Red Hat

Ansible
Automation
Platform
A beginner’s guide
 Choose the right path for
your automation journey

Are you a newcomer to automation?

Start here and then jump into the chapters below to
take you along your automation journey.

01 Introduction
Do you have some experience in automation?
Start here and then jump into the chapters below to
take you along your automation journey.

Chapter 1

05 A brief look at Red Hat

Ansible Automation Platform 01 Introduction

Chapter 2 Chapter 3

07 The business value of Red Hat

Ansible Automation Platform 11 A closer look at Red Hat
Ansible Automation Platform

Chapter 3 Chapter 5

11 A closer look at Red Hat

Ansible Automation Platform 20 Where to integrate automation
into your organization

33
Chapter 4 Chapter 6

14 One platform for your

entire automation team
Taking the next step

Chapter 5

20 Where to integrate automation

into your organization

32
Chapter 6
How to get started
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Introduction
Automation has helped
companies operate efficiently
since the industrial revolution. Automation in the past 12 months 1
- Harvard Business Review Analyics Services

68%
While IT automation, including scripts, hasn’t been around say that IT automation at their
for quite that long, it’s increasingly commonplace in many organization is a “must have.”
organizations. In fact, according to a recent pulse survey

80%
by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, automation say that adopting IT automation is
is so widespread that 68% of respondents agree that IT “extremely important” to the
automation at their organization has shifted from a "nice to future success of their organization.
have" to a "must have" in the past 12 months.1

At the simplest level, these tasks tend to be repeatable,

task-based processes that often require both scale on a solution. Done manually, such tasks can be
and precision, such as a security patch or a version update monotonous, making them prone to human
error—particularly when repeated hundreds or even
thousands of times. This combination of factors makes
automation an ideal way to improve these types of
processes, especially in scenarios where IT teams are
asked to do more with less.

Organizations also frequently use in-house automation,

such as scripting, that solves specific short-term problems
but is not scalable or sustainable in the long term. While
critical for that individual process, using scripting this way
is a good example of automation in isolation.

Although many organizations are dabbling in automation–

73% of surveyed executives said their organization had
an automation initiative underway 2 –they’re approaching
it with point solutions rather than a holistic view. Taking
this approach can increase costs, result in duplicate
efforts, require expertise on multiple platforms, and
build barriers between functions and departments.

1
Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by Red Hat. “Taking the lead on IT automation: IT leaders as evangelists for their automation strategies,” Jan. 2022.
2
Horton, Richard, Justin Watson, et al. “Automation with intelligence: Pursuing organization-wide reimagination,” Deloitte Insights, 25 Nov. 2020.
2
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

A holistic approach to automation is ideal

in environments that need to solve more
than operational needs and require:
• Responsive IT services.

• Faster innovation.

• The management of networks that are expanding in

scope and complexity, such as edge solutions,

complex multicloud platforms, and remote users.

• The constant need to address security and

compliance risks across all aspects of IT.

• An adherence to internal policies and service-level

agreements (SLAs).

• Scalability to meet evolving needs.

• Integration with other platforms.

• A platform that is simple to learn and use.

“IT will fall behind if

it doesn’t innovate
The right IT automation solution can and automate. Now
unify teams and processes across an
organization, ultimately transforming
is the time for the
the way IT is delivered. So how do you next evolution.” 3

create an automation-first approach Jevin Jensen, Research Vice President,

Infrastructure and Operations, IDC
for your organization?
Red Hat® Ansible® Automation Platform supports
extensive possibilities and is designed with hybrid cloud
infrastructure in mind. It is a flexible, scalable, and
multifaceted automation solution that works across your
enterprise, wherever your organization might be in its
automation journey. Ansible Automation Platform can also
be used across IT teams, from systems and network
administrators to developers and managers.

3
IDC White Paper, sponsored by Red Hat. “IT automation: A life raft to IT leaders drowning in a sea of workforce and business challenges,” Doc#US48308621, Oct. 2021.
3
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Use this e-book as your concise

guide to Ansible Automation
Platform, its benefits, and
information to help you make
the right decisions for your
organization's automation practice.

If you’ve used Red Hat Ansible If you're new to Red Hat

Automation Platform Ansible Automation Platform
Learn about the benefits of extending
Find out how automation can help your
automation across your organization or migrating
organization succeed.
from a legacy version to the latest offering.

