Overview
Organizations have an increasing number of choices when it comes to where and how they deploy applications—and automation solutions are no exception.
Red Hat® Ansible® Automation Platform provides an enterprise framework for building and operating IT automation at scale, from hybrid cloud to edge locations. It helps users across an organization―including development, operations, security, and network teams―create, share, and manage automation.
You have your choice of deployment options for Ansible Automation Platform:
- You can purchase a managed or self-managed application from a major public cloud provider.
- You can buy a self-managed option directly from Red Hat to deploy to the infrastructure of your choice (cloud or on-premise).
How to buy Ansible Automation Platform
Ansible Automation Platform is available for purchase on cloud marketplaces and from Red Hat directly—but which option you choose depends on your organization’s needs.
For organizations that don’t mind paying more up front in exchange for the flexibility of a short-term commitment, Ansible Automation Platform can be purchased at MSRP on the public cloud marketplace. For businesses interested in getting the most value out of their automation investment, a private offer provides discounted pricing over an annual or longer-term commitment.
If you’re an existing Red Hat customer interested in discounted pricing, speak to your Red Hat account representative to learn more. If you’re a prospective customer and want to explore a private offer, contact our sales team or request a callback.
Red Hat resources
Managed vs. self-managed deployment
How your deployment of Ansible Automation Platform is installed, managed, and maintained depends on the level of flexibility or customization your organization needs.
In a managed deployment model, Red Hat manages the infrastructure that Ansible Automation Platform runs on, while the customer is still responsible for configuring the platform—as they are with any self-deployed or self-managed approach. The managed option works best for organizations that prefer Red Hat to handle the deployment, patching, and upgrading of Ansible Automation Platform so they can focus on developing automation strategies for a more efficient and scalable business. Customers who choose these options are still responsible for configuring Ansible Automation Platform and any application settings, customer-facing product functions, and single sign-on (SSO).
There are two varieties of managed deployment options: a managed service deployment and a managed application deployment. With a managed service deployment, Red Hat manages Ansible Automation Platform and the associated infrastructure—including making any necessary updates to that infrastructure. The customer has no visibility into this process, as the infrastructure resides outside of their cloud environment. With a managed application deployment, Red Hat manages Ansible Automation Platform and the associated infrastructure, but the customer can view their infrastructure as it resides in their cloud environment.
You should choose a managed application or managed service deployment of Ansible Automation Platform if:
- You want Red Hat to manage, service, and support the platform.
- You want minimal set-up time and maximum support for your deployment.
- You prefer that Red Hat upgrades and manages your Ansible Automation Platform environment.
Self-managed deployment is more flexible and better suited for customers who want to customize or manage their environment directly―an option that works well in use cases where security, regulatory compliance, or corporate governance policies are a factor. It also gives customers access to cloud deployments with added security.
You should choose a self-managed deployment of Ansible Automation Platform if:
- You want to deploy enterprise-wide automation with maximum flexibility.
- You have specific security or corporate governance requirements that require customization.
- You’re comfortable installing, upgrading, managing, and scaling your Ansible Automation Platform environment.
Public cloud options
A public cloud is an environment made up of virtual resources developed on hardware owned and managed by a third-party company. Cloud service providers automatically provision and allocate these resources among multiple clients—making their service scalable to account for unanticipated fluctuations in demand.
Large cloud service providers―also known as hyperscalers―offer both managed and self-managed solutions that include a range of benefits, such as integration with other services or applications and committed spend or committed use discounts. Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure are all considered hyperscalers, and you can buy Ansible Automation Platform through their respective cloud marketplaces. Each of these options is described below.
You should buy Ansible Automation Platform from a cloud marketplace if:
- You’re interested in a public cloud provider’s committed spend programs or you want to apply your organization’s existing cloud provider committed spend to purchase Ansible Automation Platform.
- You’re interested in templatized or managed deployments of Ansible Automation Platform.
- You want to take advantage of the hundreds of available Ansible modules and certified content that support AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud services and capabilities.
Microsoft Azure
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform on Microsoft Azure allows you to host Ansible Automation Platform on your Microsoft Azure cloud. It’s purchased from Azure Marketplace and included in your Azure public cloud billing. Customers can take advantage of the Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment or use existing committed spend with Microsoft to buy this solution.
