Introduction to Retail Formulas

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

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

All formulas must be accurately configured for your SUSE Manager for Retail installation to function correctly. If you are unsure of the correct formula configuration details, run the retail_branch_init command before you begin to create the recommended formula configuration. You can then manually edit the formulas as required.

1. Branch Server Formulas

Branch servers are configured using formulas. Formulas can be configured using SUSE Manager Web UI, or the SUSE Manager XMLRPC API. To fully configure SUSE Manager for Retail, these formulas need to be enabled and configured on the branch server:

Optionally, you can also enable the image synchronization formula. For more information, see Image Synchronization Formula.

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 Manager for Retail command line utilities, and use individual formula settings for further tuning if required. For more information, see Set Up the SUSE 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.