Steampunk Spotter 5.0: Supply Chain Management and Security Reports

Big things are happening with Steampunk Spotter this fall! We’re excited to introduce version 5.0, bringing major updates designed to give you more control, better security and easier management of Ansible automation projects. The improved Spotter version focuses on boosting your productivity and making sure your automation stays secure and compliant with the latest standards.

Let’s dive into the key highlights of Spotter 5.0.

1. Custom Scan Profiles

Spotter 5.0 gives you the flexibility to create custom scan profiles tailored to your needs. Whether you’re working on different environments or projects, you can now pick which checks to include in a scan with just a few clicks. Additionally, we have added a detailed list of all checks included in each predefined scan profile, along with descriptions.

2. Supply Chain Management

With the new Supply Chain Management feature, Spotter offers robust, centralized control over the Ansible content in your playbooks. Managing dependencies, like specific versions of the Ansible runtime and collections, is now simplified, ensuring they align with your security and compliance policies.

Key Benefits:

• Enhanced security: Prevent the use of vulnerable or unapproved Ansible modules, collections, and Python versions to reduce the risk of security breaches and unauthorized access.

• Compliance: Ensure your automation aligns with industry standards like PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR.

• Improved governance: Maintain a clear audit trail of all Ansible content for easier compliance reporting and risk assessments.

• Reduced security risks: Automation code is verified before deployment to minimize vulnerabilities.

• Operational efficiency: Automated validation saves time and catches issues early, keeping playbooks secure and compliant.

This powerful feature allows security teams to approve safe versions and block vulnerable or unapproved software, while playbook writers focus on automation logic without needing deep Python expertise. Read more.

3. Security and Upgrade Reports

Keep a close eye on the health of your automation, and make sure everything is running smoothly and securely with Spotter’s new reports.

Detailed Security Reports help you stay on top of vulnerabilities and risks in your Ansible automation projects. You can now gain deeper insights into unresolved security issues, assess risk levels, and review vulnerabilities identified by Spotter.

The new Upgrade Reports offer valuable insights into upgrading Ansible Playbooks, the Ansible version, and collection versions, and are also invaluable when migrating to a newer version of the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. These reports help you monitor your team’s progress as they work through any issues while migrating automation projects to the latest Ansible environments and managing dependency updates. Stay informed about outstanding issues that need to be resolved and easily check which ones have recently been fixed.

4. Ansible Plugin Documentation

Need a reference for Ansible plugins, collections, or modules? With Spotter 5.0, you can now access a comprehensive library of plugin documentation directly within the Spotter app. This centralized hub includes detailed descriptions, requirements, usage examples, and input/output information for each plugin.

Whether you’re developing new playbooks or troubleshooting existing ones, this feature will save you time and effort by consolidating all necessary documentation in one place.

See Spotter 5.0 in action

Steampunk Spotter 5.0 brings a new level of security and control to your automation. Experience its enhanced functionality firsthand by scheduling a personalized demo with our experts who can show you how Spotter can meet your specific business goals.

You can also catch our team in person at the two upcoming events – AutoCon 2 in Denver and DevOpsCon in Munich . Our team would love to meet you there and discuss your automation challenges!