The Automation Journey with Red Hat Consulting

Andrew J. HuffmanPrincipal Consultant, Red Hat Consulting

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RED HAT GLOBAL SERVICESMission

We ensure success by creating collaborative

relationships with customers and partners

around the world to support your journey–how

and where you need it.

Our engagement approach arms you with

expertise to amplify your capabilities and prepare you to navigate what’s

next.

We connect the dots for emerging technology.

From architecture through training, we bring together the technologies, people and methods you

need to meet IT challenges.

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RED HAT CUSTOMER SUCCESSEnabling customer success

SUPPORTCustomer Portal

Curated product documentation, tools, and technical expertise

Technical expertise and guidance available 24x7, by phone or chat

Available Technical Account Manager● Best practices● Supportability assessments● Specialist engagements● Early beta access● Product enhancements● Life-cycle planning

CONSULTINGExperience building and integrating enterprise systems with both open source and proprietary technology

Most advanced skills delivering solutions using Red Hat products and open standards

Uniquely positioned to align teams, streamline processes, and make enterprise systems and applications work together

Hands-on mentoring builds skills and drives independence

TRAININGSpeed technology adoption and maximize return on investment

Fuel innovation by addressing organizational skills gaps

Improve productivity by increasing the performance of teams and individuals

Reduce risk of individuals not following established uses and practices

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AUTOMATION AND SCALEHOW DO WE GO FROM MANUAL CONFIGURATION PROCESSES TO

MASS AUTOMATION ADOPTION AND CREATE A MODERN IT ORGANIZATION IN THE PROCESS?

KEYS TO ORGANIZATION-WIDE AUTOMATION

● Simplified - streamlined set of well-defined targets and content (eliminate snowflakes)

● Accountable - embedded governance and standards for automation management

● Responsible - built-in security, automated compliance, and designed for rich auditability

● Autonomous - refactored workflows to replace human intervention with predictable automation

● Scalable - accelerated outcomes with consistent and repeatable processes built to drive culture

Characteristics of a sustainable automation adoption strategy:

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Avoid long-term roadmapsPlan just enough to get started with a new automation flow

CollaborateAlign and innovate automation approach through transparency and inclusion

Break big thingsinto small chunksWork incrementally and standardize automation components

Foster learningCreate a culture of pairing,mentoring, and community through an automation practice

Accelerate feedback Automate CI/CD and establish code scanning for playbooks

Experiment and refine strategyTurn small failures intolearning opportunities

Open source culture powers enterprise automationWHAT WE BELIEVE

JUST START.

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CultureSpark innovation and agility

with new approaches to increase collaboration, and communities that empower

and inspire the organization.

ProcessAdopt open practices to

quickly develop, validate, and launch new services and workflows in response to

changing demands.

ADOPTIONExpand skills, integrations, and

orchestrated workflows in increments with measurable value.

FOUNDATIONEmpower a cross-functional team to

automate and operate an initial set of workflows in an MVP automation

framework.

STRATEGYChart a journey map from Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to target state with measurable business outcomes.

AUTOMATION ADOPTION

Empower lines of business to manage their own destiny with new ways of working, portable workloads, and highly flexible platforms.

RED HAT® CUSTOMER SUCCESSBRIDGES THE GAP

proven approach • critical skills • enterprise support

Lengthy, error-prone, manual processes and brittle scripting.

Business agility, innovation, and operational flexibility

TechnologyEstablish automation

framework, tooling, and techniques that empower

process evolution and business-driven workflows.

DEFINE YOUR JOURNEY

AUTOMATION ADOPTION JOURNEY

Discover Pilot Integrate Accelerate Optimize

An overarching strategy is drafted to

identify objectives and address process, tooling,

and skill gaps with measurable outcomes.

An initial set of workflows is automated

and deployed in production, managed by

a cross-functional “Adoption Pilot Team” using Ansible Tower.

A set of standardized workflows is integrated

with initial operational or business support

systems for increased oversight, orchestration,

or other benefits.

