optional:

1.2. Containerized branch server (SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1)

On a SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 Proxy, PXE, TFTP and image synchronization are provided as containerized services, which do not use formulas.

You can use other formulas on the Salt-managed Proxy container host if you need them:

The BIND and DHCPD formulas use container images.

For air-gapped environments, the container images for BIND and DHCPD formulas must be manually pulled from a connected system, saved to a TAR archive, transferred to the air-gapped server, and then loaded. Refer to the main air-gapped deployment documentation for detailed steps on this process, ensuring you use the correct image paths and tags for the BIND and DHCPD formulas.

Badly configured formulas can result in the branch server failing to work as expected. Due to the generic nature of formulas it is difficult to do overall validation. We recommend that you configure the branch server using the SUSE Multi-Linux Manager for Retail command line utilities, and use individual formula settings for further tuning if required. For more information, see Set Up the SUSE Multi-Linux Manager for Retail Environment.

If a formula uses the same name as an existing Salt state, the two names will collide. This could result in the formula being used instead of the state. Always check the names of states and formulas to avoid name collisions.

When you have made changes to your formula, ensure you apply the highstate. The highstate propagates your changes to the appropriate services.

2. Partitioning and image deployment formula

Use the Saltboot formula to specify disk partitioning, and to select which image should be deployed. For more information about the Saltboot formula, see Saltboot Formula.