Ansible Automation Platform on Azure is already integrated with Azure services, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Virtual Machines, Azure database services, Azure Container Registry, and Azure Key Vault.
It’s available as both a managed application for customers who want minimal setup and maximum support and a self-managed deployment for customers who want the ability to customize or manage their environment directly.
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform on Microsoft Azure Red Hat OpenShift® allows you to deploy Ansible Automation Platform with the OpenShift operator on Azure Red Hat OpenShift—a comprehensive application platform jointly engineered, operated, and supported by Red Hat and Microsoft.
Ansible Automation Platform on Azure Red Hat Openshift is a self-managed offering that provides full control of the Ansible Automation Platform environment. It’s purchased through the Azure marketplace as a private offer for customers running Azure Red Hat OpenShift on Azure infrastructure.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform available in the AWS Marketplace allows you to host Ansible Automation Platform on your AWS cloud. It’s available as both a managed service for customers who want minimal setup and maximum support and a subscription-only self-managed deployment for customers who want the ability to customize or manage their environment directly. Both deployment options are purchased from the AWS Marketplace and included in your AWS cloud billing. Customers can use existing AWS committed spend to purchase this solution and take advantage of nearly 100 modules supporting AWS capabilities and services.
In addition to architecting your deployment on AWS infrastructure, this option allows you to install Ansible Automation Platform on the Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS via an operator.
Google Cloud
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform available from Google Cloud Marketplace allows you to deploy Ansible Automation Platform on your Google Cloud. This self-managed offering is included in your Google cloud billing and counts toward Google Cloud spend commitments.
Ansible Automation Platform is fully integrated with Google Cloud services, such as Google Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), security groups, load balancers, Google Compute Engine, and instance groups, and has been codeveloped and security-tested by both Google and Red Hat. It helps you automate and manage Google Cloud resources, with more than 170 modules available to support Google Cloud capabilities and services.
Self-managed solutions
An alternative to buying Ansible Automation Platform from a cloud provider, self-managed deployments are sold by Red Hat and installed on hardware physically located within your organization’s premises, datacenter, or in a private or public cloud. This option allows you to install, operate, and manage Ansible Automation Platform environments with maximum control, flexibility, and customization. You handle upgrades, manage the lower-level infrastructure, and maintain service-level agreements (SLAs). Two on-premise, self-managed deployment options are available for Ansible Automation Platform: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform via Red Hat Enterprise Linux® and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform via Red Hat OpenShift.
Ansible Automation Platform via Red Hat Enterprise Linux allows you to host Ansible Automation Platform on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and is billed by Red Hat. You should choose this deployment option if:
- You can manage the upgrades and want total control over all the automation content in your deployment.
- You have experience automating with Ansible and want Ansible Automation Platform as your central platform for automation across your enterprise.
- Your organization doesn’t have existing committed spend with any public cloud providers, and you want an offline deployment.
- You currently don’t use containers or containerized technology.
- You want to expand automation to your global datacenters seamlessly.
Ansible Automation Platform via Red Hat OpenShift allows you to host Ansible Automation Platform on your Red Hat OpenShift infrastructure via a dedicated operator. You should choose this option if:
- Your organization is already using Red Hat OpenShift, including deployments offered through public clouds like Red Hat OpenShift on AWS or Microsoft Azure Red Hat OpenShift.
- You manage your DevOps and continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines using Red Hat OpenShift and want to integrate Ansible Automation Platform within those workflows.
How to choose a deployment option
Choosing the right Ansible Automation Platform deployment option for your organization may seem complicated, but it becomes much simpler when you identify where you want to install Ansible Automation Platform (public cloud vs. on premise) and how much control you want over your deployment (managed vs. self-managed). You can also narrow down your options by evaluating existing committed spend with public cloud providers and identifying the cloud services you want Ansible Automation Platform to manage.
Why Red Hat?
Whether you choose to buy Ansible Automation Platform from a cloud marketplace or directly from Red Hat, the variety of available deployment options supports adoption and integration with your current infrastructure and IT strategy. All Ansible Automation Platform subscriptions come with Premium-level support from Red Hat, plus access to expert consulting and training, fully integrated tools, and more than 140 certified content collections maintained by Red Hat and our technology partners.
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