Orchestration is the automated configuration, coordination, and management of computer systems, applications, and software. Orchestration is used to help streamlining and simplify operation management for information technology (IT) personnel. By automating the configuration, management, and interoperability of disparate computer systems, applications, and services, orchestration can free IT personnel from the burden of managing a variety of mission-critical but often complex tasks and processes. Use cases for orchestration include:
- Faster software development
- Batch processing daily transactions
- Managing many servers and applications
- Data analytics
Orchestration vs. automation
Orchestration and automation are related concepts but different terms. Automation refers to automating a single task. It helps make a business more efficient by reducing or replacing a manual task with software that will perform the task and reduce cost, complexity, and errors at the same time. Orchestration is the process of automating a process or workflow that involves many steps across multiple disparate systems. When these processes are automated, they can then be orchestrated to run automatically.
Orchestration can be used to automate processes such as server provisioning, cloud workload management, database management, and indecent management.
Orchestration tools
There are multiple tools that can help orchestrate processes and ensure that all tasks happen in the correct order. These tools can be categorized into two categories.
Cloud orchestration tools
Cloud orchestration manages the interconnections and interactions among workloads on public and private cloud infrastructure. Popular cloud orchestration vendors include:
- Microsoft Azure Automation
- IBM Cloud Orchestrator
- Puppet Bolt
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
Container orchestration tools
Container orchestration automates the deployment, management, scaling, and network of containers. This kind of orchestration is used by enterprises needing to deploy and manage many Linux containers and hosts. Populate container orchestration vendors include:
- Kubernetes
- IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service
- Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service
- Amazon EC2 Container Service
