Terraform and Ansible are both popular Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools, but they have different strengths and use cases.
Here are some guidelines on when to use Terraform and when to use Ansible:
Use Terraform when:
Managing cloud infrastructure: Terraform is designed specifically for managing cloud infrastructure, such as resources on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or Microsoft Azure.
Dealing with stateful resources: Terraform excels at managing stateful resources, such as databases or storage volumes, where state changes can have significant consequences.
Needing to manage complex infrastructure: Terraform is well-suited for managing complex infrastructure with many resources and dependencies, as it provides a declarative way to describe your infrastructure and manage it as code.
Automating infrastructure deployments: Terraform’s ability to automate the creation, modification, and destruction of infrastructure resources makes it a good choice for automating infrastructure deployments.
Use Ansible when:
Managing multiple platforms: Ansible is designed to manage multiple platforms, including Linux and Windows systems, network devices, and cloud infrastructure.
Configuring servers: Ansible is well-suited for configuring servers and managing software installations, including setting up user accounts, installing software packages, and configuring network settings.
Managing stateless resources: While Terraform is better suited for managing stateful resources, Ansible is better suited for managing stateless resources, such as load balancers, web servers, or application servers.
Orchestrating complex workflows: Ansible’s ability to orchestrate complex workflows across multiple systems and platforms makes it a good choice for managing complex environments and automating multi-step tasks.
In summary, Terraform is best suited for managing cloud infrastructure and stateful resources, while Ansible is better suited for managing multiple platforms, configuring servers, and orchestrating complex workflows. However, in many cases, both tools can be used together to achieve the best results.
Pawan Prakash Pal 