How Industries are solving Challenges using Ansible? case study: Samsung
Warmest welcome to all,
Hope this blog find you Great !!
This is Ankit Shukla here and I am working as SDET Automation Engineer in Investment Banking Domain. In this blog I will brief you about below pointers which will help you to boost your skills in a particular tool with Industry use cases.
Few words :-
What is Ansible and why need it?
Ansible, an open-source automation tool, has emerged as a powerful solution for streamlining IT operations across various industries. With its agentless architecture, simplicity, and versatility, Ansible offers a wide range of use cases that cater to the needs of businesses, from small startups to large enterprises. Ansible is Mainly focus on Configuration management.
What is Configuration Management?
Configuration management is a process for maintaining computer systems, servers, applications, network devices, and other IT components in a desired state. It’s a way to help ensure that a system performs as expected, even after many changes are made over time.
Now the Question Arise here…
Why we use Ansible for Automation while we have plenty of resources available? OR
What is the unique thing that ansible provides you? OR
Shell Scripting is also Agentless then why we use ansible if script can also help in automate things?
Now, the answer here is …Automation is not a new thing we did automation from longer time. when its comes to unique thing about Ansible is a “Intelligence over Automation” Yes You heard right Ansible gives you a bit of intelligence over Automation.
Problem statement with other Automation tools:
Suppose you want to config web server on a particular system where OS like Linux then what you will do you simply right an script that will do configure your webserver. suppose you have multiple versions of OS with different features now here requirement is you need to configure 100 web servers on 100 different OS ..here problem occurs with different configuration required.
Here we need something Intelligence thats where Ansible come into picture to get resolve you. All you need to do is to write an playbook or script for configure web server and ansible will do help you to configure it into different -different OS without anything change in your written script.
Ansible provides intelligence over automation i.e. if you run script on Rhel or Ubuntu or windows your script will work same to configure web server.
Case Study on Samsung :-
Samsung, a global leader in technology and innovation, faces complex challenges in managing its vast IT infrastructure. To tackle the growing demands for scalability, efficiency, and consistency, Samsung turned to Ansible, the open-source automation tool. This case study explores how Samsung successfully implemented Ansible to automate various aspects of its IT operations, leading to improved productivity, reduced downtime, and enhanced security.
Challenge1 : OS different or script not support
Challenge 2 : Without knowing the underlying OS you cant write script
Challenge 3 : Script written in Imperative language
Challenge 4 : Commands are different in different -different OS
Samsung never wants as such thing like for any new change they need to wait till a year to get launch ,here ansible avoided the scripting and considered Ansible .
Ansible uses Declarative Language(YAML) instead of imperative (shell scripting)
Difference between shell scripting and Ansible uses:-
you need to tell when use below :-
Shell Scripting : What to do ? + How to do ?
Ansible : What to do ? only
Asibe know s how to do? or Ansible knows how to install or operation you have to only declare what you want?
Ansible will automatically find internally and fulfill your requirement.
Now with ansible you don't have to write any command s for any specific System. You have to only declare.
Vocabularies:-
Inventory:- where all you IP addresses resides for host.Ansible picks ip from this file and start cofiguring.
Controller node: where we write a code ,where ansible installed.
Managed Node: where you want to configure any services.
Module: this is what makes ansible intelligent.
Playbook: Ansible program file where you write code is known as Playbook. Ansible uses YAML for writing Program.
Explore below links for more details
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/network/getting_started/basic_concepts.html
How Ansible Works :-
Samsung :-
Background:
Samsung’s IT infrastructure comprises a diverse ecosystem of servers, network devices, and cloud resources spread across multiple locations worldwide. The traditional manual approach to managing and configuring these resources led to increased complexity and human errors, resulting in longer deployment times and potential security vulnerabilities.
Adoption of Ansible:
Recognizing the need for automation, Samsung decided to adopt Ansible as its primary automation tool. The decision was driven by Ansible’s agentless architecture, which eliminated the need for additional software installations on managed nodes. Moreover, Ansible’s YAML-based playbooks provided a simple and human-readable syntax for defining automation tasks, making it accessible to Samsung’s IT teams without extensive programming knowledge.
Use Cases:
1. IT Infrastructure Automation: Samsung used Ansible playbooks to automate the setup and configuration of its data center servers. With Ansible’s ability to define infrastructure as code, Samsung could version-control its configurations, enabling more straightforward collaboration and maintaining consistency across server setups.
2. Network Automation: Networking played a critical role in Samsung’s operations, and Ansible proved instrumental in automating network device configurations. By defining desired states for switches, routers, and firewalls through playbooks, Samsung reduced manual configuration efforts and ensured network consistency, enhancing overall stability and security.
3. Continuous Deployment: Samsung’s development teams integrated Ansible with their CI/CD pipelines to facilitate continuous deployment. Ansible playbooks orchestrated the application deployment process, ensuring that new releases were consistently deployed across various environments, from development to production.
4. Cloud Orchestration: With a growing presence in the cloud, Samsung utilized Ansible to manage its cloud resources efficiently. Ansible modules for cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP allowed Samsung to provision, configure, and scale cloud instances dynamically, optimizing resource utilization and costs.
5. Security and Compliance: Security was a paramount concern for Samsung. Ansible’s automation capabilities enabled the company to regularly apply security patches across its infrastructure and conduct system-wide security audits to identify potential vulnerabilities. This proactive approach to security compliance bolstered Samsung’s defenses against cyber threats.
Results :
1. Increased Efficiency: By automating repetitive tasks, Samsung’s IT teams experienced a significant increase in efficiency and productivity. The time required for provisioning, configuration, and maintenance was drastically reduced, allowing teams to focus on strategic initiatives.
2. Reduced Downtime: Ansible’s automation ensured that configurations were consistent and error-free, reducing the risk of downtime caused by human errors. As a result, Samsung’s services experienced improved availability and reliability.
3. Enhanced Security: Regular security updates and automated compliance checks fortified Samsung’s infrastructure against potential threats. The ability to enforce security policies consistently across all systems contributed to a more secure IT environment.
4. Scalability: Ansible’s scalability allowed Samsung to expand its automation efforts seamlessly, accommodating the growth of its IT infrastructure without compromising performance.
Thank you So much for reading this blog , your presence make me grateful ,motivated and inspiring me to do share knowledge…….
Coming Soon with more such blogs …till then See You !!
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