Salt minion fails to start after initial configuration

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 2 (SLES 12 SP2)
SUSE Enterprise Storage 4

Situation

After installation of the Salt-minion package and attempting to start the service the service status shows:

:~ # systemctl status -l salt-minion.service
● salt-minion.service - The Salt Minion
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/salt-minion.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: inactive (dead) since Mon 2017-02-06 12:45:46 CET; 56s ago
Process: 7843 ExecStart=/usr/bin/salt-minion (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 7843 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Feb 06 12:45:46 ses-nue-1 systemd[1]: Started The Salt Minion.
Feb 06 12:45:46 ses-nue-1 salt-minion[7843]: [ERROR   ] Error parsing configuration file: /etc/salt/minion - expected '<document start>', but found '<block mapping start>'
Feb 06 12:45:46 ses-nue-1 salt-minion[7843]: in "<string>", line 510, column 1:
Feb 06 12:45:46 ses-nue-1 salt-minion[7843]: hash_type: sha256
Feb 06 12:45:46 ses-nue-1 salt-minion[7843]: ^
Feb 06 12:45:46 ses-nue-1 salt-minion[7843]: [ERROR   ] Error parsing configuration file: /etc/salt/minion - expected '<document start>', but found '<block mapping start>'
Feb 06 12:45:46 ses-nue-1 salt-minion[7843]: in "<string>", line 510, column 1:
Feb 06 12:45:46 ses-nue-1 salt-minion[7843]: hash_type: sha256
Feb 06 12:45:46 ses-nue-1 salt-minion[7843]: ^

Resolution

Verify the syntax in the "/etc/salt/minion" file are correct for any adjusted / modified entries.

Cause

Incorrect syntax used for adjusted entries in the "/etc/salt/minion" file.

Additional Information

One of the most common adjusted entries in the "/etc/salt/minion" file is to specify the DNS name for the Salt Master. There should be a space between the entries and the configured values, for example;

Correct:

master: salt.domain.com

Incorrect:

master:salt.domain.com

Disclaimer

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