* [Topics](/en/topics "Topics") * [Automation and management](/en/topics/automation "Automation and management") * What is infrastructure automation? What is infrastructure automation? ================================== Updated April 3, 2026•*3*-minute read Copy URL Jump to section --------------- OverviewInfrastructure automation componentsWhy automate IT infrastructure?What can be automated?Companies that have automated IT infrastructureWhy Red Hat?Interactive labs Overview -------- Infrastructure automation is the use of technology that performs tasks with reduced human assistance. It lets your IT teams more easily control hardware, software, networking, and [data storage](/en/topics/data-storage) components, while spending less time manually overseeing it all. By allowing automation within your infrastructure, you can deliver IT services and solutions more reliably, curtail errors, and scale faster as your organization’s needs grow. [Find your complete automation solution](/en/engage/infrastructure-automation-ebook) Infrastructure automation components ------------------------------------ Infrastructure automation includes 2 key components: IT infrastructure and IT automation. [IT infrastructure](/en/topics/cloud-computing/what-is-it-infrastructure) comprises the components required to operate and [manage](/en/topics/management) enterprise IT environments. These components include hardware, software, [networking](/en/topics/hyperconverged-infrastructure/what-is-software-defined-networking) components, operating systems (OSes), and data storage—all of which are used to deliver IT services and solutions. IT infrastructure products are available as software applications that run on top of existing IT resources—like [software-defined storage](/en/topics/data-storage/software-defined-storage)—or as online solutions offered by service providers—like [Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)](/en/topics/cloud-computing/what-is-iaas). [IT automation](/en/topics/automation/what-is-it-automation) is the use of technology to perform tasks with reduced human assistance. Automation helps you speed up processes, scale environments, and build [continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD)](/en/topics/devops/what-is-ci-cd) workflows. There are many kinds of automation, including: * IT automation. * [Business automation](/en/topics/automation/whats-business-automation). * [Robotic process automation](https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2020/6/rpa-robotic-process-automation-beginners). * Industrial automation. * [Artificial intelligence](/en/topics/ai). * [Machine learning](/en/topics/ai/what-is-machine-learning). * Deep learning. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform: A beginner’s guide ------------------------------------------------------- [Get the resource](/en/engage/ansible-automation-platform-beginners-guide-ebook "Get the resource") Why automate IT infrastructure? ------------------------------- As organizations grow, so can their infrastructure size and complexity. Combine that with limited time and staff, and IT teams can find themselves struggling to keep up. This leads to all sorts of issues: delayed updates, last-minute [patching](/en/topics/management/what-patch-management-and-automation), and missed resource deliveries. It can quickly escalate if left unchecked, not only burning out IT teams, but hampering your organization’s ability to keep key business pipelines running. Automating common management tasks can help you regain control and visibility over your infrastructure. By automating things like [provisioning](/en/topics/automation/what-is-provisioning), [configuring](/en/topics/automation/what-is-configuration-management), [deploying](/en/topics/automation/what-is-deployment-automation), patching and updates, and decommissioning, you can free up IT resources to tackle more critical and complex work, while simplifying operations at scale. If your business needs exceed your current infrastructure capabilities, automation makes it much easier to add things like virtual machines or additional workflows to accommodate growth. You also reduce the chance for human error by automating things like task execution during off hours, remediation, and more. Limiting the amount of human intervention necessary to address smaller tasks can lead to quicker resolutions and more effective operations. What IT infrastructure processes can be automated? -------------------------------------------------- ### Operating systems Within larger organizations, ensuring everyone uses the same OS and is on the latest secured release can be vital to keeping business operations running smoothly. It’s challenging for IT teams to manually vet and provision OS releases while supporting entire technology configurations that may be using outdated systems. Automating the management of these systems helps your enterprise stay compliant with less stress on your staff. [Keep reading about OS automation](/en/technologies/management/ansible/operating-systems) ### Security Endpoint devices are often the most targeted attack surface of an IT infrastructure. Using automation to integrate specialized tools, such as endpoint protection platforms (EPPs), can help detect and remediate malicious threats quickly before they can spread. You can also use automation to proactively hunt and quarantine potential threats, which your IT team can then review. This reduces the amount of time necessary for manual incident response. [Get more details about security automation](/en/technologies/management/ansible/security-automation) ### Configuration management Your IT environment contains a variety of hardware and software. Consistently managing it all by hand can lead to higher maintenance costs and an inability to meet strict service-level agreements (SLAs) and compliance requirements. Automation gives you predictable and repeatable processes for managing configurations across OSes more consistently. [Read more about automating configuration management](/en/technologies/management/ansible/configuration-management) ### Edge computing In a perfect world, everyone in your organization works on the same technology and updates without any gaps. In reality, some remote locations operate at the edge of major datacenter or cloud connections. This presents challenges such as incompatible technology and inconsistent network access. By automating your edge computing, you can get a consistent view of your wider