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Ansible tower VS Foreman

Compare Ansible tower VS Foreman and see what are their differences

Ansible tower logo Ansible tower

An ansible web frontend.

Foreman logo Foreman

Foreman is an open source project that helps system administrators manage servers throughout their...
  • Ansible tower Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-01
  • Foreman Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-29

Ansible tower features and specs

  • Centralized Management
    Ansible Tower provides a centralized point of control for managing and executing Ansible playbooks, making it easier to oversee complex automation workflows across multiple nodes.
  • Role-Based Access Control
    It offers role-based access control to ensure that only authorized users can execute playbooks or access certain functionalities, improving security and compliance.
  • Job Scheduling
    Tower includes the ability to schedule job runs, allowing for automation tasks to be planned and executed at predefined times without manual intervention.
  • Graphical User Interface
    Provides a user-friendly web interface, which simplifies the process of using Ansible for users who may not be comfortable with command-line interactions.
  • Integrated Notifications
    Users can configure notifications to be sent through various channels like email or Slack upon completion or failure of jobs, enabling real-time monitoring.

Possible disadvantages of Ansible tower

  • Cost
    Ansible Tower is a paid product, which can be a significant factor for smaller organizations or individual users compared to free open-source Ansible.
  • Complexity
    Setting up and managing Tower can add complexity to an environment, particularly for organizations that are new to Ansible or do not require advanced features.
  • Resource Overhead
    Running Ansible Tower introduces additional resource and operational overhead, which may require more powerful hardware and infrastructure management.
  • Limited Offline Capabilities
    Ansible Tower's functionality is heavily reliant on being online, which can be a limitation for environments that require significant offline capabilities.
  • Learning Curve
    Users accustomed to direct Ansible command-line operations might need time to adapt to Tower's interface and workflow, which can slow down initial productivity.

Foreman features and specs

  • Comprehensive Management
    Foreman provides a complete lifecycle management tool for physical and virtual servers, including provisioning, configuration management, and monitoring.
  • Integration
    It integrates well with a variety of configuration management tools like Puppet, Ansible, Chef, and Salt, offering flexibility in how you manage your infrastructure.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source tool, Foreman allows for customization and community-driven improvements with no licensing costs.
  • Extensible
    Foreman has a plug-in architecture that allows for additional functionality and integrations, making it adaptable to complex environments.
  • GUI and CLI
    Foreman offers both a web-based graphical user interface (GUI) and command-line interface (CLI), catering to different user preferences and use cases.
  • Community and Documentation
    It enjoys an active community and extensive documentation, which can help in troubleshooting and extending functionalities.

Possible disadvantages of Foreman

  • Complexity
    Due to its comprehensive nature and numerous features, Foreman can be complex to set up and configure, requiring a significant time investment.
  • Performance
    In larger environments, performance issues might arise. Effective scaling often requires careful tuning and additional resources.
  • Learning Curve
    The extensive functionality and integration options come with a steep learning curve, which can be challenging for new users.
  • Dependency Management
    Foreman has multiple dependencies, making its installation and maintenance more cumbersome, especially in environments with strict configuration standards.
  • Interface Complexity
    The web interface can be overwhelming with its vast array of options and settings, potentially complicating routine tasks for less experienced users.
  • Limited Support for Non-Linux OS
    Foreman's support for managing non-Linux operating systems is limited compared to its robust capabilities with Linux-based systems.

Analysis of Foreman

Overall verdict

  • Foreman is a highly regarded tool in the realm of server management and automation. It is particularly valuable for organizations looking to streamline their IT infrastructure and improve operational efficiency. However, its usability may depend on the specific requirements of your organization and the complexity of your infrastructure.

Why this product is good

  • Foreman is an open-source lifecycle management tool for physical and virtual servers. It is known for its powerful provisioning capabilities, ability to manage servers and automate repetitive tasks, and integration with configuration management tools like Puppet, Ansible, and Chef. Additionally, its web-based management interface and active community provide extensive support and resources for users.

Recommended for

  • System administrators looking for a comprehensive server lifecycle management tool.
  • Organizations using technologies like Puppet, Ansible, or Chef for configuration management.
  • Teams interested in automating workflows and provisioning physical and virtual servers.

Ansible tower videos

Red Hat Ansible Tower Demo

More videos:

  • Review - Red Hat Ansible Tower: Simplicity, Security, Stability

Foreman videos

No Foreman videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Ansible tower and Foreman)
DevOps Tools
25 25%
75% 75
Continuous Integration
100 100%
0% 0
Monitoring Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Network & Admin
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Ansible tower and Foreman

Ansible tower Reviews

12 Open Source/Commercial Software for Data Center Infrastructure Management
Thanks to that Ansible Tower can perform almost any possible program operation with integrated software and has an amazing statistics collecting module. On the dark side, we have a lack of integration with popular billing systems and pricing.
Source: www.tecmint.com

Foreman Reviews

12 Open Source/Commercial Software for Data Center Infrastructure Management
Foreman is an open-source and perfect life-cycle management application for physical and virtual servers, that give Linux system administrators the capability to easily automate repetitive jobs, rapidly deploy applications, and proactively manage servers, on-premise or in the cloud.
Source: www.tecmint.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Foreman seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 19 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Ansible tower mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Ansible tower yet. Tracking of Ansible tower recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Foreman mentions (19)

  • From Dotenv to Dotenvx: Next Generation Config Management
    Not to be confused with the larger foreman[0] also written in ruby. [0] https://theforeman.org. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Deploying 100+ windows 10 devices per week. Need to automate.
    In case you're unable to use intune, a free approach might be https://theforeman.org/ That works well for provisioning baremetal windows (with discovery image or pxe boot) once you've set it up. It supports script access as well as a nice hierarchy for configurations. But it's really not as well documented as it should be. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Configuration Management Tools for 20-30 servers
    I use the foreman with puppet and pxe/kickstart scripts to automate VM/baremetal provisioning etc. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Server management tool with GUI
    Might want to look into https://theforeman.org/ if it's not too complex for you. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Stockpiling Linux ISOs?
    The iso images are typically locked at a certain verison. The update repositories sounds like what you are looking for to cache updates. Look into theforeman.org and specifically the plugin Katello. This is an upstream for Red Hat's Satellite product. Another option would be Canonical's MAAS. Both of these options Sound like what you are headed for unless you really just mean synchronize into a folder and store... Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Ansible tower and Foreman, you can also consider the following products

Ansible Semaphore - Modern UI for Ansible

DCImanager - DCImanager is a platform for managing physical equipment. Connect any physical equipment to a single platform. Use the platform to manage your servers, switches, PDU as well as physical and virtual networks.

Specops Deploy - Specops Deploy is the name of an advanced deployment program that simplifies the installation of the software and applications in addition to the multiple operating systems.

Ansible - Radically simple configuration-management, application deployment, task-execution, and multi-node orchestration engine

Jenkins - Jenkins is an open-source continuous integration server with 300+ plugins to support all kinds of software development

NetBox - NetBox is an open source web application designed to help manage and document computer networks. NetBox was developed specifically to address the needs of network and infrastructure engineers.