SaltStack | How to assign the shell output from cmd.run to Jinja variable?

Question

Problem

Unable to assign the output from cmd.run in my Salt State. The condition always return true even if the load_avg in the minion is not really equal or beyond the threshold. I also included in the configuration the things I have tried.

Configuration

# {% set load_avg = salt['cmd.run']('uptime | sed "s/.*load average: //" | cut -d " " -f2 | cut -d . -f1') %} # Not working
# {% set load_avg = salt['cmd.run']('/bin/sh -c "uptime | sed \"s/.*load average: //\" | cut -d \" \" -f2 | cut -d . -f1"') %} # Not working
# {% set load_avg = salt['cmd.run']('echo 0') %} # Not working
# {% set load_avg = salt['cmd.shell']('uptime | sed "s/.*load average: //" | cut -d " " -f2 | cut -d . -f1') %} # Not working
# {% set load_avg = 0 %} # Working. Output: Load average is normal message 
{% set load_avg = 6 %} # Working: Output: Load average is HIGH message
{% set threshold = 5 %}

check_load_avg:
cmd.run:
{% if load_avg >= threshold %}
    - name: echo 'Load average is HIGH. load_avg={{ load_avg }}, threshold={{ threshold }}'
{% else %}
    - name: echo 'Load average is normal. load_avg={{ load_avg }}, threshold={{ threshold }}'
{% endif %}

Running cmd.run in CLI

[ec2-user@ip-10-0-1-48 hello]$ sudo salt '*' cmd.run 'uptime | sed "s/.*load average: //" | cut -d " " -f1 | cut -d . -f1'
ip-10-0-1-48.ec2.internal:
    0
[ec2-user@ip-10-0-1-48 hello]$ sudo salt '*' cmd.run 'uptime | sed "s/.*load average: //" | cut -d " " -f1 | cut -d . -f1'
ip-10-0-1-48.ec2.internal:
    4
[ec2-user@ip-10-0-1-48 hello]$

Salt and OS Version

[ec2-user@ip-10-0-1-48 hello]$ salt --version
salt 2017.7.2 (Nitrogen)
[ec2-user@ip-10-0-1-48 hello]$ uname -a
Linux ip-10-0-1-48 4.9.51-10.52.amzn1.x86_64 #1 SMP Fri Sep 29 01:16:19 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
[ec2-user@ip-10-0-1-48 hello]$

Answer 1

I think the main problem is that load_avg from cmd is not a number but a string and you have to convert it. Using load_avg|float (or even load_avg|int) like this works:

{% set load_avg = salt['cmd.shell']('uptime | sed "s/.*load average: //" | cut -d " " -f2 | cut -d . -f1') %}
{% set threshold = 1 %}

check_load_avg:
  cmd.run:
{% if load_avg|float >= threshold %}
    - name: echo 'Load average is HIGH. load_avg={{ load_avg }}, threshold={{ threshold }}'
{% else %}
    - name: echo 'Load average is normal. load_avg={{ load_avg }}, threshold={{ threshold }}'
{% endif %}

Output:

----------
          ID: check_load_avg
    Function: cmd.run
        Name: echo 'Load average is HIGH. load_avg=1, threshold=1'
      Result: True
     Comment: Command "echo 'Load average is HIGH. load_avg=1, threshold=1'" run
     Started: 10:19:42.238409
    Duration: 9.731 ms
     Changes:
              ----------
              pid:
                  5976
              retcode:
                  0
              stderr:
              stdout:
                  Load average is HIGH. load_avg=1, threshold=1

With threshold=5:

----------
          ID: check_load_avg
    Function: cmd.run
        Name: echo 'Load average is normal. load_avg=1, threshold=5'
      Result: True
     Comment: Command "echo 'Load average is normal. load_avg=1, threshold=5'" run
     Started: 10:20:31.846864
    Duration: 9.361 ms
     Changes:
              ----------
              pid:
                  6184
              retcode:
                  0
              stderr:
              stdout:
                  Load average is normal. load_avg=1, threshold=5

EDIT:

You can get the load average using directly the salt module status.loadavg:

# salt-call status.loadavg
local:
    ----------
    1-min:
        0.12
    15-min:
        0.31
    5-min:
        0.25

In jinja:

{% set load_avg = salt['status.loadavg']()['1-min'] %}