Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

The Enterprise
Automation Engine

Break down silos. Eliminate toil. Accelerate adoption.
Put AI to work — safely — with AAP as the trusted engine.

← → Navigate | Enterprise Architecture & Strategy

01 — The Challenge
The enterprise reality

Silos are the
most expensive infrastructure

Every team builds their own scripts, their own tooling, their own way. Knowledge stays locked in individual heads. Secrets get copied into places they shouldn't be. Operations depend on the one person who wrote the script.

Tribal Knowledge

Critical processes live in someone's bash history. When they leave, the knowledge goes with them.

🔑

Secret Sprawl

Credentials embedded in scripts, shared over Slack, copied into CI pipelines. No audit trail, no rotation.

🏝

Redundant Effort

Three teams solving the same patching problem three different ways — none of them documented.

02 — AAP Core Value
Ansible Automation Platform

One engine.
Every team. Zero exposure.

Consumers run job templates without seeing playbook logic or credentials. Producers maintain control.

How AAP breaks down silos

🔒 Credential Isolation

Credentials used at runtime but never exposed. Teams consume automation without seeing secrets.

📋 Job Templates as a Service

Share curated templates across teams. Consumers can launch, but not modify.

🔍 Full Audit Trail

Every execution logged — who ran what, when, with what parameters.

RBAC model

── Organization ──────────────
  Admin → Full control
  Producer → Create & edit templates
  Consumer → Launch templates only
  Auditor → Read-only view
── Credentials ───────────────
  Injected at runtime
  Never visible to consumers
  Vault-backed, auto-rotated
03 — Event-Driven Automation
EDA Controller

Stop reacting.
Start automating reactions.

Event-Driven Ansible listens to your environment — monitoring alerts, ServiceNow tickets, webhook events — and triggers the right automation instantly, without a human in the loop.

📡
Event Source
Prometheus, Dynatrace,
ServiceNow, Webhooks
⚙️
Rulebook
Match conditions,
filter noise
🚀
AAP Job Template
Remediate, scale,
notify, ticket
Resolved
Before the pager
fires
58%
Reduction in unplanned outages per year reported by AAP customers in IDC study.*
44%
Faster resolution when outages did occur — EDA pushes this even further toward zero-touch.*
3 AM
Disk fills up. EDA clears temp files, expands volume, closes the ticket. No one wakes up.
* IDC White Paper, sponsored by Red Hat, "The Business Value of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform," Doc #US48678022, October 2021
04 — Developer Experience
AAP + OpenShift + Dev Spaces + Developer Hub

From ClickOps to GitOps
without the culture shock

The hardest part of automation isn't the technology — it's the adoption curve. Red Hat Developer Hub + Dev Spaces + AAP creates a guided on-ramp that meets operators where they are.

📚

Developer Hub

Software catalog with golden-path templates. Click to scaffold a new Ansible project with CI, linting, and AAP integration wired in.

💻

Dev Spaces

Cloud IDE — zero local setup. Open a browser, get a fully configured Ansible development environment with AWX CLI, collections, and molecule pre-installed.

🔄

GitOps Pipeline

Push to Git → Tekton runs lint & molecule tests → ArgoCD syncs config-as-code to AAP Controller. Fully automated, fully auditable.

🎯

AAP Controller

The familiar UI is still there. ClickOps users start in the GUI, then graduate to code as confidence builds. No forced migration.

"The best adoption strategy isn't a mandate — it's a path so smooth that code becomes the natural choice."
05 — Adoption Journey
Progressive adoption

The ClickOps-to-GitOps
on-ramp

Not everyone starts as a YAML expert. The platform supports every stage of the journey — from GUI-first operators to full infrastructure-as-code practitioners.

Stage 1

GUI-First

Familiar starting point

Stage 2

Hybrid

Code-assisted

Stage 3

GitOps-Native

Full automation

Build job templates in the AAP Controller UI

Edit playbooks in Dev Spaces with AI assistance

Scaffold projects from Developer Hub templates

Launch workflows manually via UI or surveys

Push to Git, CI runs molecule tests automatically

ArgoCD syncs config-as-code to AAP on merge

Copy/paste credentials into the credential store

External Secrets Operator pulls from Vault

EDA handles events, zero human intervention

06 — AI Strategy
AI + AAP

AI is the fuel.
AAP is the engine.

AI accelerates creation. AAP enforces safety. The smart coworker writes the playbook. The engine runs it through guardrails.

⚡ AI — The Smart Coworker

Craft Playbooks

AI assistants in Dev Spaces help write, refactor, and optimize Ansible content.

Interpret Errors

Paste a failed job output. AI explains root cause and suggests fixes.

Accelerate Learning

New team members ask AI to explain existing playbooks and ramp up in days, not months.

🔒 AAP — The Trusted Engine

Predictable Execution

Same playbook, same result, every time. No hallucinations in production.

Approval Gates

Workflow approval nodes ensure human review before AI-suggested changes reach production.

Complete Audit Trail

Every execution logged. Who wrote it, who approved it, what changed.

07 — Safe AI in Production
Architecture pattern

Safely incorporating AI
into production operations

Dev Time
AI-Assisted DevelopmentDev Spaces + AI Assistants + Lightspeed
Review
Git + CI PipelinePR → Peer review → ansible-lint → molecule → merge
Deploy
GitOps SyncArgoCD → AAP Controller updated → Templates available
Runtime
AAP ExecutionDeterministic. No AI in the loop. Same input → same output.