An “Adoption Core Team” guides

cross-functional initial automation teams in

standardizing and applying automation approaches across

projects and processes.

Organization-wide automation teams

rapidly launch, combine, and enhance workflows and orchestrations to

meet changing requirements.

Increment 0 Increment 1 Increment 2 Increment 3 Increment 4

Consulting, training, and support for Digital TransformationRED HATCUSTOMER SUCCESS

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AUTOMATION DISCOVERY SESSION

A one day, no-cost planning session

GOAL: DETAIL: RED HAT PROVIDES:

To understand the customer’s business drivers and technical use cases to propose an automation solution architecture.

Discussion guided by Red Hat

Consulting Architect

Attendees from LoBs, Engineering, Operations, and Application Development

Red Hat will provide tailored proposal for services

Our vision for organization-wide automation

Guided assessment of organizational readiness for automation and DevOps using Red Hat Consulting’s “Ready to Innovate” framework

Automation goals

High-level recommendations

Red Hat automation service offerings

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AUTOMATION DISCOVERY SESSIONWhat Comes Out of a Discovery Session?

● Red Hat Consulting provides an Approach Document● Current state is captured● MVP use-cases are defined● High-level future state is defined● Recommendations and next-steps are provided

○ Training Recommendations○ Potential areas for ROI○ Process improvements○ and more...

● Assumptions and Risks are defined

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STANDARD RED HAT LEARNING SUBSCRIPTION

MORE THAN 50 ONLINE COURSES

WITH 24 X 7 ACCESS FOR 12

MONTHS

400 HOURS OF CLOUD

DELIVERED, HANDS ON LABS

1,000 RECORDED INSTRUCTOR

VIDEOS

INSTRUCTOR OFFICE HOURS

EXPERT SEMINARS

5 CERTIFICATION EXAMS + 2 RETAKES

EACH NAMED SUBSCRIBER GETS ACCESS TO:

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STAGGERED LEARNING SUBSCRIPTIONS USED TO BUILD NUCLEUS OF ORGANIZATIONAL EXPERTISE

1-5 SYSTEM

ADMINISTRATORS

1-5DEVOPS

ENGINEERS

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AUTOMATION ADOPTION

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AUTOMATION ADOPTION

Infrastructure as Code Network Configuration Application CI/CDSOE and Platform

Delivery

Red Hat Learning Subscription

Program Dashboard

Automation Onboarding Knowledgebase

Day 2 Operations Practices

Workflow Portfolio Assessment

Automation Labs IT Workflow Automation Open Practice LibraryService Management

Program Guidance and Mentorship

Red Hat Customer PortalRed Hat Global Support

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THE “MENU” FOR YOUR AUTOMATION JOURNEY

Your Automation Adoption Journey

~ Increment 1 ~Antipasti (Pilot)

~ Increment 2 ~Primi (Integrate)

~ Deploy MVP Ansible Tower Infrastructure

~ Charter Automation PilotTeam

~ Minimum Viable Products ~~ Automate Manual Processes:

~ Patching~ Provisioning~ Software Deployment

~ Create a Standard Operating Environment

~ Define a Source of Truth

~ Charter Automation Core Team

~ Expand on existing automation capabilities

~ Enhanced CI/CD Capabilities

~ Create Self-Service Capabilities / Integrate with Customer Systems

~ Mentoring of Development and Deployment of Automation Services and Capabilities

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INCREMENT 1 - PILOT

12 weeks

GOAL: An initial set of workflows is automated and deployed in production, managed by a cross-functional “Adoption Pilot Team” using Ansible Tower.

MILESTONES: ENVIRONMENTS:

● A meaningful set of automated workflows running in production● Production automation environment with minimum viable operational

capability● End-to-end process for delivering automated workflows to production

environment demonstrated and captured, including organizational roles and responsibilities

● Customer “Adoption Pilot” team mentored to invoke and manage automated workflows with minimal assistance

● Next phase planned with prioritized backlog or story map for infrastructure, deployment, and application delivery.

