Automation sounds simple when you’re starting.
Write a playbook. Run it. Let Ansible handle the repetitive work.
And for a while, that might be enough.
But what happens when the environment grows?
You now have hundreds of servers, multiple teams, different environments, shared automation content, security requirements and workflows that need to run consistently. Suddenly, writing a few playbooks isn’t the whole job anymore.
This is where advanced Ansible Automation comes in.
Red Hat’s Developing Advanced Automation with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform (DO374) is designed for professionals who want to move beyond basic Ansible usage and develop automation that can scale using more advanced, container-focused tools and recommended development practices. The current exam associated with this path, EX374, is based on Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5.
From Ansible Playbooks to Enterprise Automation
Ansible is popular partly because it makes automation approachable. You can write a playbook describing the tasks you want performed and use it to configure systems consistently. For example, instead of manually installing a package on multiple Linux servers, you can automate the process. Instead of logging into each server to change a configuration, you can define the configuration once and apply it repeatedly.
That’s useful.
But enterprise environments introduce another layer of complexity. You need to think about:
- How automation content is organised
- How teams collaborate on playbooks
- How automation is tested
- How reusable components are created
- Where automation runs
- How different environments are managed
- How credentials are controlled
- How automation is executed centrally
- How automation scales
This is where Ansible Automation Platform becomes more than just a place to run playbooks. Red Hat describes Ansible Automation Platform as a unified automation solution covering processes such as provisioning, configuration management, application deployment and orchestration, and security and compliance changes.
What Is DO374?
DO374 is Developing Advanced Automation with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
The course is designed to help automation content developers advance their Ansible skills and develop scalable automation using container-focused tools and recommended practices.
The associated EX374 certification validates skills around developing automation with Ansible Automation Platform, including using Git, managing content collections, building and using execution environments, managing inventories and credentials, and working with Automation Controller.
What Skills Can You Develop Through DO374?
1. Advanced Playbook Development
Playbooks are where many people begin with Ansible.
At an advanced level, the focus moves beyond simply getting a playbook to work.
You start thinking about how automation should be. That becomes especially important when automation is shared across projects and teams.
2. Reusable Roles and Automation Content
Copying the same tasks into multiple playbooks can quickly become difficult to maintain.
Reusable automation helps solve this problem.
Instead of rebuilding the same logic every time, teams can create components that can be reused across different automation projects.
Ansible’s content ecosystem includes roles and collections, allowing automation content to be packaged, shared and reused.
Red Hat’s current Ansible certification objectives include creating and downloading. That is an important step toward enterprise automation.
3. Git for Automation Development
Automation is code. And once multiple people are working with automation, version control becomes important. DO374 and the associated EX374 objectives include using Git to manage collections of playbooks, including cloning repositories and creating, modifying and pushing files.
This brings automation development closer to the workflows already familiar to software and DevOps teams.
Instead of keeping playbooks as files sitting on someone’s laptop, teams can:
- Track changes
- Collaborate
- Review updates
- Maintain versions
- Reuse existing content
- Manage automation projects systematically
For professionals moving toward DevOps or platform engineering, this connection between Git + automation is particularly useful.
4. Ansible Content Collections
As automation environments become larger, organising content becomes increasingly important. Ansible Content Collections provide a structured way to package and distribute automation content.
Professionals working with advanced Ansible need to understand how collections are created, published, installed and used. This also helps teams avoid building every automation component from scratch. The result is a more organised approach to automation development.
5. Execution Environments
This is one of the areas that differentiates modern Ansible Automation Platform workflows from simply running playbooks from a local machine.
An Execution Environment provides a defined environment in which automation runs.
It can package the dependencies required by automation content, helping create more predictable execution.
The current EX374 objectives include building execution environments, running playbooks in them, uploading them to Automation Hub and using them with Automation Controller.
This becomes important when automation needs to work consistently across different environments.
6. Automation Controller
Running automation manually is fine when you’re experimenting.
Enterprise teams often need centralised control.
Automation Controller provides a way to define, operate, scale and delegate automation across an organisation.
Professionals working with it can manage areas such as:
- Projects
- Job templates
- Inventories
- Credentials
- Execution environments
- Automation jobs
The EX374 objectives specifically include running playbooks in Automation Controller and pulling content from Git or Automation Hub.
This is where automation begins to look less like a collection of scripts and more like an operational platform.
7. Inventory and Credential Management
Automation needs to know what systems it is managing and how it is allowed to access them.
That’s where inventories and credentials become important.
Advanced Ansible workflows can involve:
- Static inventories
- Advanced inventories
- Dynamic inventories
- Host and group variables
- Machine credentials
- Source-control credentials
The current EX374 objectives include managing advanced inventories, creating dynamic inventories and managing machine and source-control credentials.
For enterprise environments, these aren’t small details.
They are part of making automation manageable and controlled.
Ansible Automation Across Linux, DevOps and Cloud
One reason Ansible remains relevant is that automation doesn’t belong to only one IT discipline.
Linux Administration
Linux administrators can use Ansible to automate configuration, package management, user management, service configuration and other routine tasks.
DevOps
DevOps teams rely heavily on repeatable processes.
Ansible can be used alongside Git, CI/CD pipelines, containers and cloud platforms to automate infrastructure and application-related workflows.
Cloud
Cloud environments can involve large numbers of resources and repeated configuration tasks. Automation can help teams standardise how infrastructure is configured and managed.
Ansible Automation Platform also provides capabilities for automating across cloud environments, including AWS and Microsoft Azure.
Enterprise IT
This is where centralised automation becomes particularly relevant.
Large organisations may have:
- Multiple environments
- Multiple teams
- Large server fleets
- Compliance requirements
- Shared automation
- Different access levels
A structured automation platform can help bring these workflows together.
