AutoCon 2 Logo

The only conference that dares to keep asking:

Why haven’t we seen full adoption of network automation, yet?

Our Third Event,
AutoCon 2,
will be held
in Denver, CO
The Week of
18-22 NOV 2024…

High-level agenda, Speakers, Full Program, workshop details, venue details, and sponsors can all be found below.

Agenda


18-19 November (Monday & Tuesday) — Workshops

Monday, 18 November; Workshops will start at 09:00 local (MST / GMT-7) time and end around 18:00 local. Lunch will be served for workshop participants.

Tuesday, 19 November; Workshops will start at 09:00 local time and end around 18:00. Lunch will be served for workshop participants.

20-22 (Wednesday-Friday) — Conference

Wednesday, 20 November; Registration opens at 08:00 MST. Lunch will be served at 11:30. The conference will start at 13:00. There will be a happy hour from 17:00 to 19:00.

Thursday, 21 November; The conference will run all day. Lunch will be provided. There will be a social event from 18:00 to 22:00.

Friday, 22 November; The conference will end at noon local time. Lunch will NOT be served on Friday.

Speakers

  • Photo of AutoCon 2 opening keynote speaker Anna Claiborne

    Opening Keynote

    Anna Claiborne

  • Photo of AutoCon 2 closing keynote speaker Mircea Ulinic

    Closing Keynote

    Mircea Ulinic

  • Chris Grundemann

    Chris Grundemann

    Co-Founder @ NAF

  • Danny Wade

    Danny Wade

    Practice Lead, Network & Infrastructure Automation @ BlueAlly

  • Du’An S. Lightfoot

    Du’An S. Lightfoot

    Sr. Developer Advocate @ Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  • Eric Anderson

    Eric Anderson

    Sr. Infrastructure Architect @ Armstrong World Industries

  • Hari Gollapalli

    Hari Gollapalli

    Senior Software Development Manager @ PayPal

  • Jeremy Schulman

    Jeremy Schulman

    Senior Director of Solution Engineering, Infrastructure @ Major League Baseball (MLB)

  • Joe Wesch

    Joe Wesch

    Managing Consultant, Network Automation @ Network to Code

  • Jose Miguel Izquierdo

    Jose Miguel Izquierdo

    Technical Marketing Engineer @ Juniper Networks

  • Joseph Nicholson

    Joseph Nicholson

    Global IP Network @ NTT Data

  • Karl Newell

    Karl Newell

    Network Software Architect @ Internet2

  • Mason L Reimert

    Mason L Reimert

    Assistant Vice President, IT Infrastructure @ First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union

  • Matthew Deibel

    Matthew Deibel

    Grid Automation Services Manager @ Southern California Edison (SCE)

  • Michael Daly

    Michael Daly

    Senior Director of Engineering @ Imperva

  • Michael Wynston

    Michael Wynston

    Director Global Network Architecture and Automation @ Fiserv

  • Phillip Gervasi

    Phillip Gervasi

    Director of Technical Evangelism @ Kentik

  • Rajiv Gupta

    Rajiv Gupta

    Senior Network Engineer @ Genentech

  • Ryan Shaw

    Ryan Shaw

    Network Architect @ Zscaler

  • Scott Robohn

    Scott Robohn

    Co-Founder @ NAF

  • Steinn Bjarnarson

    Steinn Bjarnarson

    Lead product development engineer @ Advania Ísland

  • William Collins

    William Collins

    Director of Tech Evangelism at Alkira

Conference Program

  • 08:00 - 16:00 — Registration open; networking begins!

