Welcome to the third installment of WEI’s ongoing DevOps for SysOps Series. Previously, we discussed Git and Configuration as Code (CaC). Now, let’s focus on Ansible is an open-source IT automation platform developed by Red Hat. Ansible enables organizations to automate a wide range of IT tasks, including provisioning, configuration management, application deployment, and orchestration. If you are looking to automate things like server deployment, cloud provisioning, software installation, and configuration updates, this is the quick read for you.

Key Features of Ansible

Forrester Research identified Red Hat Ansible as an industry leader in infrastructure automation in 2024. Here are some of the standout features that make Ansible so popular and effective today:

• Compatibility: Ansible can be used across various platforms including Mac, Linux, Windows, and even non-operating systems like routers and switches. This broad compatibility makes it a great fit for hybrid environments and mixed-infrastructure organizations.
• Agentless: There are many tools out there that require you to install a bit of software first to communicate with the target host. Ansible isn’t one of them as it communicates directly with systems using standard protocols. This reduces overhead, simplifies setup, and minimizes security concerns tied to third-party agents.
• SSH Protocol: Instead of an agent, Ansible uses SSH by default, which is a widely supported protocol and readily used by IT admins. If you are using Windows, it can use the Windows remote management protocol which can be easier to work with for Windows hosts.
• Idempotence: This is a word you don’t use every day. This feature allows Ansible to run scripts repeatedly without causing issues because Ansible is smart enough to check the state of the machine and only performs actions that are necessary. Once a script is run once, it won’t be run again.
• Extensibility: Ansible is extensible, which means you can keep adding to it beyond its core capabilities. Its modular design gives you the flexibility to tailor automation to your unique environment and workflows.
  

What is YAML?

Another feature that makes Ansible so popular is its use of declarative scripting language. A declarative language focuses on describing the desired end state of a system, rather than outlining the exact procedural steps to reach that state. The descriptive scripting language that Ansible uses is YAML, a human-readable data serialization format. It is structured to be easily understood by both people and machines. This clarity and simplicity make YAML ideal for writing Ansible playbooks.

Components of YAML

We mentioned playbooks, which are one of the primary components of YAML. Playbooks are where the action happens. Ansible playbooks serve as blueprints that define the desired state and configuration of your managed nodes, orchestrating complex workflows and multi-step processes with clarity and precision. A playbook is basically a file that describes a series of automation tasks to be executed on specified hosts or groups of hosts. Each playbook consists of one or more “plays,” and each play consists of a list of tasks. Playbooks are executed from top to bottom, with each play and task running in the order they are listed.

Some of the other components that make up Ansible are:

• Modules: These are packages of code that Ansible executes against predefined hosts. Modules are the core of Ansible’s functionality and can be executed over SSH or other protocols
• Plugins: Plugins augment Ansible’s core functionality. They can be used to extend Ansible’s capabilities beyond its basic functions 
• Inventories: Inventories are used to organize groups of hosts. While technically not required, leveraging inventories allows users to take full advantage of Ansible’s functionality 
• Variables: Variables can be assigned in various ways and are used to customize configurations for different hosts or groups.

Two Versions to Choose From

Ansible comes in two forms – a free version and a paid version. The free version comes as a command line interface (CLI) version. It is very basic, but suitable for a single user working on a single machine. If you’re a small organization with a single senior IT admin, it might be all you need.

For those seeking more functionality without cost, there is AWX, the free and open-source upstream project for Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. While AWX provides a web-based user interface and REST API, it’s important to note that as a community-supported project, it may experience stability issues and lacks enterprise support. This may make it potentially less suitable for production environments with critical automation needs…

…which leads us to the paid version called Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. It includes a web UI and API for managing playbooks, inventories, credentials, and workflows. This makes it much easier to use and scale than just running playbooks via CLI. Unlike the CLI version, the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform allows collaborative work so it is great for teams.

