ANSIBLE - automation for OS administrators - an introduction.

ANSIBLE is an open-source automation tool designed for system administrators to streamline OS management. Automation covers system configuration, software installation and setup, rapid response to "zero-day" events, performing updates, and more. Essentially, the only limit is the administrator's ingenuity in applying it to repetitive tasks; if these tasks involve multiple machines, there is no longer a need to perform them individually on each one. The main goal of ANSIBLE is ease of use, with an emphasis on maintaining appropriate levels of security and reliability. Communication is handled via OpenSSH, and the language used in this solution is designed to be as simple as possible to understand, even for those unfamiliar with the tool itself. The creators prioritize maximum simplicity for all users, including developers, administrators, engineers, and IT managers. This solution can be applied in small environments consisting of a few machines or in production environments comprising many thousands of hosts. Ansible is an agentless solution. There are no issues with matching client versions or configuring a master server for management (as is the case with tools like Puppet, Chef, or BladeLogic). The main stable release of Ansible is provided every two months. Thanks to an engaged community, around 20 new modules ready for use are released with every version.

Host management is performed by connecting to them via SSH, either using Paramiko (a Python library) or native OpenSSH. This approach also addresses security concerns. There is no need to open additional ports or generate extra network traffic; the only process that needs to be running is OpenSSH, which is one of the most secure methods for remote management. If security vulnerabilities appear in OpenSSH, they are patched very quickly.

Through "playbooks," Ansible can log into a system using any user account, from which it can then utilize sudo commands, including switching to the root account (if granted to that user). Ansible also enables file copying using SFTP.

There is also a commercial solution based on Ansible - Ansible Tower.

A short introduction to the ANSIBLE tool

More information can be found here: