Joining Red Hat Inc.’s Ansible information technology automation software with VMware Inc.’s vSphere 6.5 cloud computing virtualization platform has opened exciting new possibilities for vSphere users. The user-friendly representational state transfer-based architecture of vSphere 6.5 is simpler to integrate into normal working environments and allows use of tools like Ansible to automate processes, according to Kyle Ruddy (pictured), senior technical marketing engineer at VMware Inc.

But watch out — automation newbies often become ardent enthusiasts. “[Automation] is a passion thing. If it’s something that you really get ingrained in, you really enjoy, then you’re going to want to care and feed that because it’s going to grow. It’s going to expand into other areas of your environment. It’s going to expand into other technologies that are within your environment,” Ruddy said.

Ruddy spoke with Stu Miniman (@Stu), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the VTUG Winter Warmer event in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where they discussed VMware’s automation strategy for vSphere, resources for users wanting to start automating tasks, and the impact of automation on the workplace.

Will a robot steal my job?

Ruddy dismissed fears that automation will take jobs away from people: “I got involved in automation because there was a way for me to automate and get rid of … menial tasks that I didn’t really enjoy doing,” he said. “There’s the stuff that you don’t really love doing and that you probably have to do a bunch. Those are the things that are … the easiest to … move to automation.”

So how do users start learning how to automate the repetitive, boring tasks they hate? Ruddy has written numerous posts on the VMware blog that guide new users, and Ansible has a Getting Started With vSphere document on the company’s website.  If you aren’t an automation enthusiast, you can always buy an off-the-shelf solution or hire a professional service organization to take over the care and feeding of already-functioning automated systems.

vSphere 5.5 will reach its end-of-availability and end-of-support date in fall 2018, so Ruddy encourages vSphere users on the older version to start putting upgrade plans in motion as soon as possible. The Windows version of vSphere is also scheduled for depreciation, with upcoming versions running on the vCenter Server Appliance preconfigured Linux virtual machine. The vCenter Server Appliance Migration tool with migration assistant, however, will ease the migration from Windows to the the vCenter Server Appliance, Ruddy added.

“[It’s] a really great tool and really helps to remove the pain out of the process,” he concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the VTUG Winter Warmer.

Photo: SiliconANGLE