The paid version also gets you these features not available in the CLI:

• Red Hat Support: Access to Red Hat support for troubleshooting and assistance 
• Event-Driven Ansible: This feature allows for additional automation, such as monitoring a web server and executing predefined actions if it goes down. Event-Driven Ansible helps organizations respond faster to incidents and automate complex workflows across their IT environments.
• Ansible Lightspeed: An AI-powered coding assistant that provides real-time code suggestions and can generate entire playbooks or tasks from natural language prompts within your Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 
• RBAC (Role-Based Access Control): Built-in RBAC is crucial for team environments to ensure powerful automations are locked down, letting you control who can run what, on which hosts, with what credentials.
• Verified and Validated Collections: Access to pre-written, validated, and certified scripts from partners like AWS, Cisco, and Aruba. These collections are tested and supported, helping you deploy automation with confidence and speed.

Ansible in Action

Let’s start with a real basic example of YAML in action. Here we will add a user to a Linux host. The process involves creating a project folder, an inventory file, and a playbook. The inventory file lists the target hosts and their variables, while the playbook specifies the tasks to be executed. In this scenario, the task is to add a user to the host using the ansible.builtin.shell module. Let’s see an example.

Ansible Playbook for Creating a Local User:

# ——————————————————————————————————————-

– name: Create a local user on a single host

hosts: LinuxServer1

become: yes

tasks:

   – name: Add user “exampleuser”

     ansible.builtin.shell: useradd exampleuser

     args:

       creates: /home/exampleuser 

Components explained:

• Playbook name: Create a local user on a single host – This is a descriptive name for the playbook.
• Target hosts: hosts: LinuxServer1 – This specifies that the playbook will run only on the host or group named “LinuxServer1” defined in your Ansible inventory.
• Privilege escalation: become: yes – This tells Ansible to execute the tasks with elevated privileges (like sudo), which is necessary for user creation.
• Tasks section: Contains the list of actions to perform.
• User creation task:
  • name: Add user “exampleuser” – A descriptive name for this specific task
  • builtin.shell: useradd exampleuser – Uses the shell module to run the Linux command useradd exampleuser
  • args: section with creates: /home/exampleuser – This is an important idempotency check that prevents the command from running if the home directory already exists, making the playbook safe to run multiple times

Note:

While this will work, Ansible has a dedicated user module that would be more appropriate for this task. Modules help to re-use code and decrease complexity. The equivalent using the proper module would be:

– name: Add user “exampleuser”

ansible.builtin.user:

   name: exampleuser

   state: present 

The dedicated module handles idempotency automatically and provides more options for configuring the user account.

# ——————————————————————————————————————-

In addition to configuring users and groups, you can use Ansible to install or update software packages, reboot or shut down servers, manage files and directories or deploy and configure applications. There are so many things that Ansible can do. With its hundreds of built-in modules, it can automate everything from system updates and cloud provisioning to enforcing security policies. By making use of human readable YAML playbooks, users don’t need to master a complex programming language, and its agentless design means there is no additional software to deploy. Whether you’re managing a handful of servers or scaling to thousands across hybrid environments, Ansible provides the consistent and reliable automation framework that businesses are looking for today.

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There is an ongoing shift to hybrid multi-cloud infrastructure, requiring businesses to adopt agile and seamless approaches to workload management across multiple clouds. IT professionals managing enterprise and legacy applications may initially consider virtual machines for on-premise cloud solutions. However, it may be more beneficial to refactor applications using cloud-native technologies like containers, rather than relying on the lift and shift approach.

A lift and shift method may involve moving from traditional VM environments to cloud-based environments like EC2, EBS, or Azure. However, for most modern businesses, a hybrid approach is the best option. , a pioneer in hybrid cloud infrastructure, offers a viable solution to maintain and streamline operations while meeting business needs.

Introducing The Nutanix Cloud Platform

The Nutanix Cloud Platform is a comprehensive enterprise-grade solution that allows enterprises to build a hybrid multi-cloud infrastructure and support workloads and use cases across private and public clouds. The platform is designed to simplify hybrid cloud management, reduce operational costs, and provide a consistent experience across all clouds. It delivers powerful tools and capabilities that enable IT teams to manage, orchestrate, and automate their cloud operations from a single dashboard.

