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Ansible vs Docker Machine: What are the differences?
Introduction: In the realm of DevOps and automation, tools like Ansible and Docker Machine play pivotal roles in simplifying tasks. Here, we highlight key differences between Ansible and Docker Machine.
Orchestration vs Provisioning: Ansible is primarily an orchestration tool that aids in automating tasks such as configuration management, application deployment, and workflow orchestration across multiple servers. On the other hand, Docker Machine focuses on the provisioning aspect, enabling users to create and manage Docker hosts on virtual or cloud platforms with ease.
Configuration Management vs Container Management: Ansible excels in configuration management by allowing users to define the desired state of systems through playbooks and roles. It works well for maintaining server configurations and ensuring consistency across environments. In contrast, Docker Machine is more focused on managing containers and Docker hosts, creating and managing Docker hosts on various platforms.
Agentless vs Requires Client: Ansible follows an agentless architecture, where it communicates with remote nodes over SSH for execution, making it easy to set up and use across different environments. Meanwhile, Docker Machine requires a client to be installed on the host where the Docker Engine is running to manage and provision Docker hosts.
Language and Syntax: Ansible uses YAML for defining playbooks, making it human-readable and easy to understand. The declarative syntax allows for defining tasks and configurations in a structured manner. Docker Machine, on the other hand, relies on a command-line interface and options specific to Docker-related operations and configurations.
Scope of Use: Ansible is versatile and suitable for a wide range of automation tasks, including cloud provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment. It is not limited to Docker-related operations. Meanwhile, Docker Machine is geared towards managing Docker hosts and is more specialized in container-related tasks, making it ideal for containerization projects.
In Summary, Ansible focuses on orchestration and configuration management across various systems, while Docker Machine specializes in provisioning and managing Docker hosts and containers.
I'm just getting started using Vagrant to help automate setting up local VMs to set up a Kubernetes cluster (development and experimentation only). (Yes, I do know about minikube)
I'm looking for a tool to help install software packages, setup users, etc..., on these VMs. I'm also fairly new to Ansible, Chef, and Puppet. What's a good one to start with to learn? I might decide to try all 3 at some point for my own curiosity.
The most important factors for me are simplicity, ease of use, shortest learning curve.
I have been working with Puppet and Ansible. The reason why I prefer ansible is the distribution of it. Ansible is more lightweight and therefore more popular. This leads to situations, where you can get fully packaged applications for ansible (e.g. confluent) supported by the vendor, but only incomplete packages for Puppet.
The only advantage I would see with Puppet if someone wants to use Foreman. This is still better supported with Puppet.
If you are just starting out, might as well learn Kubernetes There's a lot of tools that come with Kube that make it easier to use and most importantly: you become cloud-agnostic. We use Ansible because it's a lot simpler than Chef or Puppet and if you use Docker Compose for your deployments you can re-use them with Kubernetes later when you migrate
Pros of Ansible
- Agentless284
- Great configuration210
- Simple199
- Powerful176
- Easy to learn155
- Flexible69
- Doesn't get in the way of getting s--- done55
- Makes sense35
- Super efficient and flexible30
- Powerful27
- Dynamic Inventory11
- Backed by Red Hat9
- Works with AWS7
- Cloud Oriented6
- Easy to maintain6
- Vagrant provisioner4
- Simple and powerful4
- Multi language4
- Simple4
- Because SSH4
- Procedural or declarative, or both4
- Easy4
- Consistency3
- Well-documented2
- Masterless2
- Debugging is simple2
- Merge hash to get final configuration similar to hiera2
- Fast as hell2
- Manage any OS1
- Work on windows, but difficult to manage1
- Certified Content1
Pros of Docker Machine
- Easy docker hosts management12
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Cons of Ansible
- Dangerous8
- Hard to install5
- Doesn't Run on Windows3
- Bloated3
- Backward compatibility3
- No immutable infrastructure2
Cons of Docker Machine
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