Jump to Chapter 3 Keep reading

Let’s get this journey started.

4
 Introduction Chapter 11
Chapter Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

A brief look at
Red Hat Ansible
Automation Platform

To understand Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, you first

need to understand Red Hat. For more than 25 years, Red Hat has
delivered open source solutions hardened for stability that simplify
how organizations work across platforms and environments and
address enterprise IT challenges. Red Hat has a long history of
participating in open source community projects, and the work
around Ansible Automation Platform is no exception.

A vibrant and enthusiastic community of people contributes to

and relies on the Ansible project, and they continue to extend this
technology into a more flexible and robust solution every day.
Upstream developers help expand its ability to support enterprise
ecosystems. In fact, Ansible is the most widely adopted open
source automation tool on GitHub, and it consistently ranks
among the most popular open source projects in the world.

25
That's how long Red Hat has
delivered open source solutions
hardened for stability that simplify
how organizations work across

years
platforms and environments and
address enterprise IT challenges.

5
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

The Ansible community is vibrant⁴

52.2K stars⁴
19,100 Microsoft/Vscode

14,000 Microsoftdoc/Azure-docs Ansible/Ansible

13,000 Flutter/Flutter

11,600 Firstcontributions/First-Contributions
62K followers⁴
Number of contributers

Ansible Twitter
9,900 Tensorflow/Tensorflow

9,100 Facebook/React-native

6,900 Kubernetes/Kubernetes

6,900 Definitelytyped/Definitelytyped

Ansible/Ansible

6,800
6,800 Ansible/Ansible
⁴
6,300 Home-assistant/Home-assistant
contributers

Figure 1. Top 10 GitHub projects 2016-2019

See how Red Hat Ansible Automation

Platform helps organizations adopt a
culture of collaborative automation.
Watch the video

Red Hat is evolving the platform to meet ongoing

complexities of hybrid cloud computing, digital
transformation, and other initiatives and to be
flexible enough to meet future challenges.

At the same time, Red Hat is committed to helping

the Ansible community to grow and thrive.

Find out how Red Hat Ansible Automation can bring tangible business
benefits to your organization in Chapter 2.

4
“State of the Octoverse” GitHub, 2019.

6
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

The business value

of Red Hat Ansible
Automation Platform

Investments in automation are being prioritized across many

areas, according to Red Hat’s 2022 Global Tech Outlook.5 The
report found 28% of respondents said IT operations automation
is a top IT technology funding priority over the next year, which is
up two percentage points from the previous year’s research.

Over the next 12 months, what are your company’s

top IT technology funding priorities?⁵ Why is automation gaining
traction year over year?
46%
IT security
45%
There are several potential reasons, but one of the
IT operations
28% biggest is the quantifiable business value of automation—
automation 26% and particularly of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.

23% According to research from IDC, customers using Ansible

Application
development 22%
Automation Platform to support business needs and to
2021 2020 improve IT and application development operations
could see a five-year return on investment (ROI) of
667%, with a 10-month payback on investment. 6

Want to find out more about

how to champion IT automation
across your organization?
Read The IT executive’s guide to automation

5
Red Hat report. "2022 Global Tech Outlook," Oct. 2021.
6
IDC White Paper “The business value of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.” Doc#US47989320. Oct. 2021.
7
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Based on interviews with Red Hat Ansible

Automation Platform users, the report
also found that organizations could
benefit from the positive effects of:

Reliability:

•
76% reduction in unplanned downtime

•
30% more efficient IT security teams

IT staff:

•
30% more efficient IT infrastructure teams

•
29% more efficient network infrastructure management teams

•
75% faster deployment of new storage resources

•
39% more applications developed per year

DevOps efficiencies by activity:

•
50% improvement in securing

•
48% improvement in provisioning

•
38% improvement in configuring

DevOps teams’ day-to-day tasks:

•
25% less time spent on maintenance work

•
59% more time spent on innovation and other activities

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Organizations around the

globe are finding similar business benefits
using Ansible Automation Platform.
From improving efficiencies and delivering digital services faster to
freeing up critical resources to focus on higher-value projects, these
organizations are recognizing the advantages of taking a holistic
automation approach:

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina

The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Emory University

“ Red Hat was seen as the only viable

vendor to provide both the technology
and services we needed. We tried the
community version of Ansible, but we
cannot spend too much time learning by
ourselves. We need enterprise support.”
Ruby Li, Systems and DevOps Manager, Hong Kong Jockey Club

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Three advantages of implementing Ansible

Automation Platform in your organization:

1 Greater efficiency
Your staff can spend more time making a bigger impact on your business.
Leave the rote repetition to automation.