In this blog post, we explore how the Nutanix Cloud Platform helps organizations accelerate value in multiple cloud environments and build a successful hybrid multi-cloud infrastructure.

Reducing Hybrid Cloud Complexity, Costs

Managing a hybrid cloud can be complicated, lengthy, and costly depending on the state of your existing IT infrastructure. Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2), an extension of the Nutanix Cloud Platform, offers a multi-cloud solution, eliminating the need for third-party cloud management. NC2 enables IT professionals to oversee their workloads in both private and public clouds through a single dashboard, streamlining administration while providing a comprehensive infrastructure view. It’s primarily designed to accelerate your hybrid cloud initiative.

NC2 also provides a range of other benefits, including:

• Simplified Deployment: The pre-configured infrastructure is easy to deploy and can be set up in no more than one hour, allowing you to start running workloads quickly.
• Reduced Costs: NC2 provides a portable license for your business and enables a single management system for private and public clouds, thereby reducing costs and the need for multiple management tools. No more cloud lock ins! IT also helps soften the impact of common hidden cloud costs such as:
  • Cloud instance network performance limits require larger instances
  • Egress out from cloud is greater than anticipated
  • Disk performance requires provisioned IOPS, overallocation of disk, or ultra disk
• Improved Performance: Enable consistent performance across private and public clouds, ensuring that workloads always run at peak efficiency.

Improved Risk Management

The Nutanix Cloud Platform offers comprehensive security features such as encryption, access management, and network security to keep data safe and secure in both private and public clouds. This is crucial in light of increasing cyber threats and helps businesses manage risks in hybrid cloud operations.

Additionally, the platform automates management tasks, reducing the need for manual intervention, and ensuring a seamless and up-to-date cloud infrastructure. It also provides tools such as automation, orchestration, and workload mobility to improve efficiency and reduce downtime and costs.

Accelerating Value In The Public Cloud

The Nutanix Cloud Platform offers businesses a consistent management experience across all clouds, allowing for efficient deployment of workloads and applications. This enables companies to leverage the scalability and flexibility of public clouds without compromising performance or security. Additionally, the platform’s automation and orchestration capabilities enable IT teams to optimize cloud operations, automate common tasks, and focus on strategic initiatives.

Nutanix can accelerate your public cloud journey while maintaining security and compliance standards, offering a 30% cost reduction and decreased risk compared to traditional native cloud solutions. The platform provides additional benefits, including:

• Cloud Bursting: The Nutanix Cloud Platform allows you to quickly scale workloads to the public cloud, providing additional capacity when needed.
• Streamlined Migration: It provides tools to simplify the migration of workloads from on-premises to the public cloud. This reduces the time and effort required to move workloads, ensuring a faster time to value.
• Multi-Cloud Management: The platform provides a single management plane for private and public clouds, simplifying the management of workloads across multiple environments.

Final Thoughts

In a world where enterprises are driven to keep up with ever-evolving market dynamics, the Nutanix Cloud Platform provides the necessary hybrid multi-cloud infrastructure for businesses. It simplifies management and reduces operational costs while improving efficiency by aggregating private, public, and edge clouds into one control plane, thereby eradicating the need for multiple cloud solutions. Furthermore, organizations can benefit from NC2’s comprehensive suite of services that emphasize agility without sacrificing security or compliance requirements.

As a Nutanix partner for over a decade, WEI specializes in pre-sales, design, architecture, deployments, and works closely with clients to ensure a seamless hybrid cloud deployment experience. By utilizing Nutanix products, businesses can achieve increased efficiency, improved visibility, cost-effectiveness, and enhanced security for their critical data. Ultimately, WEI and Nutanix make trustworthy partners for any organization seeking resilient hybrid cloud solutions.

If you’re ready to make the necessary changes to your systems, contact our account team at WEI for more information and a comprehensive hybrid cloud demonstration.

