Ansible vs Kubernetes – What’s the Difference ? (Pros and Cons)
Ansible vs Kubernetes – What’s the Difference ? (Pros and Cons). More and more technology organizations are looking to automate their IT structures and data applications. Topics of this article are Ansible vs Kubernetes. For both solutions DevOps tools help with their application. Because the tasks of these two tools include deploying applications on different infrastructures. But primarily these tools help to automate configuration.
Firstly Ansible automates the cloud sharing. It is the engine of IT automation. Tasks include application implementation, configuration management, service coordination and many other needs. On the other side Kubernetes automates the manual process of deploying, managing, and scaling containerized applications. Usually it leads to securing an open source container platform.
Let’s start Ansible vs Kubernetes – What’s the Difference ? and getting to know both of these tools in detail and then move on to their comparative analysis.
What is Ansible?
First of all Ansible is a tool that creates written instructions to automate the work of IT professionals across the entire system infrastructure.
Designed for IT professionals who use it to deploy applications, manage configuration, organize service. Pretty much they do everything what a system administrator does on a weekly or daily basis.
Moreover Ansible allows you to configure not just one device. Hence an entire network of them at once, without any programming knowledge.
How does Ansible work?
Most of all it works by calling your own nodes and sending small programs called “Ansible Modules”. Moreover Ansible then runs these modules (via SSH by default) and deletes them when it’s done. At the end your module library can exist on any device and does not require a server, daemon or database.
Management node in the above figure is the control node (administrator node). Controls the full implementation of the rules. However this is the node from which you are running the installation. Markedly the inventory file provides a list of hosts running Ansible modules. Nevertheless management node establishes SSH connections. It runs small modules on the hosts and installs products/software.
The beauty of Ansible is that once installed it can efficiently remove modules to connect to the host, execute instructions. If the installation is successful, remove code copied to the device host executing.
What are the features of Ansible?
- Written in Python so easy to read and extend.
- Security and Compliance.
- Agentless client configuration.
- Best suited for larger or more homogeneous infrastructures.
- Fast and performs all functions via SSH and requires no proxy installation.
- Uses a very simple language called text. A playbook is similar to plain English that describes automated tasks.
- Because it doesn’t rely on proxies or additional dedicated security infrastructure, it’s easier and faster to deploy.
- Module libraries can exist on any system without the need for a server, daemon, or database.
- Ansible has the flexibility to allow users to create modules that can be written in any programming language (eg Ruby and Python).
- Also provides the ability to add new server side behaviours that extend Ansible connection types using the Python API.
- Models the IT infrastructure around the systems interrelating. With each other, thus ensuring faster end results.
Pros and cons of using Ansible
Pros
Cons
- New to the market.
- Limited Windows support.
- Of course not notion of state.
- UI is lacking.
What is Kubernetes?
Open source Kubernetes is a scalable and portable open source platform that manages services and workloads. As well as facilitates configuration and automation. The ecosystem is large and is growing rapidly. Tools, services and support are freely available.
Google has open sourced the Kubernetes project in 2014. With Kubernetes it combines more than 15 years of Google’s experience managing large scale production workloads with the best ideas and practices of the community.
How does Kubernetes work?
Well Kubernetes, the container system, a way to manage the lifecycle of containerized applications across an entire fleet. This is a descriptive process that can automatically deploy and scale multiple containers simultaneously. Multiple containers running the same application are grouped together. These containers act as replicas and are used to load incoming requests. The container organizer monitors these groups and makes sure they are working properly.
A container organizer is basically an administrator responsible for running a number of container based applications. If the container needs to restart or get more resources, the coordinator will take care of that.
What are the features of Kubernetes?
Self Healing – Additionally Kubernetes can automatically restart failed containers and terminate containers that fail user defined health checks. But if the same node dies, it replaces the failed container and resets it to other available nodes.
Service discovery & load balancing – Automatically assigns container IP addresses and unique DNS names to a group of containers that can load balance traffic within the group.
Automatic Binpacking – Generally Kubernetes automatically packages your application and schedules containers based on their needs and available resources without sacrificing availability.
Batch Execution – In addition to managing services, Kubernetes can manage batch and CI workloads and replace failed containers when needed.
Horizontal Scaling – When using the CLI, Kubernetes only needs a single command to scale up or down a container. Alternatively, it can be extended using the dashboard (Kubernetes UI).