Lorem ipsum
2 Better reliability

When you reduce human intervention, you encounter fewer oversights

and issues because everything happens in the same way—every time.
Have confidence that you know exactly when processes, tests, updates,
workflows, and other tasks are going to happen, how long they’ll take,
and that you can trust the outcomes.

3 Transparent governance

Minimize the potential consequences of knowledge gaps. With a

holistic automation approach, you have better control over your
entire organization and an improved vantage point over any missed
steps, not to mention audit trails and other information you need to
align with compliance goals.

Learn more about the value of the

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
View video

Now that we've looked at the benefits of using Ansible Automation Platform, it’s time
to explore how to access those benefits, including some of the top features of the
platform, in Chapter 3.

10
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

A closer look at
Red Hat Ansible
Automation Platform
Whether you want to automate infrastructure, applications,
networks, containers, security, your cloud environment, or
all of the above, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform can
help you create, manage, and scale automation in one place.

1
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
uses playbooks in YAML format.

Ansible Playbooks are regularly used to automate

administration functions such as orchestration,
configuration, management, and deployment.
A playbook is written in YAML syntax and contains
one or more plays, which are used to define a web
service or an application. YAML is human readable
and easy to understand, and it can be used with
other programming languages, such as Ruby,
Python, or Bash.

Each play within a playbook can run one or more

tasks, and each task invokes an Ansible module,
which is used to accomplish automation tasks in
Ansible Automation Platform.

Because Ansible Automation Platform uses the

easy-to-use YAML syntax, users who don't write
programming language code can automate Want to learn more about YAML?
infrastructure with confidence.
Check out this topic page for
more information.

11
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

2
Red Hat Ansible Automation
Platform is agentless.

One of the most powerful and unique features of

Ansible Automation Platform is that it’s agentless,
which means that you don’t need to install an agent
on any machines you manage. This feature makes
Ansible Automation Platform extremely scalable, as
it can rapidly manage multiple machines or systems
simultaneously.

3
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is
built for the hybrid cloud.

As hybrid and multicloud computing models continue

to expand, IT organizations need automation platforms
that can bridge from traditional systems to modern
services to the far edge of the network.

To make your automation projects highly portable

and scalable, Ansible Automation Platform includes
automation execution environments. These automation
execution environments help create self-contained
automation that packages all dependencies needed
to build, run, and manage automation across hybrid
cloud infrastructure and to the edge of the network.

Whether you’re modernizing and moving workloads to

the cloud environment, implementing DevSecOps, or
finding new ways to manage a growing network of edge
devices, Ansible Automation Platform can fulfill diverse
needs across multiple processes. Ansible Automation
Platform will soon be available through leading
hyperscalers' marketplaces, making it even simpler to
start automating across your public and hybrid cloud
environments and efficiently integrate with the cloud
services you are already using.

12
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

4
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform has
built-in compliance and governance constructs.

From role-based access controls (RBAC) that allow

administrators to assign permissions, privileges, and
roles to users to encryption, audit trails, and inventory
controls, Ansible Automation Platform has the tools
necessary to keep your organization compliant and
aligned with SLAs.

These are only a few

of the features and
benefits that you can
expect from Ansible
Automation Platform.
Read more about how
Ansible Automation
Platform brings teams
and systems together.
Learn more

Are you new to Ansible Automation Platform? Read Chapter 4

If you have used Ansible Automation Platform,

Jump to Chapter 5
are you ready to delve into what you can automate?

13
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 44
Chapter Chapter 5 Chapter 6

One platform for your

entire automation team

Red Hat Ansible Automation Breaking down barriers between systems and teams across
the organization, Ansible Automation Platform gives
Platform is designed to set diversified teams the automation tools they need for
your entire automation team their specific roles, while collaborating with a connected,
supported, and security-focused, enterprise-wide solution.
up for success.
Architects

Administrators
Developers

See how different members

of your automation team can
benefit from using Ansible
Operators
Automation Platform.

