Automation or Orchestration?

About this interactive

Automation is taking a process people do by hand and having software do it. The lesson's example: HR's spreadsheet of ten new hires goes into the software, and it creates and provisions the accounts. Pressing a button to build one new virtual server, install its software and join it to the domain is also automation. Orchestration is automation of a whole environment. Not only the server, but the database behind it, the networking, the routing and everything else, set up together in the right order so the whole thing works. Security+ describes it as coordinating many automated tasks. Both bring consistency and speed, because the code runs the same way every time. A quick test for each card: is the software doing one task or building one system, or is it bringing many parts up together as one environment?

What you'll learn

Tell automation, which has software carry out one task or set up one system, from orchestration, which automates many components together as a whole environment
Recognize the lesson's examples: a script that creates accounts from a spreadsheet, or builds one server, is automation; building the servers, database, networking and routing together is orchestration

Aligned to

CompTIA Security+

4.7 Explain the importance of automation and orchestration related to secure operations.

ISC2 CISSP

7.9 Understand and participate in change management processes.

CompTIA SecurityX

4.5 Explain the use of automation, orchestration, and threat intelligence in security operations.

Key terms

Automation: The use of software or scripts to perform IT processes and tasks without manual intervention, streamlining workflows such as change control and infrastructure deployment.
Orchestration: The automated coordination and management of multiple systems or components as a whole environment, extending automation across interconnected infrastructure elements simultaneously.

Topics

Automation Orchestration Interactive Streak Sort

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