RedHat Ansible vs HashiCorp Terraform

When I first started Infra as Code(IaC), I wondered:

"Why do people prefer Terraform for provisioning cloud resources? Can't Ansible do the same?"

After working on real projects, here's what I learned - and what every DevOps practitioner should know.



redhat-ansible-or-hashicorp-terraform

Terraform = Infrastructure Provisioning

Need to create VMs, Networks, Storage, Databases, Load Balancers?Terraform is your best friend.



  • It's declarative: You tell Terraform what you want (not how to do it).
  • It's idempotent: Run it 10 times, same result unless something changed.
  • Maintains state: Knows what's already there and what's not.


Ansible = Configuration Management

Need to install packages, update files, restart services, or patch servers?Ansible is perfect.



  • It's procedural: You write step-by-step instructions.
  • It doesn't track cloud resource state like Terraform does.
  • Good for setting up apps, not for creating cloud infra at scale.


Best Practice?



  • Use Terraform to create the infrastructure.
  • Use Ansible to configure what's inside.


As an example, if want to host an app?



  • Terraform: Create VM, VNet, and storage
  • Ansible: Install Nginx, deploy app, start service


Summary and Conclusions


As a DevOps engineer, understanding when to use what is more important than just learning tools.So if you're confused between Terraform and Ansible - just remember:



  • Terraform = Build Infra
  • Ansible = Configure Infra


Author


sagar-mehta

Sagar Mehta is Atgen Software Solutions Founder and a recognised expert in the field of Intelligent Automation, including Robotic Process Automation, Workload Automation, DevOps, SRE and Advanced Analytics. Sagar advocates a pragmatic approach to Automation, encouraging a policy of using ‘the best tool for the job’.


Prior to co-founding Atgen Software Solutions, Sagar worked in Senior Automation roles, architecting and delivering robust, scalable solutions for many of the world’s biggest banks and working with leading Automation vendors. He developed his first automated solution in 2006 and has continued to deliver robust, scalable and sophisticated Automation ever since.


Sagar is a regular guest speaker and panellist at Automation seminars, conferences and user group events.

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