Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2. 7 introduces many new enhancements designed to scale enterprise automation, improve platform engineering productivity, and bridge the gap with AI-driven operations. Key updates include high-level advancements in AI orchestration through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server and tailored knowledge integration, while simultaneously streamlining development with a visual execution environment builder and enhancing zero-trust security via native Hashicorp Vault OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication.
In part 1 of our blog series , we highlighted why it’s worth upgrading to Ansible Automation Platform 2. Upgrading to Ansible Automation Platform 2. 7 should be treated as a strategic opportunity to evaluate your platform implementation and ensure that the platform is encouraging development in your automation maturity, not hindering it. Depending on your current deployment architecture and future automation goals, it can range from a smooth afternoon task to a multi-week platform migration project.
When considering your upgrade, we have identified 6 key decisions about your environment that should define how you plan for the platform within your organization. This is especially important for those who are still on RPM-based installations of Ansible Automation Platform 2. When upgrading to Ansible Automation Platform 2. 7, the first step is selecting the deployment model that best aligns with your organizational strategy. Whether you are aiming for high-touch control or hands-off efficiency, there is no wrong answer—only the right fit for your team’s unique requirements.
These options offer tremendous flexibility; your dev and production environments do not need to be perfectly identical. Thanks to execution environments, your automation remains portable and consistent, regardless of the underlying platform deployment. By utilizing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles to define your deployments, you enable consistency and repeatability across your entire automation landscape. Once you identify the model that best supports your goals, the path to a seamless Ansible Automation Platform 2. 7 upgrade becomes much clearer.