Execution environment definition components

When you create a custom execution environment definition, you configure the core components that determine the environment's capabilities, security, and dependencies.

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Component Description Key considerations and examples
Base images

The foundation layer of your execution environment, pre-configured with a specific operating system and toolset.

The following base images are available in all predefined templates:

  • Red Hat Ansible Minimal EE - Ansible Core 2.18 (RHEL 9)
  • Red Hat Ansible Minimal EE - Ansible Core 2.18 (RHEL 8)
  • Red Hat Ansible Minimal EE - Ansible Core 2.16 (RHEL 9)
  • Red Hat Ansible Minimal EE - Ansible Core 2.16 (RHEL 8)

If you provide a custom image, it must include ansible-core and ansible-runner.
Collections Specifies the Ansible collections and Python libraries required by your automation content. You can add collections manually or upload a requirements.yml file.

When collections overlap, the system merges the contents. If duplicates occur:

  • If a version is not specified, the system prioritizes the most recent version available.
  • If versions are explicitly specified for both collections, the system uses the most recent version.
Python requirements Defines the minimum Python version and any extra Python packages required for this execution environment.

Must reflect the version compatibility used across your organization for running automation reliably.

Avoid repeating Python requirements already specified as a dependency by the selected collections (for example, in their respective requirements.txt files).
System packages Operating system libraries and packages required by the Python packages or collections in the execution environment.

Examples: git, gcc, python3-devel. These are necessary for compiling Python packages during the build process.

This list supplements, and must not repeat, any base OS dependencies already managed by your environment's build system.
Additional build steps Custom shell commands injected directly into the container runtime instruction file at specific build phases (prepend or append to base, galaxy, builder, or final stages). Use additional build steps for actions like installing private certificates or configuring environment variables not covered by standard package installation.

Predefined execution environment templates
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Predefined templates accelerate environment setup for common use cases. AAP administrators manage which templates are available and can control access with RBAC.

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Template Description Use cases
Start from scratch A blank-slate template for creating custom execution environments (loaded by default). Use this template when you require complete control over the base image and dependencies to build a highly customized or minimized execution environment.
Networking Automation A template optimized for network device interaction with pre-selected networking collections (included in Helm chart but commented out by default). Use this template when your automation primarily interacts with switches, routers, firewalls, and other network infrastructure.
Cloud Automation A template optimized for deploying and managing cloud resources with pre-selected cloud collections (included in Helm chart but commented out by default). Use this template when your automation targets provisioning, configuration, and management of cloud services.
Note

Networking Automation and Cloud Automation templates require their referenced collections to be discoverable from a configured content source.