Introduction to Ansible: Getting Started With Multi-Utility Automation Tool (Part 1)
Ansible is a universal language, unraveling the mystery of how work gets done. — Ansible
When it comes to automation, having a multipurpose and hassle-free option for ease and agility becomes crucial. This approach is applied when it comes to choosing an IT automation engine. Who would want to have separate engines for performing different tasks, after all? That is when Ansible comes into the picture.
So what is Ansible? Why is it an important tool in automation? How does it work? I will be answering all these questions through a data engineer’s perspective in this blog today.
What is Ansible?
Ansible is a radically simple IT automation engine that automates cloud provisioning, configuration management, application deployment, intra-service orchestration, and many other IT needs.
Ansible allows you to write the configuration files in YAML in a certain format, and they work cohesively to start a server, build a network, deploy the application, add configuration files, and restart the server for you; all of this is done order-wise.
It essentially delivers simple IT automation that ends repetitive tasks and frees up DevOps teams for more strategic work.
Why Do You Need Ansible?
Automation: All it takes is to run a single command to automate all the steps, which is a key to efficient production deployment that is done end-to-end. Therefore, it reduces the need for bigger DevOps teams.
Fewer Errors: Due to fewer codes and more configuration, Ansible is prone to fewer errors. The deployment is done using YAML files instead of heavy SSH files.
Less Time Consuming: Writing YAML files takes less amount of time, making Ansible an agile tool.
Universal Code for all Infrastructure Platforms: One of the reasons I recommend Ansible is its sheer multi-utility. You just need to write one code, be it for bare-metal machines, virtual machines, or clouds…