Pros and cons of using Kubernetes
Pros
- K8s also known as Kubernetes abstract core computing resources, allowing developers to spread workloads across the entire cluster, not just on specific servers.
- For fast load balancing, Kubernetes provides a separate IP address for each pod and a unique DNS name for a group of pods.
- Portable and cost effective platform.
- Requires less computing resources to run. Also, for your container, you can set the maximum and minimum CPU and memory resources accordingly.
- A single administrator can manage and monitor multiple containers running simultaneously.
- Kubernetes enables workload portability without limiting the types of applications it supports. Any application that a container can run, Kubernetes can too.
Cons
- Adapting to a new system with many new integrations and technologies can be overwhelming for some implementations.
- Kubernetes requires experience and extensive training for its debugging and troubleshooting in due time.
- Initial configuration is difficult.
- Diverse knowledge needed.
- Expensive talent to hire on your project.
- Complexity converts to cost.
- Infrastructure can cost more than the total profit.
Ansible vs Kubernetes - Key Differences
Most importantly Ansible is a tool for system configuration, software implementation and IT automation. Additionally, it organizes complex IT functions such as numerous continuous updates or rolling deployment. Kubernetes, on the other hand, is a system designed to organize Docker containers. Manages workloads and schedules so that their status meets the expectations of users.
In other words, Ansible propagates changes to the host, while Kubernetes manages the containers and makes sure they run correctly.
A useful tool for developers is Ansible at the front end. Especially when programming is required. Kubernetes is best for building larger applications.
Ansible vs Kubernetes
Cloud compatibility
Firstly Ansible delivers seamless cloud adoption across public, private and hybrid cloud systems. Additionally, it supports Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud platform.
Secondly Kubernetes has similar capabilities as it can also run on public, private and hybrid cloud infrastructure technologies.
Flexibility
Using Ansible, software engineers can easily manage the entire application environment, no matter where it is deployed. Hundreds of modules included in the platform are adapted to your own needs.
The same is the case with Kubernetes. The numerous application environment provides space and gives the possibility to run web applications on public cloud systems.
Fast deployment
Both of these tools can be implemented quickly. When you write long lines of non standard codes, you don’t have to sit for hours to automate your own systems. Therefore, in the case of Ansible. You can, write an instruction or sketch an assignment, then it will set your systems to the desired states.
Because Kubernetes also offers rapid deployment and portability. Organizations can easily leverage multiple cloud service providers and achieve faster growth without changing their infrastructure.
Cost Saving
Definitely Ansible and Kubernetes save you from having to hire a large team of professional developers. As both require less manpower to manage IT operations. Because these products can be easily automated. Your organization can be comfortable with a few DevOps engineers running these tools.
User friendliness
None of the tools require advanced programming experience to use. You can use Ansible if you have experience configuring databases, web servers, virtual machines, Linux, and bash scripts. If you understand how wizards work, you can get started with Kubernetes.
Which tool is better to choose?
Each of the tools has something special about it in the way it is used.
Ansible is best for small projects that prioritize automation and flexibility over scalability and complexity. This DevOps tool is easier to use for cloud coordination, configuration and management. Use Ansible when you want to simplify complex tasks so you can spend time on other software development needs.
If your company implements large projects or has a large number of users. Then Kubernetes is the best solution for you. If your top software development priorities are scalability and simple version control. You should consider using Kubernetes as a DevOps tool.
Another reason organizations could consider Kubernetes as superior to Ansible. Exactly is that Kubernetes ensures a faster time to market for your applications. Because Kubernetes it facilitates microservices and containerized approaches to application development. Organizations can easily divide their development teams into small units of experts, each running a microservice. Because of the portability of each team, they are more flexible and focus on different aspects of development. This enables more efficient application development and deployment.
Thank you for reading Ansible vs Kubernetes – What’s the Difference ? (Pros and Cons).
Ansible vs Kubernetes – What’s the Difference ? - Conclusion
Summing up Kubernetes and Ansible are simple and easy to use. Both tools help in deploying the application. It is difficult to compare them precisely because each of them has its own purpose. However, they complement each other. Ansible is more suitable for smaller projects. Where flexibility and automation play a huge role in complexity and scalability and vice versa for Kubernetes.
If you want to know more about these two tools, have a look here.
Thank’s a lot! I hope I helped.
