Ansible vs Ansible Tower

Question

What are the feature-wise differences between Ansible and Ansible Tower?

Answer 1

Ansible is CM tool and orchestration engine. Ansible, unline other does not utilize master-minion setup instead uses the basic logic of shh. Ansible is dependant on python libraries. It uses agentless architechture. 

Ansible Tower is a web-based GUI for ansible containing important Ansible features. 

Ansible tower features:

1. Role-based access control: you can set up teams and users in various roles. These can integrate with your existing LDAP or AD environment.

2. Job scheduling: schedule your jobs and set repetition options

3. Portal mode: this is a simplified view of automation jobs for newbies and less experienced Ansible users. This is an excellent feature as it truly lowers the entry barriers to starting to use Ansible.

4. Fully documented REST API: allows you to integrate Asible into your existing toolset and environment

5. Tower Dashboard: use this to quickly view a summary of your entire environment. Simplifies things for sysadmins while sipping their coffee.

6. Cloud integration: Tower is compatible with the major cloud environments: Amazon EC2, Rackspace, Azure.