A Case Study: Microsoft Integrated Ansible in their Technology Infrastructure

 

IT Automation is the process of automation, cluster processes, and workflow across the IT sector. For many years the management of the system and the management of the infrastructure have been based on handicrafts made with the graphical or command-line user interface. This method has errors. It is easy for a system administrator to skip a step or perform a step by mistake. Besides, managing each server manually and independently can make it more difficult and introduce errors in the IT environment.

So what is Ansible?

Ansible is an automated open-source automation tool, or platform, used for IT tasks such as configuration control, application deployment, intra-service orchestration, and delivery. Automation is important these days, with IT systems being very complex and often require very rapid measurement so that program managers and developers can keep up if they have to do everything manually. Automation simplifies complex tasks, not only making developers' tasks easier but allows them to focus on other activities that add value to the organization. In other words, it saves time and increases efficiency. And Ansible, as noted above, is rapidly rising to the world of automation tools.

So why is Industry using Ansible?

Automation is an important and strategic component of modern change and digital transformation. Modern, dynamic environments require a new type of management solution that can improve speed, scale and stability throughout the IT business environment.

No matter the complexity of your environment anywhere in your modern IT journey, an automated IT application can help you improve existing processes. By default, you can save time, increase quality, improve employee satisfaction, and reduce costs throughout your organization.

So how Ansible works?

Ansible is a very simple automated IT engine that enables cloud provisioning, configuration management, application deployment, intra-service orchestration, and many other IT requirements.

Designed for multi-tier deployments from day one, Ansible model your IT infrastructure by explaining how all your systems integrate, rather than just managing one system at a time.
It does not use agents and does not have custom security infrastructure, so it is easy to use - and most importantly, it uses very simple language (YAML, in the form of Ansible Playbook) that allows you to define your automation tasks in a way that is clear in plain text.

So why Microsoft Integrated Ansible?

Microsoft needed to address increasing complexity across their corporate network infrastructure comprised of tens of thousands of endpoints that connects Microsoft locations worldwide.

“We have thousands of devices of various makes and models and software versions, so at times, it’s hard to keep up with all the different vendors and ways that we interact with those devices,” said Bart Dworak, Software Engineering Manager at Microsoft.

Their issues were compounded as code created by development and engineering teams was not version-controlled or peer-reviewed, leading to duplication and quality issues.

Using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and working with Red Hat Consulting, Microsoft created a standardized, centralized network automation environment that reduces routine, repeatable tasks and complexity.

“Digital transformation is really changing the way that we think about how we solve problems,” said Dworak. “In the past, we had to manually do the same deployment again and again. With Ansible, we can create blueprints to deploy it multiple times. And every time we deploy, it’s the same.”

By focusing on people, process, and technology, Microsoft has evolved its automation journey from manual scripting and changes to a continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) approach supported by a centralized, service-based architecture.

Their DevOps teams can now focus on sharing knowledge, building skills, and creating innovative technology solutions.

“Teams are coming together to solve engineering problems in a shared environment of co-creation,” said Sonika Munde, Remote Access Services Engineer, Core Service Engineering, at Microsoft. “We are truly seeing One Microsoft in action.”

Before Microsoft integrated Ansible into their technology infrastructure, they were using Python for automation. Python is a very versatile language and this can be understood by the fact that even Ansible is written in python but Ansible uses RAL(Resource Abstraction Layer) to make the tasks much easier for the user.

Conclusion

Configuration management tools offer you a way to control one to hundreds of servers from a centralized location, which can dramatically improve the efficiency and integrity of your server infrastructure.

Ansible includes hundreds of modules to support a wide variety of IT integrations.

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