    11:30 - 13:00 — LUNCH (provided on-site)

    13:00 - 13:15 — Conference opening and introduction

    13:15 - 14:00 — Opening Keynote: Anna Claiborne

    14:00 - 14:10 — Strategic Partner: NetBox Labs

    14:10 - 14:30 — Chris Grundemann - Results of the 2024 State of Network Automation Survey

    14:30 - 15:00 — Joe Wesch - Don’t Panic! QuikTrip’s Automated Network Keeps the Coffee Brewing

    15:00 - 15:30 — BREAK

    15:30 - 16:00 — Jeremy Schulman - AI Driven Advanced Network Observability

    16:00 - 16:30 — Michael Daly - The Tale of 2 Henrys; Precision vs Accuracy

    16:30 - 17:00 — Ryan Shaw - Comprehensive Infrastructure Automation (CIA)

    17:00 - 17:05 — Day one closing words

    17:00 - 19:00 — HAPPY HOUR

  • 08:00 - 15:00 — Registration and check-in open

    9:00 - 9:05 — Day two welcome message

    9:05 - 9:45 — Hari Gollapalli - The art of automating the automation; PayPal's journey to Network Platform Engineering

    9:45 - 9:55 — Accelerating Sponsor: Itential

    9:55 - 10:35 — Matthew Deibel - Intent-Based MPLS Router and WAN Provisioning

    10:35 - 11:05 — BREAK

    11:05 - 11:45 — Danny Wade - Step 0; Test the Network!

    11:45 - 11:55 — Accelerating Sponsor: OpenText

    11:55 - 12:35 — William Collins - Building the Business Case for Automation using Informal Channels

    12:35 - 13:35 — LUNCH (on-site) with Birds of a Feather (BoF) Sessions

    13:35 - 14:15 — Jose Miguel Izquierdo - Empowering DevOps: Harnessing Docs as Code for Automated Reports and Documents

    14:15 - 14:25 — Accelerating Sponsor: Pliant

    14:25 - 15:05 — Rajiv Gupta - Everything Everwhere All At Once

    15:05 - 15:35 — BREAK

    15:35 - 16:15 — Du’An S. Lightfoot - Network Whisperer: Building the Ultimate AI Network Agent

    16:15 - 16:55 — Phillip Gervasi - The human factor of using LLMs in network operations

    16:55 - 17:00 — Day two closing words

    18:00 - 21:00 — NUG @ NAF Social Event by USNUA

  • 9:00 - 9:10 — Day three welcome messages

    9:10 - 9:55 — Closing Keynote: Mircea Ulinic

    9:55 - 10:25 — Scott Robohn - Total Network Operations (TNOps): Navigating Disruption and Preparing for the Future

    10:25 - 10:55 — BREAK

    10:55 - 11:05 — Mahesh Jethanandani - IETF Session at AC2 Read Out

    11:05 - 11:55 — Lightning Talks!
    + Speaker 1 - Eric Anderson - Leveraging Network Automation for Seamless Infrastructure Service Delivery
    + Speaker 2 - Mason L Reimert - How Mid-Sized Organizations Can Leverage Network Automation
    + Speaker 3 - Steinn Bjarnarson - I downloaded netbox, now what?
    + Speaker 4 - Joseph Nicholson - Network Automation in Baby Steps!
    + Speaker 5 - Karl Newell - Lessons Learned from Automating a Nationwide Network

    11:55 - 12:00 — Closing Ceremony

Workshop Details

Practical network automation training to help kick-start your network automation journey!

Based on the overwhelming success of the AutoCon Workshop Bundle at AutoCon 1, we are hosting hands-on workshops again for AutoCon 2.

New for AutoCon 2; we are hosting multiple workshop tracks. Attendees are able to select the four specific workshops they want to attend, one from each time block - ”choose your own adventure” style.

We have workshops covering: SoT, Orchestration, Observability, K8s, AI, Ansible, Templates, Python, and more. Sessions are filled on a first-come, first served basis at the time of ticket purchase. See course schedule and workshop details below!

DATES: Monday and Tuesday, 18-19 November, 2024

All workshops require that you bring your own laptop with an SSH client. Some workshops may have additional requirements.

Workshops will run from 09:00am to 18:00pm local time (MST) both days. Lunch, as well as morning and afternoon coffee breaks with snacks will be provided for all attendees. Conference ticket sold separately.