infrastructure and manage it more reliably. [Learn more about edge computing automation](/en/technologies/management/ansible/edge) What companies have automated their IT infrastructure? ------------------------------------------------------ Southwest Airlines automated their standardized network setup, which saved their engineers hours of effort and helped manage their 4,000 daily flights across 120 airports. [Check out the case study](/en/resources/southwest-airlines-customer-story) DWP Digital automated deployment across on-premise and cloud environments, cutting deployment times from 50 minutes to 10. [Read the case study](/en/resources/dwp-digital-case-study) Why Red Hat? ------------ [Red Hat® Ansible® Automation Platform](/en/technologies/management/ansible) is an end-to-end automation platform that comes with all the tools needed to implement enterprise-wide automation, including task automation with [playbooks](/en/topics/automation/what-is-an-ansible-playbook), a visual dashboard, an [event-driven solution](https://www.ansible.com/products/event-driven-ansible), and analytics. It also includes access to certified and validated Ansible content called [Ansible Content Collections](/en/technologies/management/ansible/content-collections). This makes it even easier for your IT teams to automate quickly with proven modules and playbooks used by thousands of customers. The experts at [Red Hat Services](/en/consulting/automation) can help your business start automating with Ansible Automation Platform and help expand automation across your organization. They can provide hands-on training, mentorship, and specialized courses to prepare your teams for whatever needs arise in your automation journey. In addition to educating your team, they can also apply real-world experience to help you reevaluate and refine your existing infrastructure workflows. [Read more about automating with Red Hat](/en/topics/automation/why-choose-red-hat-for-automation "Why choose Red Hat for automation") Want some hands-on experience? ------------------------------ Red Hat offers interactive labs in a preconfigured Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform environment. You can use these labs to experiment, practice, and learn how to create, manage, and scale network and IT practices efficiently—from rapid development and deployment, to simplified operations and analytics, to consistent end-to-end user experiences. [Get experience with interactive labs](/en/engage/redhat-ansible-automation-202108061218 "Experience interactive hands-on labs") Resource Simplify IT infrastructure with automation ------------------------------------------ Managing complexity isn’t easy. Read this e-book to learn how infrastructure automation creates repeatable processes that can save time and money. [Get the resource](/en/resources/simplify-it-infrastructure "Simplify IT infrastructure with automation") Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform learning hub ------------------------------------------------ Explore learning materials and tools designed to help you use Red Hat® Ansible® Automation Platform, organized by the tasks you need to accomplish. [Keep reading](/en/technologies/management/ansible/learn "Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform learning hub") Keep reading ------------ ### What is patch management? Patch management is the process of identifying, testing, and installing system updates to improve security and performance in operating systems and applications. [Read the article](/en/topics/management/what-patch-management-and-automation "article | what is patch management") ### Why choose Red Hat for automation? Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform includes all the tools needed to share automation across teams and implement enterprise-wide automation. [Read the article](/en/topics/automation/why-choose-red-hat-for-automation "article | Why choose Red Hat for automation") ### What is an Ansible Playbook? An Ansible Playbook is a blueprint of automation tasks executed on hosts. [Read the article](/en/topics/automation/what-is-an-ansible-playbook "article | what is an Ansible playbook") Automation and management resources ----------------------------------- ### Related content * Blog post [Automating the modern network: A Q1 network automation recap](/en/blog/automating-modern-network-q1-network-automation-recap) * Blog post [Take your automation to the next level with Ansible Content Collections for Windows, Splunk, AIOps, MCP, and more](/en/blog/take-your-automation-next-level-ansible-content-collections-windows-splunk-aiops-mcp-and-more) * Detail [[node:rh-smart-meta-title]](/en/resources/network-automation-across-energy-operations-detail) * Analyst material [[node:rh-smart-meta-title]](/en/engage/futurum-closing-ai-gap-analyst-material) ### Related articles * [What is patch management?](/en/topics/management/what-patch-management-and-automation) * [What is security automation?](/en/topics/automation/what-is-security-automation) * [Why choose Red Hat for automation?](/en/topics/automation/why-choose-red-hat-for-automation) * [What is an Ansible Playbook?](/en/topics/automation/what-is-an-ansible-playbook) * [What is SOAR?](/en/topics/security/what-is-soar) * [Learning Ansible basics](/en/topics/automation/learning-ansible-tutorial) * [How to build an IT automation strategy](/en/topics/automation/build-an-automation-strategy) * [Ansible vs. Chef: What you need to know](/en/topics/automation/ansible-vs-chef) * [Ansible vs. Puppet: What you need to know](/en/topics/automation/ansible-vs-puppet) * [Ansible vs. Salt: What you need to know](/en/topics/automation/ansible-vs-salt) * [Ansible vs. Terraform](/en/topics/automation/ansible-vs-terraform) * [What is IT service management (ITSM)?](/en/topics/automation/what-is-it-service-management-itsm) * [Automating Microsoft Windows with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform](/en/technologies/management/ansible/automate-microsoft-windows-with-ansible) * [What is DevOps automation?](/en/topics/automation/what-is-devops-automation) * [What is Infrastructure as Code (IaC)?](/en/topics/automation/what-is-infrastructure-as-code-iac) * [Ansible vs. Kubernetes: how they work together](/en/topics/automation/Ansible-vs-Kubernetes) * [What is a configuration management database (CMDB)?](/en/topics/automation/what-is-a-configuration-management-database-cmdb) * [What is cloud migration? 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