Validated Patterns

Architecture

This page describes component schematics for each install variant. For what each variant installs on the cluster and which overrides apply, see Installation details.

Common components

Every variant deploys these components on the single hub cluster:

ComponentRole

Validated Patterns Operator and OpenShift GitOps

Installs and syncs the pattern through a single Argo CD instance (global.singleArgoCD: true)

HashiCorp Vault

Stores secrets loaded from your secrets file

External Secrets Operator

Projects Vault secrets into Kubernetes Secrets for AAP and related charts

ansible-automation-platform-operator

Operator channel stable-2.7 in the ansible-automation-platform namespace

ansible-automation-platform-instance chart

Deploys the AAP instance; release and feature flags come from per-variant overrides

aap-config chart

Loads CaC from the configured repository (default: agof_null_config)

Related charts:

Architecture diagrams

Each install variant has a hub-cluster schematic as PNG with matching draw.io source. PNG and draw.io files live in static/images/aap-starter-kit/.

DiagramVariantPNGdraw.io source

aap-architecture-minimal-aap

minimal-aap

aap-architecture-minimal-aap.png

aap-architecture-minimal-aap.drawio

aap-architecture-aap-with-hub

aap-with-hub

aap-architecture-aap-with-hub.png

aap-architecture-aap-with-hub.drawio

aap-architecture-aap-with-ao

aap-with-ao

aap-architecture-aap-with-ao.png

aap-architecture-aap-with-ao.drawio

aap-architecture-complete-aap-ao

complete-aap-ao

aap-architecture-complete-aap-ao.png

aap-architecture-complete-aap-ao.drawio

minimal-aap schematic

Default variant. Deploys AAP 2.7 with controller and minimal CaC. Automation hub and Lightspeed are disabled through overrides/values-aap-instance-minimal.yaml.

AAP Starter Kit architecture for the minimal-aap variant
Figure 1. AAP Starter Kit architecture (minimal-aap)

draw.io source: aap-architecture-minimal-aap.drawio

LayerWhat runs

Storage

Cluster default storage classes only (no OpenShift Data Foundation chart)

AAP features

Controller; automation hub off; Lightspeed off

Orchestration

None

aap-with-hub schematic

Adds OpenShift Data Foundation for RWX storage and enables automation hub. Lightspeed remains disabled. Instance flags come from overrides/values-aap-instance-with-hub.yaml. ODF object storage is disabled in overrides/values-odf-chart.yaml.

AAP Starter Kit architecture for the aap-with-hub variant
Figure 2. AAP Starter Kit architecture (aap-with-hub)

draw.io source: aap-architecture-aap-with-hub.drawio

LayerWhat runs

Storage

OpenShift Data Foundation StorageSystem (inventory; object storage disabled)

AAP features

Controller and automation hub; Lightspeed off

Orchestration

None

aap-with-ao schematic

Adds CloudNativePG and Automation Orchestrator on top of the minimal AAP instance (hub and Lightspeed still disabled). PostgreSQL 15 for Orchestrator and Temporal databases is provided by the vp-cloudnative-pg-cluster chart with overrides in overrides/values-vp-cloudnative-pg-ao.yaml.

AAP Starter Kit architecture for the aap-with-ao variant
Figure 3. AAP Starter Kit architecture (aap-with-ao)

draw.io source: aap-architecture-aap-with-ao.drawio

LayerWhat runs

Storage

Cluster default storage for CNPG volumes (no OpenShift Data Foundation)

AAP features

Controller; automation hub off; Lightspeed off

Database

CloudNativePG PostgreSQL 15 (orchestrator, temporal, temporal_visibility)

Orchestration

Automation Orchestrator operator and instance chart

Red Hat does not support CloudNativePG for Automation Orchestrator databases. Prefer an externally supported PostgreSQL 15 instance when a supported database is required.

complete-aap-ao schematic

Full stack: automation hub, Lightspeed, OpenShift Data Foundation, CloudNativePG, and Automation Orchestrator. Instance flags come from overrides/values-aap-instance-complete.yaml.

AAP Starter Kit architecture for the complete-aap-ao variant
Figure 4. AAP Starter Kit architecture (complete-aap-ao)

draw.io source: aap-architecture-complete-aap-ao.drawio

LayerWhat runs

Storage

OpenShift Data Foundation StorageSystem (RWX for automation hub)

AAP features

Controller, automation hub, and Lightspeed

Database

CloudNativePG PostgreSQL 15 for Automation Orchestrator

Orchestration

Automation Orchestrator operator and instance chart

Secrets and credentials

Certificate and secret handling uses Vault and External Secrets rather than local policy YAML in the pattern repository.

Secret / policyUsed by

aap-manifest

AAP entitlement (all variants)

automation-hub-token

Certified and validated content retrieval

agof-vault-file

Optional CaC secret overlay for aap-config

orchestrator-postgres-secret, temporal-postgres-secret, temporal-visibility-postgres-secret

aap-with-ao and complete-aap-ao (CNPG / AO)

postgresPasswordPolicy

Alphanumeric generated passwords so URL-encoded characters do not break AO Alembic or configparser

Helper scripts in the pattern repository:

  • scripts/ansible_get_credentials.sh — retrieves AAP admin credentials

  • scripts/ao_get_credentials.sh — retrieves Automation Orchestrator admin credentials

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Validated Patterns

Validated Patterns are an evolution of how you deploy applications in a hybrid cloud. With a pattern, you can automatically deploy a full application stack through a GitOps-based framework. With this framework, you can create business-centric solutions while maintaining a level of Continuous Integration (CI) over your application.