Key insight: AI makes humans faster at writing automation. AAP makes it safe to run. Git is the boundary — with reviews, tests, and approvals enforcing it.

08 — The Möbius Loop
DevOps lifecycle

Automation that
never stops

The left loop creates automation. The right loop runs it. Git is the crossover — reviewed, tested, approved. AAP provides tooling for every phase.

Dev → Ops: AI and developers create. Git gates the handoff.

Ops → Dev: Monitoring feeds back to planning. The loop accelerates.

Next slides break down the AAP tooling for each phase →

DEV OPS Git 1 Plan What to automate 2 Code Write playbooks 3 Build Package EEs 4 Test Lint + Molecule 5 Release ArgoCD sync 6 Deploy AAP Controller 7 Operate EDA responds 8 Monitor Analytics + ROI
09 — DevOps Lifecycle: Dev
The infinity loop — left side

Development loop:
Plan → Code → Build → Test

The left side of the DevOps Möbius loop is where automation content is created, validated, and prepared for production. Each phase maps to specific AAP platform tooling.

① Plan

Define the use case

Identify what to automate. Prioritize work. Scaffold a new project from a golden-path template with CI, linting, and AAP wiring built in.

AAP TOOLING

Developer Hub catalog + Software Templates

② Code

Write the automation

Write playbooks, roles, and collections in a cloud IDE. AI assistants help draft content, explain errors, and accelerate learning for new contributors.

AAP TOOLING

Dev Spaces + Lightspeed + AWX CLI

③ Build

Package for execution

Compile execution environments that bundle all dependencies into an immutable container image. Pull certified collections from an internal source.

AAP TOOLING

Ansible Builder + Automation Hub + Tekton

④ Test

Validate before merge

Static analysis catches syntax and best-practice violations. Integration tests run playbooks against ephemeral environments. Policy gates enforce org standards.

AAP TOOLING

ansible-lint + Molecule + Tekton CI

The handoff → Merge to main is the boundary between Dev and Ops. Git is the contract. Everything that crosses is reviewed, tested, and approved.

10 — DevOps Lifecycle: Ops
The infinity loop — right side

Operations loop:
Release → Deploy → Operate → Monitor

The right side of the loop is where automation runs in production. AAP is the engine — deterministic, auditable, and credential-safe. Feedback flows back to planning.

⑤ Release

Sync to Controller

ArgoCD watches Git and syncs config-as-code to AAP Controller. Job templates, workflows, inventories, and RBAC are declared — no manual UI changes.

AAP TOOLING

ArgoCD + infra.controller_configuration

⑥ Deploy

Execute with guardrails

AAP Controller runs automation deterministically. Workflows chain multi-step processes. Approval nodes gate production changes. Credentials injected, never exposed.

AAP TOOLING

AAP Controller + Workflows + Surveys

⑦ Operate

React automatically

EDA listens to monitoring alerts, webhooks, and ITSM events. Rulebooks filter noise and trigger AAP jobs — disk cleanup, scaling, restarts — no human in the loop.

AAP TOOLING

EDA Controller + Rulebooks

⑧ Monitor

Measure and learn

Track job success, time savings, and ROI. Surface top templates and cost data. Insights feed back to EDA for tuning and to planning for next iteration.

AAP TOOLING

Automation Analytics + Dashboard

The loop closes ↻ Monitor data feeds back to Plan. Operational insights drive the next automation use case. The loop never stops — each cycle builds on the last.

11 — Platform Architecture
The integrated stack

AAP on OpenShift:
the complete developer platform

🏗️ Red Hat Developer Hub

Software catalog, golden-path templates, TechDocs. Single pane of glass for platform and consumers.

💻 OpenShift Dev Spaces

Cloud IDE with AWX CLI, ansible-lint, molecule pre-installed. VS Code desktop connects via SSH.

🔐 Keycloak + SSO

Central identity brokering GitHub, GitLab, AAP, and cloud providers.

🗄️ HashiCorp Vault + ESO

External Secrets Operator syncs Vault into AAP credentials and Dev Spaces.

🤖 AAP Controller

Job templates, workflows, surveys, approval nodes, RBAC. The execution engine.

📡 EDA Controller

Event-driven rulebooks that listen, filter, and trigger AAP jobs automatically.

📦 Private Automation Hub

Curated, approved collections and execution environments from a trusted internal source.

🔄 ArgoCD + Tekton

GitOps pipeline. Config declared in Git, tested in CI, synced to Controller on merge.

12 — Business Outcomes
What this delivers

Measurable outcomes
from platform investment

668%
Three-year ROI with 8-month payback†
25%
DevOps team productivity boost*
58%
Fewer unplanned outages, resolved 44% faster*
30%
More efficient security operations*

For Platform Teams

Self-service catalog. Golden paths that enforce standards. Less ticket-driven work, more strategic infrastructure.

For Application Teams

Launch automation without learning Kubernetes. Use the GUI, graduate to code. AI bridges the knowledge gap.

* IDC, "The Business Value of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform," #US48678022, Oct 2021  † IDC, "The Business Value of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform," #US51839824, Mar 2024
Summary

Simple. Reliable.
Predictable.

AAP is the engine that makes enterprise automation safe, shareable, and scalable. EDA eliminates toil. The developer platform lowers the barrier to entry. And AI — channeled through guardrails — accelerates every step without compromising production reliability.

Break silos
Shared templates, isolated secrets
Eliminate toil
EDA handles routine operations
Accelerate adoption
Dev Spaces + Developer Hub on-ramp
Safe AI
AI writes it. AAP runs it. Git gates it.