14
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 44
Chapter Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Developers and automation creators

Automation developers need tools that can help them can benefit from DevOps tooling and plug-ins, access
create Ansible Playbooks, Ansible Roles, and modules to pre-existing certified content to build from, and
and then test them locally to ensure they run the same container-native architecture for both building and testing.
way when moved to production. Automation developers

The right tools for automation developers

Automation execution environments Ansible content tools

Automation execution environments provide Execution environment builder helps automation

automation developers with a consistent developers build custom automation execution
environment from development to production, environments with the precise Ansible content and
which means developers can focus on the dependencies needed to support their automation.
automation content itself without worrying The automation content navigator lets users run
about dependencies and drift between and validate the content they create within the
each stage. context of the execution environment itself.

Ansible Content Collections

Ansible content can be created and managed

internally for your organizations to use.
However, curated content is also available
from Red Hat through Ansible Content
Collections. These collections provide
developers with the option of building on
curated automation content, which includes
over 100 certified collections and over
40,000 modules.

Automation hub

This hosted service is the place for users

to find and use supported Ansible Content
Collections, which contains modules, roles,
and plug-ins, as well as the documentation
you need to get started.

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 44
Chapter Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Automation architects

Tasked with elevating automation across teams to when automation architects must plan for future and
align with IT processes and with streamlining adoption, current needs. Additionally, automation architects benefit
automation architects need tools that not only expand from Ansible Automation Platform’s agentless framework,
automation across the organization but ones that can along with the entire Ansible technology ecosystem,
also help to manage automation policy and governance. which integrates efficiently with existing investments.
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform provides
container-native architecture, which offers flexibility

The right tools for automation architects

Automation execution environments

Automation execution environments represent

a change in architecture for Ansible Automation
Platform 2. By separating the control plane
and the execution plane, Ansible Automaton
Platform can provide better scalability. For
example, networking or cloud teams have
their own standardized execution environment
specific to their needs, while developers have
a standardized environment that frees them Automation controller
from worrying about dependencies.

Automation controller standardizes how

automation is initiated, delegated, audited, and
deployed, allowing organizations to automate with
confidence and reduce automation sprawl and
variance across the enterprise. This management
interface also decreases the complexity of your
automation efforts and prevents drift between
development and production.

16
Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 44
Chapter Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Red Hat Ansible Certified Automation mesh

Content Collections
This prebuilt collection of automation content Automation mesh provides a simple, flexible,
allows developers to build on what already exists and reliable way to scale the automation
and help operations teams make the most of of large inventories across diverse network
existing automation, accessible through the topologies, platforms, and teams. Architects
Ansible automation hub hosted service. Curated require a solution that meets all of their
content that is developed in-house and from Red current requirements and can scale to
Hat and other sources can be made available address future needs, all while integrating
through private automation hub as well. with current technologies and providing
support and adherence to SLAs. Automation
mesh helps architects by creating a layer
to connect networks and environments
in a way that provides flexibility without
compromising security.

Red Hat Insights for Red Hat

Ansible Automation Platform

Insights for Ansible Automation Platform is

designed to help teams better understand their
automation usage across the organization, as
well as the health of automation tasks that may
need to be fine-tuned. It establishes common
approaches and practices to automation
workflows. Insights for Ansible Automation
Platform is also relevant for architects
because it lets them view different reports
to better understand automation consumption
across their organization.

Learn more about how

automation architects can
build with an automation-first
mindset in The automation
architect’s handbook.

17
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 44
Chapter Chapter 5 Chapter 6

System or cloud operators and administrators

System or cloud operators need to

automate with speed and efficiency, so
understanding what prebuilt, certified
content is available is essential.

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform provides

architecture and tooling that support standardization,
compliance, and governance to help manage automation
teams at scale.

Charged with reliably configuring, deploying, running, and

managing automation for multiple teams and applications
inside their organization, automation administrators need
a solution that’s simple. Ansible Automation Platform is
designed to be consistent and highly reliable with an
extremely low learning curve for new users. Automation
administrators benefit from using both hosted service
and private versions of the automation hub, where content
is centrally shared and managed, as well as real-time
analytics and reporting using Red Hat Insights for Red
Hat Ansible Automation Platform.

