Ansible is one of the most popular tools for automation. It was developed in 2012 by Michael DeHaan and has since then become widely used, thanks to its simplicity and powerful features.
To get started with Ansible and Docker visit the following article How to Deploy Docker Containers with Ansible
There are many other configuration management software available on the market these days but Ansible stands out because it doesn’t require agents or daemons to run. It works by connecting to the hosts over SSH and sending commands in a simple YAML language which is easy for everyone, regardless of technical background experience.
Ansible supports many different types of modules that can be used during the automation process: everything from running shell scripts or gathering facts about remote machines to executing tasks on the remote servers.
This software is great when working with Docker containers because it can easily create, manage and deploy them in an automated way. It’s also worth mentioning that Ansible has a built-in docker module which makes this process even easier.
All in all, using containerized applications together with configuration management tools like Ansible can help managers and DevOps teams save a lot of time when deploying new services.
Another great benefit of using Ansible with Docker is that it can be well integrated into popular CI/CD systems such as Jenkins and TravisCI. This means that containerized applications can easily be deployed to production by just pushing a new code into the repository without any additional effort from developers or DevOps team members.
3 benefits of using Ansible with Docker
1. Playbooks as a Configuration Management Tool
A playbook is a file that contains Ansible configuration tasks for a group of hosts. You can organize those files into groups, called roles, and assign those files to your systems with the ansible-playbook command.
Playbooks are the most important feature of Ansible that makes it stand out from other configuration management tools. Playbooks allow developers and DevOps engineers to automate their processes with less effort because they don’t have to write custom scripts for each task, but instead can simply focus on writing tasks in YAML format.
Ansible provides many different modules for managing various types of services, including Docker containers.
With Ansible you can install Docker on remote systems in the same way as it’s done locally because there are also docker modules available in Playbooks that allow executing tasks against a group or an individual host. You could even specify which version of Docker should be installed using parameters.
2. The Ease of Continuous Deployment/Delivery
Ansible lets us use containers as a deployment mechanism by providing tools that allow us to easily create, deploy, and configure services inside containers, say an nginx web server or an application that runs inside a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). With very little effort you’ll be able to ensure these services are always running and available.
3. Version Control for Your Dockerfiles
Ansible offers another advantage to using Dockerfiles. It makes it easy for you not only to version control your application, but also the development of its infrastructure. You can use Ansible roles to separate your configuration into multiple files or templates that are stored in a central repository where everyone on the team has access to them and they get updated automatically.
Conclusion
Write conclusion The benefits of using Ansible with Docker are clear. With the help of a playbook, you can easily orchestrate and deploy your docker files to ensure that everything is working as expected. The ease of continuous deployment makes it easy for developers to release updates quickly and reliably while also providing version control for both applications and infrastructure.