Key differences
Ansible and Kubernetes are open source platforms that serve different roles in automating IT environments, and which can be used separately or together.
Ansible's main goal is to automate repetitive IT processes across infrastructure components. Kubernetes, meanwhile, is designed to orchestrate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications—making it possible to run software at scale in hybrid environments. These goals are complementary in modern IT environments, and it’s common to use both Ansible and Kubernetes together.
Red Hat® Ansible® Automation Platform and Red Hat OpenShift® are enterprise-grade solutions built on top of Ansible and Kubernetes, respectively. They enhance the core functionality of these tools and provide additional features for large-scale, mission-critical deployments.
What is Ansible?
Ansible is an open source automation engine designed to simplify tasks such as system provisioning, configuration management, application deployment, and other various IT processes.
Systems administrators and other IT professionals use it to automate the setup and deployment of new systems across diverse environments, such as cloud or on-premise. Ansible ensures that systems maintain a desired configuration, such as keeping software packages up to date. For example, a company might use Ansible to deploy a consistent application stack across hundreds of servers, ensuring system efficiency.
According to Ansible community documentation, Ansible is designed to be:
- Agentless: It avoids installation of additional software across IT infrastructure, easing deployment.
- Simple: Ansible Playbooks are written in YAML, a plain language that simplifies code readability.
- Scalable and flexible: Its modular design supports various operating systems, enabling scalable automation.
- Idempotent and predictable: It runs modules repeatedly without altering the desired state.
