Ansible AWS vs Ansible Tower – What’s the Difference? (Pros and Cons)
Ansible AWS vs Ansible Tower – What’s the Difference? (Pros and Cons). Ansible AWS is an open source. The tool helps to define, manage and deploy the services and control them via the automation playbook. Well the Ansible Tower is a web based application, and it is also used for IT automation. Both Ansible AWS and Ansible Tower offer several resources to the enterprises for management. Yet they are different from each other. We’ll discuss the main differences between them.
Let’s continue with Ansible AWS vs Ansible Tower – What’s the Difference? (Pros and Cons).
What is Ansible AWS?
First of all Ansible is a mixture of software tools, which enables the infrastructure as code. Provides the software provision, management, configuration and application deployment and functionality. AWS is an amazon web based service and a comprehensive computer based levelling platform of amazon. Additionally AWS includes a mixture of infrastructures, such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. The combination of Ansible and AWS gives the best cloud based services.
Secondly Ansible is an open source tool that uses the automation playbook to define, deploy and manage applications and services. With Ansible AWS it makes the deployment faster and it can scale various environments. Worth to add that Ansible AWS has several benefits. Provides safe automation and deployment of only the permitted micro configurations.
Also helps in the selective deployment, so only the authorized person can have the automatic deployment. Benefit of Ansible AWS is that it significantly increases the chances of making the cloud initiate a success. Also helps to manage your AWS environment like a fleet of services instead of a collection of the services.
Most people find AWS difficult, but Ansible AWS describes even the most complicated environment smoothly. So, what are you waiting for? Describe your AWS based environment with Ansible, and you will be able to deploy them over and over. Moreover, scaling the 100s of the instances across multiple regions will provide the same result every time.
There are thousands of modules, and hundreds of them support AWS. The most common modules of them include:
Features of Ansible AWS
- Authentication
Automation tool Ansible enables you to use the authentication process with AWS. You need to specify your access. Moreover it allows you to select the secret keys as the module arrangements.
- The Red Hat Automation Controller
Helps you to know what AWS instances you have, without mentioning how they were launched. Crucial step is to input your AWS credentials to get the entire AWS infrastructure.
- Migration is Super Easy
Migrating dozens of workloads is super easy with Ansible AWS. For this, you need to use the Ansible playbook language. It will help to manage the infrastructure and deploy the application. You can also use Ansible AWS to define your application locally. Once it is done, redefining the infrastructure is super easy.
- IT Automation
Also Ansible delivers great IT automation and orchestration for the cloud environment. The significant portability and the ease of creating the out of the box modules are one of the enticing features of the Ansible AWS.
- Flexibility
This cloud based software is the perfect choice for growing and fluctuating business demands. Ansible with AWS is quite flexible. Can scale up and down the deployment based on your requirements.
- Automation software
Another benefit of Ansible AWS is that it is an intelligent software. It takes care of the suitable time for the update and runs the security checks when required. This automation saves a lot of time and prevents several problems.
Pros of Ansible AWS
- The cloud group of Ansible and AWS provides multiple services that rapidly deploy and scale your application.
- All the complicated AWS environments can be provisioned, smoothly.
- One can create the server host communication, run the playbook on one system and provide multiple options to scale up and down as per the requirement.
- Integration of Ansible AWS provides dynamic inventory. Enables you to host the application based on groups provided with inventory scripts.
- Another key point of Ansible, along with AWS, provides configuration management, orchestration and application deployment.
- Above all it provides the reliable security compliance.
Cons of Ansible AWS
- Evidently Ansible is agentless, which means it does not track dependencies. Just it executes the sequential tasks. That can lead to several unexpected happenings.
- Creates the complex data structure and control flow.
What is Ansible Tower?
Ansible Tower is a web based solution, which makes Ansible easier and more accessible. The best hub for all the automation tasks of an inventory. Tower meets all the modern security requirements; it allows you to control the access of the users. You can control the access; according to the ranks of the users. You can also share SSH credentials without allowing someone to share these credentials. Being that it also gives you a wide variety of cloud sources for inventory management.
By all means Ansible Tower is quite common among Ansible users as it has a commercial GUI tool. There are also several enticing benefits for business management. Provides API access, scheduling, role based access, notification, and other significant features that help business management.
