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Differences between SSM Agent on AWS and Ansible
What are the key differences that using Ansible over SSM Agent to Configure Windows Hosts on EC2?
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Hello,
Both does configuration management, One of the key differences is AWS System manager is a AWS managed service, EC2 instances need to have the SSM Agent installed and configured with the appropriate IAM roles. The agent communicates with the Systems Manager service to provides AWS resource management, patching, and run commands, keeping your managed nodes and other AWS resources in a state that you define, use session manager allows to securely connect to EC2 instances.
Here is the article explaining the differences: https://maxolande.medium.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-ansible-vs-aws-systems-manager-3050c95621fc
You could still use a combination of Ansible and System manager capabilities of state manager and run command to do node management and configure EC2 instances. Running Ansible Playbooks using EC2 Systems Manager Run Command and State Manager
- Hi
- Here's a breakdown of the key differences between using SSM Agent and Ansible
- ssm:
- AWS SSM Agent is tightly integrated with AWS, requires no external control node, and uses IAM for security
- SSM Agent is ideal for AWS-centric operations and simplifies management through the AWS console.
- Ansible:
- Ansible is agentless, requires a control node, and uses YAML playbooks for configuration management
- Ansible offers greater flexibility, supporting multi-cloud environments and extensive customization.
Choose SSM Agent for ease of use within AWS; choose Ansible for complex, diverse infrastructure management.
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