Managing cloud platforms using Ansible
As you learned in the previous chapters, Ansible can manage both Linux, Windows, and network devices. But virtualization platforms work differently and you cannot use SSH-based connections and operations to automate such platforms. Most of these platforms offer application programming interface (API) and software development kit (SDK)-based access to help us access and control such platforms over HTTP (or HTTPS). Since Ansible can use SDK (Python libraries) and communicate over HTTP/HTTPS, it is possible to automate any platforms that offer such access.
The following diagram shows the different connection methods used by Ansible to communicate with the managed devices and platforms:
Figure 7.2 – Ansible connection methods
Application Programming Interface
An API is a connection or protocol that allows one system to communicate with another using a dedicated set of instructions and results. Unlike command...
