When working with SaltStack's state system, you'll often need to execute just one specific state from an SLS file rather than the entire file. This becomes particularly important when:

• Debugging individual states
• Testing specific configurations
• Minimizing execution scope in production

Your current working commands show you're comfortable with basic SaltStack operations:

# Executes all states in monitoring SLS
salt-ssh w123 state.sls monitoring

# Shows the parsed SLS data
salt-ssh w123 state.show_sls monitoring

The errors you encountered reveal common misconceptions:

# Fails because state.sls_id expects a different format
salt-ssh w123 state.sls_id monitoring_packages monitoring

# Fails due to incorrect argument structure
salt-ssh w123 state.single monitoring.monitoring_packages

For SaltStack 2015.8.3 (Beryllium), here are the proper ways to execute a single state:

Method 1: Using state.sls with state ID

salt-ssh w123 state.sls monitoring saltenv=base test=True \
  exclude='*' include='monitoring_packages'

Method 2: The state.single Approach

For a more direct approach:

salt-ssh w123 state.single pkg.installed name='monitoring_packages' \
  pkgs='["python-psutil"]' order=10000

Method 3: Using state.apply (alternative)

salt-ssh w123 state.apply monitoring.monitoring_packages

• Remember that state IDs in SLS files must be unique
• Ensure your SLS file structure matches the module.function format
• Be aware of Salt version differences in state execution methods

Suppose you have this monitoring/packages.sls:

monitoring_packages:
  pkg.installed:
    - pkgs:
      - python-psutil
    - order: 10000

To run just this state:

salt-ssh minion1 state.sls monitoring.packages saltenv=base \
  exclude='*' include='monitoring_packages'

Before executing, verify with:

salt-ssh w123 state.show_low_sls monitoring.packages

---

When working with SaltStack's state system, you might encounter situations where executing an entire SLS file is overkill, and you only need to run a specific state. The standard state.sls execution works perfectly:

salt-ssh w123 state.sls monitoring

But what if you need to target just the monitoring_packages state from this SLS file?

Many users attempt these approaches that don't work as expected:

# Attempt 1 - Incorrect state.sls_id usage
salt-ssh w123 state.sls_id monitoring_packages monitoring

# Attempt 2 - Missing arguments in state.single
salt-ssh w123 state.single monitoring.monitoring_packages

These failures typically occur because of either incorrect syntax or misunderstanding the required arguments.

For SaltStack 2015.8.3 (Beryllium) and similar versions, here's the proper way to execute a single state:

salt-ssh w123 state.single pkg.installed name=python-psutil saltenv=base

However, if you need to specifically reference the state ID from your SLS file, use:

salt-ssh w123 state.sls monitoring saltenv=base pillar='{"exclude": "*", "include": "monitoring_packages"}'

The key elements here are:

• saltenv=base specifies the environment
• The pillar inclusion/exclusion pattern controls which states execute
• This method works even when direct state ID targeting fails

If you're using a more recent SaltStack version (2016.11+), this cleaner approach works:

salt-ssh w123 state.apply monitoring pillar='{"exclude": "*", "include": "monitoring_packages"}'

Always verify your state targeting with:

salt-ssh w123 state.show_sls monitoring

This helps confirm the exact state IDs available in your SLS file before attempting targeted execution.