Ansible vs Terraform: Which One Is Better for Learning DevOps Skills for a Transition to the Cloud?

While both of them are widely utilized in DevOps, they are designed for different tasks. The principle use for Terraform is to create and manage your infrastructure. Ansible was primarily designed to configure servers, install software, deploy applications and automate routine server tasks.

If you already know DevOps, and want to delve into cloud engineering or Infrastructure as Code, most often, it would be best to learn Terraform first. It is a repository of code that can be used to build networks, virtual machines, databases, security rules and other cloud resources.

Ansible might be better to start with if your career is more Linux server related, or system administration, server configuration, or deploying applications. It can perform automations that might usually require manual execution on a large number of Web servers.

You don’t, however, have to pick one and ignore the other. Both are used by many DevOps teams. The infrastructure can be created with Terraform, and the servers running on it can be configured with Ansible.

The effective learning sequence for most DevOps engineers is: Terraform, Ansible. However, it should be based on your job and career path.

Introduction

DevOps teams work with many applications, cloud resources, networks, deployment tasks and all kinds of servers. These tasks can be time consuming and prone to error if performed manually.

That’s why automation is so large a part of DevOps job.

Ansible and Terraform are two tools that frequently come up in DevOps automation. Both enable engineers to orchestrate infrastructure with code – just in different ways.

Most popularly people use Terraform to build and manage infrastructure.

Primarily Ansible is used to manage and configure systems.

For instance, if a company wants to deploy a new application on 20 servers AWS, they can do it.

The AWS resources that are needed can be created using Terraform. Once the servers are created, Ansible can be used to connect, install packages, create users, update configurations, etc. on each server and deploy the application.

To illustrate this simple example, this can only really be done with Ansible, Terraform or a combination of both.

However, if you are a DevOps engineer who has to choose a skill to invest in first, then the selection does have an impact. Your first tool ought to correspond with the kind of work you would like to perform.

Ansible vs Terraform – A Quick Comparison

Let’s do a quick comparison between Ansible and Terraform.

AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and many others have cloud support options.

Cloud support is offered in many different ways, like AWS, Azure, Google cloud and many others.

Ansible: What It Does and Where It Fits

Weedhenge is another name for the tree.

The tree is also known as Weedhenge.

Ansible was created in 2012 by Michael DeHaan. Ansible was acquired by Red Hat in 2015. Since then, Ansible is widespread these days for server automation and configuration management.

The popularity of it is because it’s simple.

For each Linux server, no agent needs to be installed on them to communicate with ansible. It should be able to normally connect with its Linux system and perform the necessary operations via SSH.

It’s helpful for an existing team with a lot of servers, who are already doing manual work.

How Ansible Works

The tasks that have to be performed are described within a file using the YAML format, which are known as playbooks in Ansible.

For instance an administrator might require to:

• Install Nginx
• Have the user create a Linux user
  Copies a configuration file
• Start a service
• Install security updates
• Deploy an application

Task can be done for 50 servers manually, you can use ansible playbook to do task for all servers required.

A basic Ansible workflow is as follows:

Inventory

   ↓

Playbook

   ↓

Tasks

   ↓

Modules

   ↓

Servers

The inventory lists the machines that are managed by Ansible.

The instructions are included in the playbook.

Tasks are individual actions and modules do those actions.

Using Ansible at SUSE

When it comes to repetitive IT tasks, application deployment, Linux server management and configuration management, Ansible is a common choice.

For instance, a company has 100 Linux servers. All Services must have the same users, packages, SSH configurations, monitoring agent and application configurations.

This would take a long time to do manually.

The team can use Ansible to write the configuration once and deploy it to the servers that are needed.

This is where Ansible training can help Linux and DevOps professionals. The engineer becomes familiar with the tools and commands for doing things on Linux, but what they don’t really know is how to do things many times on Linux using the tools and the commands.

Understanding the Capabilities and the Role Terraform Can Play in Your Organization

A Short History of Terraform

Terraform has been developed by HashiCorp and was first published in 2014. It is developed to code-driven infrastructure and the compatibility with various service providers and cloud.

As businesses began deploying their infrastructure more frequently with AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and others, Terraform has emerged as a popular solution.

Rather than directly deploying each cloud resource from a web console, infrastructure can be specified in Terraform files for a deployment.

How Terraform Works

It is a declarative approach used by Terraform.

Terraform works out what can change to get to what you want.

For instance you could define:

• An AWS VPC
  Subnets – public and private
• EC2 instances
• Security groups
• Load balancers
• IAM resources

Terraform inspects the current state of things and adds or modifies resources, in line with your configuration.

