* A-A-P is portable over many systems. At least most Unix variants, MS-Windows and possibly the Macintosh. * A-A-P is open source, free software. Most of it is under the GNU GPL. Interfaces and libraries are more free. * A-A-P is not a monolitic program. It is made out of separate modules with clear interfaces. Most of the work is done by existing tools. * Since network connections are slow and unreliable - and when using a laptop - a local copy of a file is often required. A-A-P caches files, obtains a new version when available and cleans up files that have not been used recently. * The more alternatives there are, the more choices a developer has to make. Making all these choices slows down development. Therefore A-A-P provides a preferred set of modules. Many people will be satisfied with most of these modules, but will still be able to use a different module where they have a preference. * A-A-P is available in a command-line version and in a GUI version. The command-line version works on a console and over a telnet connection. The GUI version is easier to use, but requires a windowing system. * A-A-P maintains a set of preferences. These are global to all projects but local to the user or system. This specifies where specific tools, libraries, documentation files, etc. can be found. This greatly reduces the need to configure a package when building or installing it. * English is used in the original code. Provisions are made to add translations through the use of message files. * Reliability is considered more important than fancy features. A-A-P is a tool you can rely on.

* Ansible seamlessly unites workflow orchestration with configuration management, provisioning, and application deployment in one easy-to-use and deploy platform. * Regardless of where you start with Ansible, you’ll find our simple, powerful and agentless automation platform has the capabilities to solve your most challenging problems. * PROVISIONING - Your apps have to live somewhere. If you’re PXE booting and kickstarting bare-metal servers or VMs, or creating virtual or cloud instances from templates, Ansible and Ansible Tower help streamline the process. * CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT - Centralizing configuration file management and deployment is a common use case for Ansible, and it’s how many power users are first introduced to the Ansible automation platform. * APPLICATION DEPLOYMENT - When you define your application with Ansible, and manage the deployment with Tower, teams are able to effectively manage the entire application lifecycle from development to production. * CONTINUOUS DELIVERY - Creating a CI/CD pipeline requires buy-in from numerous teams. You can’t do it without a simple automation platform that everyone in your organization can use. Ansible Playbooks keep your applications properly deployed (and managed) throughout their entire lifecycle. * SECURITY & COMPLIANCE - When you define your security policy in Ansible, scanning and remediation of site-wide security policy can be integrated into other automated processes and instead of being an afterthought, it’ll be integral in everything that is deployed. * ORCHESTRATION - Configurations alone don’t define your environment. You need to define how multiple configurations interact and ensure the disparate pieces can be managed as a whole. Out of complexity and chaos, Ansible brings order. * COMMUNITY-POWERED - Ansible is the most popular open source automation tool on GitHub today. With over 2,000 contributors submitting new modules all the time, rest assured that what you are automating is covered in Ansible already, or will be very soon. * ENTERPRISE READY - Ansible Tower by Red Hat builds on the underlying Ansible automation engine by adding control, security, and delegation capabilities. With Ansible and Tower, your team can automate –and your business can innovate.