Have managed thousands of servers with streamlined configuration processes
What is our primary use case?
I have created resources for the monitoring tech stack with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, especially for setting up one master data center and another data center for different applications routed to the monitoring setup, where I have created Splunk servers and installed all Splunk agents and prerequisites with the help of Ansible, including an Ansible playbook.
I have used the agentless architecture in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, as SSH is agentless.
I use a centralized automation controller in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, called the master setup, where we execute our commands with installed prerequisites, inventory information, and the Ansible playbook, managing other node servers with a passwordless setup.
When creating any server with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, it is a significant advantage because if we set up a Splunk agent in one case, it is necessary for each server. By writing the playbook, the agent is installed immediately during server provisioning, providing us with an edge.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is very helpful due to passwordless integration and the ability to interact with multiple servers at once, which is especially advantageous when dealing with thousands of servers.
The integration aspect of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform has optimized my IT ecosystem significantly by consolidating multiple tools, such as a CI/CD pipeline with Jenkins, where we validate everything, including testing and SonarQube code quality.
The agentless architecture of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, using the SSH key, makes it passwordless and allows us to push configurations with one click, creating a major advantage.
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform's main benefit is that it allows us to push configurations to multiple servers without manually visiting each one, maintaining efficiency.
What needs improvement?
I have observed that Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform could improve by creating modules for upcoming AI and ML tech stacks, as currently, specific modules for these are not available.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked on Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, especially Ansible Playbooks, for around three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not encountered any performance issues, crashes, downtimes, or limitations with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
How are customer service and support?
Ansible is a Red Hat product, so they provide all necessary support.
I have not escalated any questions to the Red Hat support team regarding Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, as their modules are professional and complete.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Both Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Chef have similar capabilities but differ in architecture; one is agentless while the other is agent-full.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform on the AWS cloud is very straightforward; I take one server, install Ansible, set up the inventory, and use it.
What was our ROI?
By using the enterprise version of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, we receive support that aids in overcoming challenges, a measurable benefit in terms of ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For enterprise users of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, there are fees, but it is free and open-source for testing or small labs.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have worked with Chef as a configuration management tool for one project, and I have used Chef and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform together in the same project.
What other advice do I have?
I have worked on the AWS cloud with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform was hosted on AWS.
I prefer Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform because it is easy to implement, and the extensive supporting documentation is very helpful.
I suggest everyone consider Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform because it is agentless, easy to implement, and has sufficient supporting documentation available.
On a scale of one to ten, I rate Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Infrastructure automation thrives but advanced dashboard features need improvement
What is our primary use case?
They are using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform for infrastructure automation and cloud automation. The platform is used for CI/CD automation, deployment, and automation. The main use is infrastructure automation.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is easy to integrate. The platform is simple to use.
What needs improvement?
The dashboarding capabilities should be improved by bringing CMP (Cloud Management Platform) into Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. Event-Driven Ansible is very important in the platform. Both Event-Driven Ansible and cloud management platform features are crucial improvements needed.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform since 2018, which is more than seven to eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is excellent, deserving a 10 out of 10 rating.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is not adequate. The Ansible sales and technical support services need significant improvement.
How would you rate customer service and support?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform comes with a high price point. Even though we use the platform, we need additional dashboarding tools because the complete infrastructure as code dashboard capability is missing.
Red Hat introduced a new product called Red Hat Developer Hub for platform engineering. While Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is very good for automation, deserving an 8 out of 10 rating, the cost of combining Red Hat Developer Hub and Ansible is extremely high, which presents a significant challenge with the Red Hat product.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
In AWS, customers are increasingly using Terraform rather than Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. This is particularly true for cloud-based operations on AWS.
The choice between solutions depends on the situation. Developers tend to be more inclined towards Terraform, while infrastructure teams prefer Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
What other advice do I have?
We are still actively working with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. Customers typically purchase directly from Red Hat for on-premise deployments, while those on public cloud buy from the marketplace.
We are recommending the solution to users as a Red Hat partner.
This review rates Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform a 10 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
AAP is cool.
What do you like best about the product?
What I like best about Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is its ability to simplify complex IT tasks through consistent, agentless automation across hybrid environments. It provides a user-friendly yet powerful framework that allows teams to automate provisioning, configuration management, application deployment, and more with minimal overhead. The platform’s integration with Red Hat’s enterprise ecosystem, coupled with features like role-based access control, visual dashboards, and certified content collections, makes it an ideal solution for scaling automation securely and efficiently across large organizations.
What do you dislike about the product?
It’s hard to hire employees with existing AAP knowledge
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Image deployment
Currently adapting ansible into our environment
What do you like best about the product?
Ansible uses a single user interface to access the controller, hub, lightspeed and galaxy
What do you dislike about the product?
The environment itself is large, complicated and daunting.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We are hoping that we will be able to use playbooks to allow non-admin users the ability to execute elevated tasks without granting them admin access to a server. Almost like a graphical sudo.
ease of doing business for infra as code
What do you like best about the product?
Ansible playbook collection , event driven ansible offerings
What do you dislike about the product?
limited to certain specific choice of partner integration
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
infra configuration management and event driven resolution
I love the parallelism with Ansible Automation Platform
What do you like best about the product?
User Interface. I think that platform can be used for less experienced user to improve automation experience and usability of the code.
What do you dislike about the product?
Not supporting the same type credentials. I would love to use two machine type credentials within the same template.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Able to push changes to 250+ sites simultaneously. Integrating self-service, where customer can get what they need without involvement from the Network Engineer.
AAP is the greatest
What do you like best about the product?
It makes automation extremely easy and adds extreme value to my job.
What do you dislike about the product?
User Group Setup can be an annoyance but overall it isn't bad
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Standardizing configuration across our env.
Just a few automatization tasks
What do you like best about the product?
It made my work faster, because before I used Ansible I had to log in different systems to make on a simple task, like adding vlan. Now, I only have to adjust parameters and start the playbook.
What do you dislike about the product?
It's hard to install all dependencies in an isolated environment.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I only automated one task- adding vlans, but this playbook interacts with different software and devices.
Ansible Automation user
What do you like best about the product?
Playbook automation is fairly straightforward
What do you dislike about the product?
The UI output for jobs is sometimes buggy
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use it to automated security patching for our organization
I deploy and manage AAP on OpenShift in a production environment.
What do you like best about the product?
AAP allows users and administrators to have a comprehensive, visual view of the system.
What do you dislike about the product?
OpenShift Operator API changes between AAP version upgrades can be tricky to navigate.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
AAP reduces manpower requirements, allowing the same amount of work to be done with fewer employees.