By the same token Ansible Tower provides centralized administrative control and reliable security. Security overall is one of the unbeatable features of the Ansible Tower. This ensures that the individuals and groups access the limited data; according to their ranks. In return it makes the security stronger and provides the audit details.
Features of Ansible Tower
- GUI
For example Ansible Tower has a graphical under interference dashboard. The GUI helps to manage the playbooks and the inventories. The interference saves considerable time and makes things easy for the users.
- Role Based Access Control
There are very few automation tools that provide role based access. This type of access potentially reduces security threats and keeps sensitive information in the safe hands only.
- Job Scheduling
Job scheduling is the most uncomplicated task with the Ansible Tower. For doing this, you need to create a playbook and a scheduled task. After finalizing the scheduled tasks, run the playbook and ensure that the project you have entered exists in the node as soon as it is completed. You need to remove the task by creating a playbook called to remove a task. Make sure to remove the task that is complete. Otherwise, it will continue to repeat again and again.
- Real Time Job Status Update
In essence Ansible Tower gives you a real time job status update. It will notify you about the status of active inventories and their activities on continuous bases.
- Red Hat
Red hat integration helps in the automation, provision, management and deployment of the computer infrastructure in the physical and the cloud environment.
- RESTful APIs
Integration with the RESTful makes the automation a lot easier. Deploying the software and the configuration is much easier.
Pros of Ansible Tower
- Tower valet provides the smart storing and sharing of the credentials.
- Helps to build a CI/CD pipeline for the management of the workflow.
- Aids you in the job scheduling and notifying you before any problem occurs for the pre management.
- Setting it up is super easy. A lot of documentation is available.
- Works in the cluster. And in the cluster, there are different nodes. So, if one node fails, the other nodes are present on the backup for the work.
- Provides the graphic inventory management.
Cons of Ansible Tower
- Does not have the notion of state. So, it does not count the dependencies.
- Debugging process takes time, and sometimes it takes too long to diagnose and address the problem.
Ansible AWS vs Ansible Tower - Differences
Managing Cloud
On one side AWS integration with the Ansible cloud is not just the collection of the servers. It provides a fleet of services that assist in the rapid deployment and scaling of the applications.
Similarly both tools create automation of a cloud environment. Host entry for the connected virtual machine of the Ansible Tower automates the IT environment and saves the time and energy of the users.
Support of the Cluster of Environment vs Modules
Here the AWS is compatible with several Ansible modules. These integrations increase the efficiency of AWS and add more enticing features.
Contrarily Ansible Tower do not have multiple modules; instead, it plays with a cluster of the environment. Different types of nodes are valuable in each environment. If one node fails to perform the efficient task, the other node will take its position to maintain the continuous workflow.
Workflow Support and Migration
Clearly Ansible AWS has nothing to do with workflow management, but it makes migration easy for the users. You also need to make the playbook to manage infrastructure and deploy the application. In this, you can deploy the application locally. Once the deployment is done, redeploying does not take much time.
On the other hand Ansible Tower allows you to create the playbooks. These playbooks assist in creating the workflow sheets. Workflow sheets are one of the significant benefits of the Ansible Tower. With the help of this workflow, you can create a proper CI\CD pipeline.
Automation
Specifically Ansible AWS provides safe automation that can save you from misconfiguration. The AWS helps to provide selective automation, so only the selected people of the company can get access.
But Ansible Tower provides automation to the authorized user. Authorization on the granular level and features for encrypting the data and credentials.
Graphical User Interference
Lastly Ansible AWS doesn’t provide graphical user interference. However, the Ansible comes with the GUI interference, but the Ansible AWS GUI interference is not as effective as the Ansible Tower.
Managing of the inventory is easy with Ansible Tower via graphical user interference. Add hosts and groups to the inventory with ease. Moreover, configuring the inventory roles is super easy with the GUI.
Thank you for reading Ansible AWS vs Ansible Tower – What’s the Difference? (Pros and Cons)
Ansible AWS vs Ansible Tower - What's the Difference Conclusion
To conclude Ansible is one of the best solutions for the automation of AWS. One side of a coin is Ansible AWS, a whole new system that significantly improves productivity and helps to save time and money. Another side is Ansible Tower a the web based integration between Ansible and Tower. The integration results in a solution that is simple to use and makes the automation tasks and IT infrastructure easy to understand and set up.
