Go Beyond Automation with Orchestration

I often get asked what exactly Orchestration is? What is the difference between using Orchestration and other automation tools? Or most of all, what benefits does Orchestration give me?

With that in mind, we've put together a quick article on the differences in concept between orchestration and automation, and what they mean to you.

Automation and Orchestration

Back in 2011, Forbes published an article with the headline, “Now Every Company is a Software Company.” What does that have to do with automation? In the years since the article was published, many businesses have started their DevOps transformation, and with it, automation is now an important—if not critical—aspect to every company.

The rise of software automation has brought with it new methodologies. For example, Infrastructure as Code (IAC) seeks to transition traditionally managed networks, servers, storage, and services into testable, revisable, and repeatable code. This is a significant departure for traditionally trained system administrators who managed these services for decades with scripts—or worse, manually. There are also Application Release Automation (ARA) frameworks to perform sophisticated testing, workflow, and delivery of applications.

Automation was around far before DevOps was a buzzword. The developer and operations “blurring” with automation has lead to a proliferation of automation technologies. These technologies are now widely adopted and are not just for the so-called cutting-edge companies—they are the new standards. Now that automation has become virtually mandatory, these technologies have become a significant challenge of adoption, complexity, and implementation strategy.

The amount of technologies in the automation space is especially vast, which contributes to the following problems:

• With so many tools, what are the right combinations to use? 
• As automation becomes more entrenched in every realm of a company, how are the lifecycles managed in a modern way?
• How can so many tools be managed together in a cohesive way?

These questions are not easy to answer, but there is a path toward a solution: Orchestration.

Read the rest of the article and learn more why orchestration is the required next phase into taking automation to the next level - https://cloudify.co/2018/06/27/Orchestration-Taking-Automation-to-the-Next-Level