What Is the Difference Between Basic Ansible and Advanced Ansible?
A simple way to look at the progression is:
| Basic Ansible | Advanced Ansible Automation |
| Write playbooks | Develop reusable automation content |
| Run automation manually | Centralise and manage automation |
| Manage individual tasks | Build repeatable workflows |
| Basic inventories | Advanced and dynamic inventories |
| Local execution | Managed execution environments |
| Individual playbooks | Collections and reusable content |
| Manual organisation | Git-based development |
| Small-scale automation | Enterprise-scale automation |
The goal isn’t to make basic Ansible irrelevant.
It’s to build on it.
If basic Ansible teaches you how to automate, advanced Ansible teaches you how to develop and manage automation in a larger environment.
Benefits of Learning Advanced Ansible Automation
Less Repetitive Work
Automation reduces the need to repeatedly perform the same administrative tasks manually.
More Consistency
When configuration is defined through automation, teams can apply the same processes repeatedly.
Better Collaboration
Git, collections and structured automation content make it easier for multiple people to contribute.
Reusable Automation
Instead of recreating automation for every environment, teams can build reusable content.
Greater Scalability
Centralised automation and execution environments make it easier to manage automation as environments grow.
Stronger DevOps Skills
Advanced Ansible connects naturally with Git, containers, CI/CD and cloud infrastructure.
Enterprise-Ready Automation Skills
Learning how to work with Automation Controller, inventories, credentials, collections and execution environments moves your skill set closer to enterprise automation environments.
Who Should Consider DO374 Training?
DO374 isn’t necessarily the first Ansible course someone should take.
It is designed for professionals who already have a foundation and want to move into more advanced automation development.
Potential learners include:
- Linux System Administrators
- DevOps Engineers
- Cloud Administrators
- Automation Engineers
- Infrastructure Engineers
- Platform Engineers
- IT professionals working with Ansible
- Professionals preparing for the EX374 certification
Red Hat’s certification guidance specifically identifies experienced Linux system administrators, DevOps engineers, cloud administrators and other IT professionals who want to demonstrate broader Ansible knowledge as potential candidates.
If you’re completely new to Ansible, starting with foundational training is likely to make more sense.
Ansible Automation Career Scope
Learning advanced Ansible doesn’t automatically create a new job title.
Instead, it can strengthen the automation component of several existing IT roles.
Automation Engineer
Design and maintain automation workflows for infrastructure and operational tasks.
DevOps Engineer
Use automation alongside CI/CD, cloud, containers and infrastructure tools.
Linux Administrator
Move from manual system administration toward automated infrastructure management.
Cloud Engineer
Automate configuration and operational tasks across cloud environments.
Infrastructure Engineer
Manage large-scale infrastructure using repeatable automation.
Platform Engineer
Build internal platforms and automated workflows that make infrastructure easier for development and operations teams to use.
Site Reliability Engineer
Use automation to reduce repetitive operational work and improve consistency.
The common thread across these roles is not the word “Ansible” in the job title.
It’s the ability to automate infrastructure reliably at scale.
Why Ansible Automation Matters in 2026
The interesting thing about automation in 2026 isn’t simply that companies want people who know Ansible.
They need professionals who understand how automation fits into modern IT operations.
That includes:
Linux
Understanding the systems being automated.
Git
Managing automation content and collaboration.
Containers
Understanding execution environments and modern application infrastructure.
Cloud
Automating infrastructure and operational workflows.
DevOps
Connecting development and operations through repeatable processes.
Kubernetes and OpenShift
Working with increasingly automated cloud-native environments.
Ansible sits across many of these areas.
That’s why learning it as an isolated tool can limit its value.
Learning it as part of a broader infrastructure and DevOps skill set can make it much more useful.
The Bigger Career Picture
Ansible is not the destination.
It’s one part of a broader infrastructure skill set.
A professional might start with Linux administration, learn Ansible, move into DevOps, add cloud and Kubernetes skills, and eventually work in platform engineering or enterprise automation.
A possible progression could look like:
Linux Administration → Ansible → Advanced Automation → DevOps / Cloud →
Kubernetes / OpenShift → Platform Engineering
The exact path will depend on your existing skills and career goals.
But the underlying principle remains the same:
The more infrastructure you understand, the more useful your automation becomes.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Ansible Automation?
Ansible Automation uses Ansible technologies to automate tasks such as configuration management, provisioning, application deployment and infrastructure operations.
2. What is DO374?
DO374 is Developing Advanced Automation with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. It focuses on developing scalable automation using advanced and container-focused Ansible Automation Platform tools and practices.
3. Is DO374 suitable for beginners?
DO374 is better suited to professionals who already have Ansible and Linux experience. Beginners should generally build foundational Ansible skills before moving into advanced automation.
4. What is Ansible Automation Platform?
Ansible Automation Platform is Red Hat’s enterprise automation platform for developing, managing and scaling automation across organisations. It supports areas including automation execution, content management, authentication, access management and event-driven automation.
5. What skills does DO374 cover?
The advanced automation path includes Git, reusable automation content, content collections, execution environments, inventories, credentials and Automation Controller.
6. What is the difference between Ansible and Ansible Automation Platform?
Ansible provides the automation engine and automation language, while Ansible Automation Platform provides an enterprise platform for developing, managing, executing and scaling automation.
7. Is Ansible useful for DevOps?
Yes. Ansible can complement DevOps workflows by automating infrastructure configuration, deployment and operational tasks.
8. Is Ansible useful for cloud automation?
Yes. Ansible Automation Platform can be used to automate infrastructure and operational workflows across cloud environments.