salt/doc/topics/targeting/grains.rst

.. _targeting-grains:

======================
Targeting using Grains
======================

Grain data can be used when targeting minions.

For example, the following matches all CentOS minions:

.. code-block:: bash

    salt -G 'os:CentOS' test.ping

Match all minions with 64-bit CPUs, and return number of CPU cores for each
matching minion:

.. code-block:: bash

    salt -G 'cpuarch:x86_64' grains.item num_cpus

Additionally, globs can be used in grain matches, and grains that are nested in
a :ref:`dictionary <python2:typesmapping>` can be matched by adding a colon for
each level that is traversed. For example, the following will match hosts that
have a grain called ``ec2_tags``, which itself is a
:ref:`dict <python2:typesmapping>` with a key named ``environment``, which
has a value that contains the word ``production``:

.. code-block:: bash

    salt -G 'ec2_tags:environment:*production*'

.. important::
  See :ref:`Is Targeting using Grain Data Secure? <faq-grain-security>` for
  important security information.