Ansible Tower vs AWX

Introduction

As the use of the Ansible platform has grown increasingly popular among DevOps teams, there has been more interest in using Ansible Tower and AWX as automation solutions. Ansible Tower is the commercial version of the Ansible platform, while AWX is the open-source version that was by Red Hat. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at Ansible Tower vs AWX under the hood.

The biggest advantage of using Ansible AWX over Tower is that it provides you with almost the same core functionality as that of Tower but without incurring the expensive enterprise licensing cost of Tower.

Note

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For AWS, GCP, & Azure.

What is Ansible Tower?

Ansible Tower is the commercial version of Ansible, and it provides a web-based user interface, REST API, and other tools that enable the management of automation of IT infrastructure & deployment at scale. The software is designed to be easy to use and can be used by members of the DevOps team, including developers, system engineers, and operations teams.

Under the Hood of Ansible Tower

Ansible Tower is built on top of the open-source Ansible platform, and it includes a number of additional features that are designed to enhance the capabilities of the platform. Some of the key features of Ansible Tower include:
- Team collaboration and role-based access controls (RBAC)
- Graphical inventory management and reporting
- Integration with popular systems such as AWS, OpenStack, and VMware

Ansible Tower also includes a REST API that enables users to integrate Tower with other applications and automate tasks within their existing workflows. The tower is built using the Django web framework and uses Celery, a distributed task queue, to enable scalability.

What is AWX?

AWX is the open-source version of Ansible Tower, and it is designed to provide the same functionality as Tower, but without the licensing costs. AWX was created to provide a fully open-source automation platform, and it includes many of the same features as Ansible Tower.

Under the Hood of AWX

AWX is built on top of the open-source Ansible platform and includes many of the same features as Tower. It includes a web-based user interface, and REST API, and can be used for team collaboration and role-based access controls. The software is also built using the Django web framework and uses Celery for task execution.

Difference between AWX and Ansible Tower

One key difference between AWX and Ansible Tower is that AWX is completely open-source and available to download and install for free. This makes it an attractive option for organizations that want to use Ansible as their automation platform but cannot afford the licensing costs of Ansible Tower.

Main Difference between AWX and Ansible Tower

1. Both AWX and Ansible Tower provide a centralized platform for managing Ansible automation. This includes managing inventories, credentials, and playbooks, as well as scheduling and monitoring job executions.

2. Ansible Tower is a commercial product that is based on the open-source AWX project. While both platforms share many features and capabilities, Ansible Tower offers additional features such as role-based access control, support for custom APIs, and user-defined workflows.

3. Ansible tower comes with Enterprise support with defined SLAs as part of the enterprise licensing whereas AWX is open source, the main support channel for AWX is driven by the open-source communities and forums.

4. Both AWX and Ansible Tower UIs are designed to be user-friendly and easy to navigate, making it easier for non-technical teams to leverage the power of Ansible automation.

5. AWX and Ansible Tower offer robust integrations with other tools and platforms, including public cloud services like AWS and Azure, IT service management (ITSM) systems like ServiceNow, and a wide variety of network devices and applications. This enables organizations to automate complex workflows and achieve end-to-end automation across their infrastructure.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Ansible Tower and AWX are both built on top of the open-source Ansible platform and provide a web-based user interface and REST API to enable automation at scale. Ansible Tower includes additional features such as team collaboration, inventory reporting, and integration with popular systems such as AWS and OpenStack. AWX is completely open-source and does not include any licensing costs, making it an attractive option for organizations that want to use Ansible as their automation platform. Ultimately, the choice between Ansible Tower and AWX will depend on the specific needs and budget of each organization.