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I was always surprised that Ansible didn't ever think to offer Tower as SaaS. I'd like to use it, but I'm really not interested in managing another box just for

I was always surprised that Ansible didn't ever think to offer Tower as SaaS. I'd like to use it, but I'm really not interested in managing another box just for it.

user5994461 10y ago
This is really a thing that cannot be SaaS. You can't allow a remote software in a random place in the world ssh to your servers as root and execute random commands.
- subway 10y ago
  Hosted Chef is effectively this. Not that I think it's a good idea.
- Androider 10y ago
  That just shows a lack of imagination, I can think of many ways to do it securely. Also, in many cases there is no longer any "on-site" location to run things from. If your servers are in AWS, your code in GitHub/BitBucket/AWS CodeCommit, your CI pipeline is in Circle/Travis/Codeship/AWS CodePipeline... running an Ansible playbook on a service professionally managed by Red Hat is fine. It's likely to be better managed and more secure than your average never-been-patched ad-hoc on-site Jenkins box or your devops guy running the play from his MacBook.
  - user5994461 10y ago
    Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's a good idea. RFC 1925: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1925.txt https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1925.txt With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly overhead.
    - Androider 10y ago
      Unless you are doing deploys from on-prem, to on-prem servers (a shrinking market), I think it is a good idea for the average company to let a professional company manage the infrastructure for them. I've never seen a self-hosted git, CI, etc. be more reliable or secure than the SaaS equivalent in any of the companies I've been, big or small.
      - frik 10y ago
        > I've never seen a self-hosted git, CI, etc. be more reliable or secure E.g. a self hosted subversion repo sitting on a network share is 100% reliable. What's so special about such things. It's a solved problem.

I was always surprised that Ansible didn't ever think to offer Tower as SaaS. I'd like to use it, but I'm really not interested in managing another box just for it.

user5994461 10y ago

This is really a thing that cannot be SaaS. You can't allow a remote software in a random place in the world ssh to your servers as root and execute random commands.

subway 10y ago
Hosted Chef is effectively this. Not that I think it's a good idea.
Androider 10y ago
That just shows a lack of imagination, I can think of many ways to do it securely. Also, in many cases there is no longer any "on-site" location to run things from. If your servers are in AWS, your code in GitHub/BitBucket/AWS CodeCommit, your CI pipeline is in Circle/Travis/Codeship/AWS CodePipeline... running an Ansible playbook on a service professionally managed by Red Hat is fine. It's likely to be better managed and more secure than your average never-been-patched ad-hoc on-site Jenkins box or your devops guy running the play from his MacBook.
- user5994461 10y ago
  Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's a good idea. RFC 1925: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1925.txt https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1925.txt With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly overhead.
  - Androider 10y ago
    Unless you are doing deploys from on-prem, to on-prem servers (a shrinking market), I think it is a good idea for the average company to let a professional company manage the infrastructure for them. I've never seen a self-hosted git, CI, etc. be more reliable or secure than the SaaS equivalent in any of the companies I've been, big or small.
    - frik 10y ago
      > I've never seen a self-hosted git, CI, etc. be more reliable or secure E.g. a self hosted subversion repo sitting on a network share is 100% reliable. What's so special about such things. It's a solved problem.