Ansible vs Ansible Core

In the dynamic landscape of DevOps and IT automation, Ansible stands out as a powerful tool for configuration management, application deployment, and orchestration. However, with the evolution of Linux distributions like RHEL 10, there has been a shift in how Ansible is packaged and distributed. This article explores the differences between Ansible and Ansible Core, with special attention to the changes affecting installation and automation workflows in RHEL 10 and similar systems.

Key Terminologies

• Ansible: Ansible is a powerful open-source automation platform designed to simplify IT operations such as configuration management, application deployment, and task orchestration. It uses a declarative YAML-based language to define system configurations and automate workflows. One of Ansible’s key strengths is its agentless architecture, which enables communication with managed nodes over SSH (for Unix-like systems) or WinRM (for Windows), offering enhanced scalability and ease of use.
• Ansible Core: Ansible Core is the foundational engine of the Ansible framework. It includes all the essential components required to execute playbooks, manage inventories, and perform automation tasks. While "Ansible" often refers to the broader ecosystem (including tools like Ansible Tower and Ansible Galaxy), Ansible Core remains focused on core functionalities such as task execution, module invocation, and inventory management making it the backbone of Ansible automation.
• Modules: Modules are the building blocks of Ansible tasks self-contained pieces of code used to execute specific operations on target nodes. These include actions like installing software, configuring files, managing services, or handling cloud provisioning. Modules enable users to build reusable and reliable automation scripts.
• Playbook: Ansible playbooks mean automation tasks are equipped with workflows. YAML(Yet Another Markup Language) serves as a fine format for writing tasks including configuring and running operations across the infrastructure. Playbook make it possible to generalize recurring tasks by applying a plug-and-play approach.
• Inventory: The Ansible inventory is a kind of list with states of managed nodes that are ready to be implemented as actionable tasks. It is the environment that playbooks will carry out their tasks, and it will also help to have a specific target for easy access to infrastructure resources.
• Plugins: Ansible plugins serve the purpose of expanding the sphere of influence of the automation platform by including features from external systems or office automation tools. In this context they increase flexibility and adaptability, which help users to customize Ansible for their particular needs.
• Configuration Management: Ansible provides a configuration management function by automating the setup of configuring systems as well as system maintenance processes across the several environments that are distributed. It provides for uniformity, and obedience to norms while ensuring that these resources can be replicated as desired.
• Ansible Tower: Ansible Tower, or Red Hat Ansible Automation platform, as it is known presently, is an enterprise-level (beyond just organizations) automation solution which is built upon Ansible Core. It offers supplemental services is web-like user interface, role-based access control (RBAC), job scheduling, and centralized logging designed to the needs of institutions with complex automation.

Key Changes in RHEL 10 and Related Distributions

As of RHEL 10, the ansible package is no longer available in the default repositories or via EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux). Only ansible-core is provided via the AppStream repository.

This change has broken automation pipelines and kickstart scripts that previously assumed the availability of the full ansible package. Now, users must install ansible-core and manually add required collections for complete functionality.

Difference Between Ansible vs Ansible Core

The following are the differences between ansible and ansible core:

RHEL 10+ Implications

If your existing automation or kickstart scripts depend on ansible, they will fail unless adjusted. The required modules and collections are no longer bundled and must be installed manually.

1. Install ansible-core

sudo dnf install ansible-core

2. Manually install required collections

Use ansible-galaxy:

ansible-galaxy collection install community.general

3. Or install full Ansible via pip

python3 -m pip install ansible

Note: This bypasses repo limitations but may be unsupported in some enterprise environments.

4. Update Kickstart Scripts

Modify scripts to:

• Install ansible-core
• Include custom collection installations
• Adapt to the modular approach

Key Features Of Ansible

The following are the key features of ansible:

• Agentless Architecture: Ansible design eminent as an agent-less one therefore, it can talk to the nodes with SSH, or Microsoft Remote Management Protocol respectively. Having a structure of the setup centralizes the deployment operation so that, you can carry on also monitor agents in the host environments.
• Playbooks: Playbooks of Ansible enable automation as a genre, which is a vessel for coding of configuration tasks, orchestration logics, and the ultimate objectives in a reusable and pluggable form. Playsheets offer a possibility both to align IaC into the single document and flow out complex workloads using the single tool.
• Modules: Ansible has a variety of modules which one can use because they are self-contained chunks of code that perform the assignment in the form of a task on nodes that have been managed. Modules are written for a variety of purposes such as installing packages, configuring files, creating services, and managing cloud provisioning.
• Extensibility: Using plugins and modular design to reduce cross-platform effort and integrate with various systems and services, Ansible has extended its capabilities.
• Community and Ecosystem: A healthy community of Ansible users, contributors, and developers who keep sharing their goodies and critical feedback for continuous platform development is one of the platform's strengths. The Ansible realm includes an additional group of Ansible nodes such as Ansible Tower (Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform), Ansible Galaxy (a hub for sharing collected materials), and an immense number of third-party integrations.