The right tools for automation operators and administrators

Automation services catalog Automation controller

Designed to reduce service desk ticket requests All automation team members interact with or
for common services, the automation services rely on the automation controller, and it’s up to
catalog empowers users to manage requests automation administrators and operators to
themselves. This self-service capability makes ensure the automation platform and framework
modeling and delivery easier, as automation are operational. Their administrative tasks are
operators can take advantage of automation aided by automation controller’s user interface,
along with automation developers and architects. browsable application programming interface
(API), RBAC, job scheduling, integrated
notifications, graphical inventory management,
continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD)
integrations, and workflow visualizer functions.

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 44
Chapter Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Ansible automation hub

Ansible automation hub is a portal that gives

users direct access to trusted content collections
from Red Hat and certified partners. This
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) automation hub is
a container image repository serving cloud
environments and is synchronized with the
automation controller through a container
registry credential.

Private automation hub Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Ansible
Automation Platform

The execution environment container image Insights for Ansible Automation Platform helps
repository for Ansible Automation Platform, keep the automation solution running efficiently
the private automation hub, is hosted locally. and simplifies optimization by reporting on
It is intended for organizations running Ansible automation projects across your infrastructure and
Automation Platform on physical or virtual machines. pinpointing where specific jobs are failing.

Automation mesh

Automation mesh helps operations teams deliver

services at the ever-increasing pace of their
organization without having to understand
the details of the automation foundation itself.
Automation mesh manages dependencies and
scales consistently without requiring knowledge
of ancillary tools. The automation mesh architecture
Ansible Automation Platform will soon be allows central control as well as distributed
execution through execution nodes, moving
available through leading cloud hyperscalers' automation closer to the endpoints and allowing a
flexible architecture that can adapt to customer
marketplaces, making it even easier to adopt specific needs.
automation across your public and hybrid cloud
environments.

Now that we’ve explored who uses automation, let's look at where
and how they might use it in Chapter 5.

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Where to integrate
automation into
your organization

Regardless of where you might be

on your automation journey, Red
Hat Ansible Automation Platform
is designed to help you:

Accelerate
Work faster with the power of Ansible’s massive open
source community and prebuilt content collections of
the most-used Ansible Roles and modules. Codify
your infrastructure and share across teams and
environments where you’re already running
deployments, whether on-premise or in the cloud.

Orchestrate
Efficiently transfer your automation into multiple
domains and across different use cases and teams
without slowing down development time.

Innovate
Take automation even further with analytics, policy
and governance, and content management. Ansible
Automation Platform provides tools that make
day-to-day work more efficient, helping you solve
problems once and share the results with everyone.

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Some of the top areas where

organizations implement automation
across their enterprise include:

1 Infrastructure automation 2 Network automation

Build, provision, and manage applications and Manage entire network and IT processes
infrastructure across public or private cloud, across physical, software-defined, and
containers, and virtual environments, including: cloud-based networks.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux®, Microsoft Windows and
Windows Server, other Linux operating systems,
VMware Vsphere, SAP, and others. Automate your
Configuration management
infrastructure to mitigate configuration drift and Back up and restore network devices from multiple
incorporate repeatability of code. vendors and move towards the next generation of
network management by using an infrastructure-
as-code approach to automate network operations.

Find out how to streamline Infrastructure awareness

CI/CD pipelines with Ansible Collect network facts automatically from hundreds or
thousands of multivendor devices and then normalize
Automation Platform. this information to learn which devices and resources
need preventative maintenance to avoid outage risks
and unnecessary hardware refreshes.

Network validation
Examine the operational state of your network devices to
check for connectivity, protocols in use, and ensure
alignment with specific network compliance requirements.

Read Network automation

for everyone to learn more.

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

3 Edge automation 4 Cloud automation

Using Ansible Automation Platform at edge sites takes Use Ansible Automation Platform to provision
IT automation out of the datacenter and instances, networks, and infrastructure with support
to the edge devices and workloads that are being modules that ensure deployments work across public
automated. Ansible Automation Platform always and private cloud environments whether deployed
runs as the control node, allowing you to automate and on-premise or in the cloud.
speed up the configuration of points of sale,
WiFi access points, networking routers, ticketing
systems, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, or
anything with a programmatic API or Linux
operating system (OS).

5 Security automation
Orchestrate security systems using a curated
collection of modules, roles, and playbooks to
investigate and respond to threats. Coordinate your
enterprise security systems with Ansible Automation
Platform for investigation enrichment, threat
hunting, and incident response.