Next steps: WEI recently welcomed Nutanix Systems Engineering Director Michael Berthiaume to discuss how the Nutanix Cloud Platform can help build your hybrid multi-cloud infrastructure. He also identified how it can support workloads and use cases across private and public clouds. Here’s a snippet of the conversation:

The post Unify Hybrid Cloud Deployments With Nutanix Cloud Platform appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Today, enterprises need to quickly adapt to ever-changing market and consumer demands in order to achieve a successful (and robust) digital transformation. Adopting a hybrid cloud strategy will allow you to meet the evolving expectations of customers and drive your organization further forward.

In this article, we discuss current cloud environment challenges, identify a key solution that meets modern-day demands and expectations, and touch on how the solution supports your organization’s strategies for the future.

Modern Cloud Solution Challenges

With organizations attempting to achieve digital transformation in the post-pandemic era, many IT environments currently consist of both cloud-native and legacy assets. This creates additional challenges for IT departments as some workloads aren’t appropriate for public cloud and edge-in solutions. In addition, many enterprises need greater space for their assets and want to move away from data center management and the rising costs associated with it.

According to (TBR), many enterprises have adopted a holistic infrastructure strategy that unifies on-premises and cloud-based assets. This moves them to an outcomes-focused strategy that enables organizations to rapidly turn raw data into key insights that support larger operational goals.

The Hybrid Cloud Solution

Whether your enterprise is moving to an outcome-focused strategy or prefers a more conservative approach focused on keeping high-security, high-value workloads on-premises, chances are you’re seeking a cost-effective as-a-Service consumption model. HPE GreenLake with Equinix provides your enterprise with access to the foundational infrastructure needed to scale and achieve optimal performance, speed, and flexibility. Additionally, HPE GreenLake with Equinix delivers a consistent hybrid cloud experience with hardware infrastructure, adaptable services, APIs, management, and operations – regardless of your enterprise’s current cloud maturity.

According to TBR infrastructure and platform customer research, 38% of respondents are optimizing their existing IT infrastructure by integrating and interconnecting it with cloud services. Transitioning from strictly on-premises to a cloud model gives you a significant advantage, as enables you to modernize workloads and reap the benefits of a cloud experience without upfront investments. HPE with Equinix helps you evaluate your individualized, strategic hybrid cloud road map, and cost management, enabling evolution and transformation that meet your on-demand needs and expectations. Additionally, the solution allows you to build infrastructures adjacent to the clouds and networks you need, thus creating a best-of-breed hybrid cloud architecture.

How You Can Drive Digital Transformation In Your Organization

To achieve digital transformation for your organization, HPE GreenLake with Equinix provides a fully managed option that enables your IT department to move from data to insights quickly, while optimizing overall infrastructure usage to support cost savings and performance improvements. Your enterprise can consume infrastructure in a cloud-like model while driving strategic business outcomes that will allow your IT department to fast-track its digital advantage.

How HPE And Equinix Support A Future-Proof Digital Strategy

cloud services provide your team with a powerful foundation to drive digital transformation through an elastic as-a-Service platform that can run on-premises, at the edge, or in a colocation facility.

enables you to access all the right places, partners, and possibilities you need to accelerate business decisions and growth. Your enterprise can scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences, and multiply your business’s value.

The combination of HPE and Equinix allows your enterprise to future-proof your IT investments by building vendor-neutral architectures that:

• Remove data lock-in from an egress cost perspective
• Comply with regulations around privacy through in-region data handling
• Provide better performance and manageability with proximity to ecosystems and multiple clouds
• Ensure secure and private access to their infrastructure with an optimized network design
• Provide access to data marketplaces for enhancing enterprise AI models or monetizing corporate data sets

Interested In Cloud Solutions?

With everything IT departments need in cloud-based models, it’s important to find the solution that best fits your organization. When it comes to cloud-based options, WEI is a trusted, independent resource to help vet cloud technologies, architectures, and the growing world of service providers. Contact us at WEI to discover which specific cloud method will be most successful for your organization.

Next Steps: WEI can help you ask the right questions to get the right answers in strategizing creative ways to fund your IT transformation. You can start this process by identifying the middle ground between OpEx and CapEx.

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