● Lab Tower cluster for infrastructure testing

● Non-production Tower cluster for development and testing of automation workflows prior to their production release

● MVP production Tower cluster

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INCREMENT 1 - PILOTCommon Customer Use Cases: Patching

Customer Story Automation MVP

● Change request opened

● Operations Team manually logs into each system

● Operations Team applies patches

● Operations Team reboots servers

● Operations Team validates service availability

● Operations Team closes change request

● Automation is created to replace manual customer patching processes

● Change request opened● Single Operations Team member

launches automation via Ansible Tower UI to apply patches to entire development environment

● Operations Team validates service availability

● Operations Team closes change request

● ROI Realized

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INCREMENT 1 - PILOTCommon Customer Use Cases: Provisioning

Customer Story Automation MVP

● Development team requests hardware from Operations Team

● Operations Team manually deploys VM Template

● Operations Team manually configures VM to organization standards

● Operations Team installs and configures requested software

● Operations Team passes off VM to Development Team and closes ticket

● Development Team deploys application for testing

● Automation created to provision new VM from VM template

● Automation created to deploy organization Standard Operating Environment

● Automation created to deploy required application● Automation created to configure required

application● Automation created to deploy application from

development source● Development Team requests hardware from

Operations Team● Operations Team launches automation workflow

from Ansible Tower UI● Operations Team validates configuration, closes

tickets, and passes VM off to Development Team● ROI Realized

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INCREMENT 2 - INTEGRATE

12 weeks

GOAL: Prepare to onboard automation workloads to the platform

MILESTONES: ENVIRONMENTS:

● Application portfolio assessment completed and prioritized backlog published● Adoption Core Team chartered ● Repeatable onboarding methodology for at least one workflow profile/archetype is

captured● Production environment has enhanced operational capability, with a published

capacity plan and higher uptime requirements● Process for managing the lifecycle of services is developed● Enhanced CI/CD capabilities (e.g. integrated security scans, better automated test

coverage, integrated rollbacks or canary releasing)● Self-service capabilities (e.g. auto-provisioning of new projects)● Optionally, begin mentoring on and design and development of modern automation

services

● Lab Tower cluster for infrastructure testing

● Non-production Tower cluster for development and testing of automation workloads prior to their production release

● MVP production Tower cluster

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INCREMENT 2 - INTEGRATE

Customer Story Automation Integration

● Automation exists to replace manual customer patching process

● Single Operations Team member launches automation via Ansible Tower UI to apply patches to entire development environment

● Operations Team validates service availability

● Automation integrated into ticketing/self-service portal

● Patching change request created

● Change request approved and automation is launched automatically over Ansible Tower API from ticketing/self-service portal to desired environment

● Automation validates service availability

● Change request ticket is closed via automation

● ROI Realized

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INCREMENT 2 - INTEGRATECommon Customer Use Cases

Customer Story Automation Integration

● Automation exists to provision new VM from VM template

● Automation exists to deploy corporate standard operating environment

● Automation exists to deploy required application● Automation exists to configure required application● Automation exists to deploy application from

development source● Development Team requests hardware from

Operations Team● Operations Team launches automation workflow

from Ansible Tower UI● Operations Team validates configuration, closes

tickets, and passes VM off to Development Team

● Existing automation is integrated into ticketing/self-service portal

● Development team opens new VM request for specific application

● Ticket is approved and automation is launched automatically over Ansible Tower API

● Automation validates application deployment and configuration

● Automation closes hardware provisioning request

● Automation notifies Development Team and hands off server information

● ROI Realized

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CONCLUSIONS

● Red Hat Global Services helps you achieve your mission through Consulting, Training, and Support

● Red Hat Global Services can assist you through your Automation Journey by fostering Organizational transformation through Technology, Process, and Culture

● Each increment of the Automation Adoption Journey builds off of capabilities and further drives innovation and returns on investment

● Contact your Red Hat Territory Services Manager to continue the conversation on your Automation Journey

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Thank You

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