Key Features Of Ansible-Core

The following are the key features of ansible-core:

• Lightweight Footprint: Ansible Core retains the minimum possible system, concentrating primarily on the basics of automation process. The first point is that it presents a small footprint in terms of weight and also offers a straightforward installation, making it more suitable for locations where there is a pressing need for resource optimization and/or reducing overhead.
• Flexibility and Modularity: Modular nature of Ansible Core supports the flexibility and the extensibility, allowing users to customize the automation concerns per their particular necessities. It may be lighter than expected in some areas and does not carry the whole package of advanced features available in the entire Ansible environment, but it is still very versatile and adaptable.
• Stability and Reliability: Stability, reliability, and performance are among the key concerns of the Ansible Core, which is a role of a basic engine. It is subjected to an intensive empirical testing and verification to make certain of unwavering performance.
• Integration and Compatibility: Ansible Core seamlessly integrates with various operating systems, cloud platforms, and infrastructure components, offering broad compatibility and interoperability. Whether managing Linux servers, Windows workloads, or cloud instances, Ansible Core provides a unified automation solution that spans heterogeneous environments.

Use Cases

• Ansible: With its expansive feature set and robust ecosystem, Ansible caters to diverse automation use cases, ranging from provisioning infrastructure and configuring applications to orchestrating complex workflows across hybrid cloud environments. It excels in scenarios demanding scalability, flexibility, and extensibility, making it a preferred choice for enterprise-grade automation initiatives.
• Ansible Core: While lacking the breadth of features offered by the full Ansible ecosystem, Ansible Core excels in scenarios necessitating lightweight automation, rapid configuration changes, and agile infrastructure management. It proves invaluable in environments where simplicity, efficiency, and resource optimization are paramount.

Community Support

• Ansible: Benefit from a vibrant and expansive community comprising developers, sysadmins, and automation enthusiasts contributing modules, playbooks, documentation, and insights. This collective effort fosters innovation, accelerates problem resolution, and ensures the continuous evolution of the Ansible ecosystem. The Ansible project is hosted on GitHub, where you can explore the source code, report issues, and contribute to the development.
• Ansible Core: Although primarily focused on maintaining the core functionality of Ansible, Ansible Core receives ample support from the community, ensuring its stability, reliability, and compatibility with diverse operating environments. If you're interested in learning more about Ansible Tower (Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform), the official documentation provides detailed information on installation, configuration, and usage.

Role of Ansible Core in Ansible

Ansible Core serves as the foundational infrastructure for executing automation tasks, managing inventories, and orchestrating workflows. Its robust architecture and comprehensive functionality enable smooth and efficient automation operations, contributing to the overall success of Ansible-based automation initiatives. As the backbone of Ansible, Core plays a pivotal role in ensuring the stability, reliability, and performance of automation processes.

Ansible Core serves several key functions:

• Running Playbooks: Playbooks serve as the heart of automation in Ansible. hey encapsulate a series of tasks and configurations in a declarative YAML format, enabling users to define automation workflows. Ansible Core provides the necessary infrastructure for interpreting and executing these playbooks seamlessly.
• Managing Inventories: Inventories serve as catalogs of managed nodes or hosts accessible for automation tasks. Ansible Core facilitates the management of inventories, allowing users to define and organize target environments efficiently. This enables precise targeting of automation tasks to specific nodes or groups of nodes.
• Orchestrating Tasks: Task orchestration lies at the core of automation workflows. Ansible Core provides the mechanisms for orchestrating tasks across distributed infrastructure environments. It ensures that tasks are executed in a coordinated manner, maintaining consistency and reliability throughout the automation process.

Ansible Core workflow

The workflow of Ansible Core involves several key steps that enable the efficient execution of automation tasks and management of infrastructure. Below is an overview of the Ansible Core workflow:

Conclusion

With the release of RHEL 10, Ansible has adopted a modular packaging model where the traditional ansible package is deprecated and no longer available in official or EPEL repositories. Instead, ansible-core is now the recommended base, providing only the essential automation engine. Users must explicitly install required collections to regain full functionality. While this shift enhances flexibility and maintainability, it necessitates updates to existing automation scripts and workflows that previously depended on the all-in-one ansible package.