SystemLink Client Salt Minion test.ping Complains About 'master_uri_list'

Updated Jul 23, 2026

Reported In

Software

  • SystemLink Client

Other

Examples of the salt configuration's master.conf file, showing the difference between failover and one line addressing:
   

Failover Addressing Syntax                                One Line addressing syntax
master:                           master: usauslt_6j14p55
- usauslt_6j14p55                 retry_dns: 0
- 10.27.16.50
master_type: failover
retry_dns: 0
    

Issue Details

When I try to use the salt test.ping debugging command on a SystemLink Client computer, the return in DOS is an error that references the 'master_uri_list', something like this:

C:\Windows\System32>"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\salt-minion\salt-call.bat" test.ping

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\salt-minion\bin\Lib\site-packages\salt\_logging\impl.py:990: DeprecationWarning: concurrent_log_handler parameter `delay` is now ignored and implied as True, please remove from your config.

 setup_logfile_handler(

[ERROR  ] An un-handled exception was caught by Salt's global exception handler:

KeyError: 'master_uri_list'
    

Solution

All versions of SystemLink Client install salt, a technology the client system uses to communicate with the SystemLink™ server.  SystemLink Client 2025 Q3 and later versions install a salt master.conf file that supports failover addressing.  The very useful salt test.ping debugging command, however, does not work with failover addressing.  In order to use the salt test.ping debugging command in these newer versions of SystemLink Client, you need to first create a copy of the salt configuration that uses a single address line, then reference that copied salt configuration explicitly in the salt test.ping debugging command.  Here's how that works.

Step 1: Copy the Configuration Folder

  1. Navigate to the default Salt configuration folder
    C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\salt\conf
  2. Copy this folder and paste it into a new directory to act as your custom salt configuration profile
    (for example, C:\conf) 

Step 2: Edit the Copied Configuration File

  1. Open the copied configuration folder and locate the master.conf file
    C:\conf\minion.d\master.conf
  2. Open the master.conf file in a text editor (such as Notepad)
  3. Change the master entry from a list structure to a one line assignment
    master: <your_server_address>
  4. If present, delete the entire master_type line
    master_type: failover
  5. Ensure the following line is present to prevent DNS resolution delays
    retry_dns: 0
  6. Save and close the master.conf file

Step 3: Run the Debug Command Referencing the Copied Configuration

  1. Open a DOS command prompt with administrator privileges
  2. Run the salt test.ping debugging command with an explicit reference to the copied and edited configuration, using the --config flag
    "C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\salt-minion\salt-call.bat" --config=C:\conf test.ping



                                    

                                    

                                       
                                            
Additional Information
SystemLink Client 2026 Q1 deploys and uses saltstack version 3006.3


In newer SystemLink Client versions, you can use the following DOS command prompt to return the salt version deployed
"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\salt-minion\bin\salt-minion.exe" --version

                                    


                        

                    

                

 
                
                

                

                

                    

                        

                            
                            

                                

                                    

                                                

                                                    
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