The basic procedure is:

Write Terraform Code

        ↓

terraform plan

        ↓

Review Changes

        ↓

terraform apply

        ↓

Infrastructure Created or Updated

The plan is particularly handy as engineers can view what will happen prior to the changes being taken on.

In addition, Terraform maintains state of the infrastructure. This will enable Terraform to know what resources it is managing and what changes are required.

Use Terraform with AWS, Azure and Google Cloud

Terraform integrates with the big cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

That’s one of the reasons why Terraform training proves helpful for DevOps engineers seeking to work in cloud infrastructure.

For instance, when a new project is initiated, a company can develop the development environment using Terraform so that each one is created using the same process.

The team can instead leverage Terraform code to create the resources.

This can be the same for staging or production environments, but with the appropriate system variables and configuration.

Ansible or Terraform, Which Is Easier to Learn?

Ansible often comes as easier to get started with for people who have had experience with Linux.

You write a playbook, inventories, modules, and use Linux commands as well as YAML. Many of the Ansible tasks are familiar if you are already using Linux servers.

It may take some longer to wrap their heads around Terraform as it requires them to learn things like:

• Providers
• Resources
• Variables
• Modules
• State
• Dependencies
• Plan and apply
• Infrastructure as Code

Over the years Terraform can not be always more challenging. All it’s asking for is a different way of thinking.

For anyone already using AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, a worthwhile thing to learn next is Terraform because you get to learn cloud infrastructure management via code.

Ansible vs Terraform – Which One to Learn First?

Choose Terraform First for Cloud Careers

If you would like to jump towards: Terraform is a great option.

• Cloud engineering
• Infrastructure as Code
• Platform engineering
• Cloud automation
• Infrastructure architecture

If you are already using AWS, Azure or Google Cloud for your day to day tasks, Terraform can seamlessly integrate in your day to day.

Structured knowledge can also be gained via a “Terraform certification training”.

Choose Ansible First for Linux and Server Automation

If you are already using any of these things, Ansible may be more of a first choice than chef:

• Linux administration
• Server configuration
• Application deployment
• System automation
• Configuration management

Ansible can be used to convert, for instance, routine manual tasks of configuring Linux servers into automation that can be repeated.

Moreover, Ansible certification training is also helpful for Linux administrators entering into DevOps.

Ansible + Terraform – A Match Made in Heaven?

Yes. Indeed, this is one of the most practical methods to comprehend the distinctions between these two tools.

Think outside the box with application environment.

Terraform can create:

AWS VPC

   ↓

Subnets

   ↓

Security Groups

   ↓

EC2 Instances

   ↓

Load Balancer

Once the servers have been created, Ansible can now manage:

Install Packages

   ↓

Create Users

   ↓

Configure Services

   ↓

Deploy Application

   ↓

Update Configuration

Therefore, don’t ask yourself which tool one can do with the other, but think about which tool is responsible for what.

The infrastructure is managed by Terraform.

Ansible also manages the configuration, and many of the operations that occur within that infrastructure.

What’s the First DevOps Skill You Want to Learn?

What is the initial DevOps skill you want to learn?

It is NOT a one-size-fits all situation for every engineer.

If you want Cloud engineering, then begin with Terraform.

When it comes to Linux automation, Ansible should be your first choice.

If you want to become a DevOps Engineer, learning them both will be a better long term decision.

One way to learn practically might be:

Linux – Ansible – Cloud – Terraform – Kubernetes – CI/CD

For those who already know their way around Linux and are working with cloud platforms, there’s:

Cloud, Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes, CI/CD.

The important part is to practise both tools with real projects.

Don’t assume commands and syntax. Building a cloud environment using Terraform. After that – use ansible to configure the servers. This will allow you to see how these tools relate to real DevOps projects.

Conclusion

Both Ansible and Terraform can be valuable DevOps abilities, yet solve various problems.

Terraform is mainly used to create and manage infrastructure. An excellent option for those engineers who are looking to delve more into AWS/Azure, Google Cloud, Infrastructure as Code, and cloud automation.

The primary use of Ansible is to smoothly execute configuration on servers and automate system and application tasks. A good option for Linux administrators and DevOps engineers who spend considerable time managing servers.

Take a moment to take a look at what you’re working on, if you’re not certain, which subjects you should learn first.

Primarily work with cloud infrastructure? Start with Terraform.

Mostly work with Linux Servers? Start with Ansible.

Looking to expand your DevOps skills? Learn both.

What works really well is often as low-tech as:
Terraform — builds the infrastructure; Ansible — configures the infrastructure.

This is why it is beneficial for DevOps to learn both tools and thereby have an extra pallet of useful automation skills that can be applied to the cloud and infrastructure.