Learn more about

security automation

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

6 End-to-end enterprise automation 7 Staying compliant and up to date

Ansible Automation Platform unites workflow Red Hat Consulting can show you how to use
orchestration with configuration management, automation to provide shared visibility for
provisioning, and application deployment in one application, site reliability engineering, and
user-friendly interface, helping you deploy the security teams and help you integrate the
platform across your organization for complete role of security more holistically across your
IT automation. organization. Transforming how you apply
automation can include identifying, assessing,
and resolving risks with prescriptive analytics;
defining and enforcing security and compliance
on Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems using
OpenSCAP; and supporting auditing and
compliance reporting with centralized
content management.

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Given the number of places and

ways you can start with automation
within your organization, how do
you know the best place to start?

These four tips can help you choose the

best use case for your IT environment:

1 Start small but think big 2 Use, refine, learn, and expand
Begin with a simple use case, ideally something that Automation is a strategic imperative, so treat
needs to be repeated often but that provides value it as such as you implement and automate
early on. Once you get your use case working, grow more processes and systems.
and expand from there, potentially advancing to
something more complicated in the same domain.
Over time, add more domains. Remember,
implementing automation across your organization 3 Don’t start with a broken process
is an iterative process, not something that’s done
If a process is inefficient, automating it won’t make
once and then forgotten.
it better. Choose a process that works but could be
improved through automation.

4 Involve your teams

Automation is a journey. Allow your teams to build
skills and capabilities as you grow automation
throughout your organization. The more that
employees can see the benefits of automation
Learn more about how to over potentially perceived threats, the faster
unify people and processes in they’ll embrace it.

The automated enterprise.

Want to learn more about Ansible Automation

Platform partnerships and how they contribute Read Chapter 5
to Red Hat Ansible Certified Content?

New to automation but ready to take the first step? Jump to Chapter 6

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

The benefit of
Red Hat Ansible
Automation Platform
partnerships

Red Hat has built a robust ecosystem of

technology partners that provide
software and other products that can
support your organization.

For Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, these

partners are critical, as their contributions to Red Hat
Ansible Content Collections help you to get up and
running on the platform faster. This precomposed
content—from certified partners and Red Hat—are
validated against certain versions of Ansible Automation
Platform and consist of bundles of modules, plug-ins,
roles, and documentation, which you can consume in a
single place.

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

What does this mean?

You have less work to do when first finding and With an Ansible Automation Platform subscription,
assembling the different roles and modules you require. you have full access to Ansible automation hub, which
Plus, Ansible Content Collections are released and has over 100 certified content collections, composed
maintained independently of the main product versions, of over 40,000 modules curated for consistent and
allowing for a faster release cadence for content. compliant delivery.

Ansible automation hub gives you access to more than

100 certified
collections 40k modules

Red Hat Ansible Certified Content in

the Ansible automation hub includes
collections from partners such as:

Amazon Web Services (AWS) IBM

Ansible Microsoft
Cisco NetApp
Dell EMC SAP
F5 Splunk
HPE VMWare

Explore Red Hat Ansible

Certified Content

Now that you know about some of the latest benefits of deploying
Ansible Automation Platform across your organization, it might be Read more
time to move from a legacy platform to the latest offering.

26
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Making a case
for migration
You may already have Red Hat Ansible Automation
Platform 1.2 installed in your organization, but the time
is right to migrate to Ansible Automation Platform 2.

Explore Ansible Automation

Platform 2 in this interactive guide

Enhancements in Ansible Automation

Platform 2 allow:

Ansible Automation Platform administrators to Users to create their own automation

provide and manage automation execution execution environments using the
environments to different groups, ansible-builder command-line tools.
such as networking or cloud teams. Instead
of addressing each individual environment
separately, the teams can now access the
specific content needed for their roles. This
capability allows for consistency and usability
across teams in your organization.

Automation developers to have

a consistent Ansible environment from
development to production. This
consistency will help them focus on the
automation content itself instead of the
automation environment and dependencies.

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Automation teams to define, build, and Automation execution environments to be

update automation environments without distributed via private automation hub,
requiring them to contact the platform supporting consistency.
administrator for changes to the platform.

If you are already a Red Hat customer, Experts from Red Hat Consulting can
please visit the Ansible Automation help guide you through the migration
Platform 2 page in the Red Hat process and answer any questions
Customer Portal, which consolidates you might have.
all our documentation and guidance
available to you.

