Ansible vs Shipit: What are the differences?

Ansible and Shipit are two popular automation tools used in the DevOps ecosystem. Below are the key differences between Ansible and Shipit:

1. **Orchestration vs Deployment**:
   Ansible focuses on orchestration, which involves managing the configuration of systems and coordinating multiple tasks across different servers. Shipit, on the other hand, is primarily designed for deployment, concentrating on the process of pushing code changes to production servers.

2. **Agentless vs Agent-based**:
   Ansible follows an agentless architecture where it does not require any additional software to be installed on the target servers. In contrast, Shipit utilizes an agent-based approach, necessitating the installation of agents on the destination servers to execute tasks.

3. **Language and Configuration**:
   Ansible uses YAML (Yet Another Markup Language) for configuration and playbook creation, offering a human-readable and straightforward syntax. Shipit, however, employs JavaScript for defining deployment tasks, making it more suitable for teams familiar with JavaScript programming.

4. **Community Support and Ecosystem**:
   Ansible has a large and active community with extensive documentation, modules, and playbooks readily available for various use cases. Shipit, on the other hand, has a smaller community and a more limited ecosystem, which might require more custom development for specific requirements.

5. **Scalability and Performance**:
   Ansible is known for its scalability, being able to manage thousands of servers simultaneously, making it suitable for large-scale infrastructures. Shipit, while capable of handling deployments efficiently, may not be as efficient for orchestrating complex tasks on a massive scale.

6. **Integration with Other Tools**:
   Ansible provides seamless integration with various other tools and platforms, making it versatile and adaptable to different environments. Shipit's integration capabilities are more tailored towards specific deployment pipelines, potentially requiring more effort for integrations with other tools.

In Summary, Ansible focuses on orchestration, is agentless, and uses YAML for configuration, whereas Shipit is agent-based, emphasizes deployment, and utilizes JavaScript for defining tasks.