If you are not a current customer,

you can try Ansible Automation
Platform using our 60-day trial.

Now that you have a good idea of what Ansible Automation

Platform can do for your organization, how do you make it Read more
an organization-wide strategic imperative?

28
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Strategies for
automation adoption

When it comes to people,

processes, and technology, the
latter is often the simplest to
manage within an organization.
Technology reacts and operates as expected, and you don’t
need to worry about miscommunication or uneasiness.

Of course, people need the most care and attention

when implementing any change into an organization,
including new technology. Automation can cause
particular concern for some employees, as there’s a
misconception that adopting IT automation always
results in a loss of jobs.

In most cases, IT automation means the elevation of

work, from mundane, manual tasks to more strategic
and innovative opportunities.

29
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

This transition isn’t always an easy sell. Learn about the ROI and other efficiency
benefits that customers are realizing with Ansible
Automation Platform in this IDC whitepaper.
The good news is you’re not alone, and
there are many resources available with
strategies and tips to help you gain Read Tales from the field: A system
buy-in across your organization: administrator’s guide to IT automation, a
compilation of short stories that outline the
excitement, frustrations, successes, and
challenges of incorporating a holistic IT
automation mindset into organizations and
teams across the globe.

Discover strategies and best practices

for getting buy-in for automation, from
the C-suite to the IT department in
The automation architect’s handbook.

See how an IT executive can foster

automation success in The IT executive’s
guide to automation. You'll read about how to:

Be a champion rather than a sponsor.

Align to a business objective.

Support change and collaboration.

Encourage adoption by investing in people.

30
Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Dig into articles on Enable Sysadmin to read

about real-world experiences of growing
automation within your organization. This article,
“By the numbers: Getting your team on board
with IT automation,” offers some great tips
and statistics.

Automate your public cloud resources

directly from your public cloud with
Ansible Automation Platform.

Ultimately, a team that is

properly trained on automation
is a successful team. Find out
what type of training your team
needs on Ansible Automation
Platform to either get started or
advance their skills. Red Hat
Training and Certification offers
a wide variety of options for
every level of skill.

Keep reading to find out how to get started.

Jump Here

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 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

How to get started

Want to learn more about Red Hat
Ansible Automation Platform?

We can help.
Download an Ansible Automation
Choose the path that’s right for you.
Platform 60-day trial subscription.

Download now
Connect with Red Hat Services to
accelerate your time to value with a
Red Hat Services Smart Start: Ansible.
Work side by side with Red Hat experts as you receive a reference
instance of Ansible Automation Platform, core automation content,
and integration with external identity providers.

Work with Red Hat and its services

Connect
Get Started
with us partners to deploy Ansible Automation
Platform solutions faster and accelerate
your enterprise automation journey.

Find a partner
Get
Getstarted
startedwith
withafree,
free,introductory
introductory
Ansible training or find your place on
the Red Hat Ansible Automation
Platform skills path.

Get Started
started
Talk to Red Hat Technical Account
Management teams to help you take the
next step in your automation journey

Chat with us

Are you ready to start transforming

your organization with automation?
32
 Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Taking the
next step

You know you’re ready to implement automation

across your organization—before you get
started, find out how well your company is
poised to embrace the changes it needs.

Take the Ready-to-Accelerate

Assessment and find out what your
organization’s maturity, corporate
resiliency, and readiness for
innovation looks like when it comes
to automation.
Also, consider Ansible training to
Once you’ve done that, Red Hat Consulting can
enhance your skills as you sell
help you find the right path for adopting automation across your organization.
automation across your organization, meeting
you where you are and helping accelerate your Not sure where to start? Find your
automation initiatives.
place on the Red Hat Ansible
Automation Platform skills path.

33
About Red Hat
Red Hat is the world's leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver reliable and high-performing
Linux, hybrid cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Red Hat helps customers integrate new and existing IT applications, develop cloud-native applications,
standardize on our industry-leading operating system, and automate, secure, and manage complex environments. Award-winning support, training, and consulting
services make Red Hat a trusted adviser to the Fortune 500. As a strategic partner to cloud providers, system integrators, application vendors, customers, and open
source communities, Red Hat can help organizations prepare for the digital future.

© 2022 Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat, the Red Hat logo, and Ansible are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other
countries. Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.