AutoCon 2 Workshop Adventure

  • WS:A1 - Utilize GenAI for Network Troubleshooting
    Proctor: Tomasz Janaszka & Adam Kulagowski, CodiLime
    Description: Future-proof network troubleshooting with GenAI! Join our workshop and build your own net-chat assistant using LLMs, LangChain, and Streamlit.
    Level: Intermediate (no AI experience needed)
    Agenda: 
    + An introduction to GenAI, LLMs, and chatbots in network automation
    + An introduction to technologies used during the workshop
    + Net-chat assistant for network troubleshooting - wrap up
    + Hands-on lab
    + Q&A

    WS:A2 - Containerlab: a Modern way to Design, Deploy, and Test Network Labs
    Proctor: Reda Laichi & Saju Salahudeen, Nokia
    Description: Dive into the future of network engineering and practice creating multi-vendor labs in a simple and easy way - all agenda items are hands-on.
    Level: Beginner
    Agenda: 
    + Lab deployment workflow; installation, images, and files
    + Connectivity to the nodes
    + Lab lifecycle
    + Troubleshooting and Wireshark pcaps
    + Sharing the lab and exploring the catalog of existing labs

    WS:A3 - Reconcile and Augment Network Sources of Truth (SoT)
    Proctor: Craig Johns, Forward Networks
    Level: Intermediate
    Description: Dive deep into reconciling and augmenting Network Sources of Truth (SoT) with Forward Enterprise, ServiceNow CMDB, and NetBox Labs.
    Level: Intermediate
    Agenda:
    + Introduction to Network Sources of + Truth
    + Challenges in Reconciling SoTs
    + Hands-on Lab
    + Q&A

    WS:A4 - Workflow Orchestrator Workshop
    Proctor: Alex Ray, ESnet
    Description: This workshop will introduce SURF’s open-source Workflow Orchestrator system, including an interactive development exercise.
    Level: Intermediate, Advanced, Expert
    Agenda:
    + Introduction & ESnet's automation journey
    + Explanation of workshop architecture & Setup workshop environments
    + Workshop exercises
    + Questions & brainstorming about ways to implement automation for your organization
    + Closing thoughts

  • WS:B1 - Mastering Network Observability: From Fundamentals to Advanced
    Description:
    Elevate your network telemetry skills and dive deep into telemetry types, pipelines, analytics, and how to incorporate network observability into an IaC automation workflow.
    Proctor: Phil Gervasi, Kentik
    Level: Intermediate, Advanced
    Agenda:
    + What is observability? 
    + Telemetry types necessary for network observability 
    + Working with telemetry data 
    + Network observability as part of an IaC automation workflow 
    + Lab/Demo

    WS:B2 - Data Modeling & Network Source of Truth
    Proctor: Damien Garros, OpsMill
    Description: This workshop provides an introduction to data management and network modeling in a SOT, a crucial part of any automation stack. 
    Level: Beginner, Intermediate
    Agenda:
    + Introduction to the main schema languages
    + Introduction to the main type of database (Relational, Graph, No SQL)
    + How to models your infrastructure, do and don't
    + Importance of Status & Role
    + Main options to store your data (Git, NSoT)

    WS:B3 - Elevate Your Network Automation with StackStorm
    Proctor:
    Eddie Chan, Ironwood Networks
    Description: Learn the basics of StackStorm (an automation development framework) and elevate your network automation by creating centralized, manageable, and shareable automations.
    Level: Beginner, Intermediate
    Agenda: 
    + Introduction & Installation
    + Navigating the UI and CLI
    + Develop your own pack & create simple actions
    + Combining Actions into Workflows
    + Actions, variables, and secrets
    + Conclusion

    WS:B4 - A day in the life of a Network Engineer using Jinja2 Templates
    Proctor: Claudia de Luna, EIA
    Description: Using templates to create network docs & configurations programmatically is key to any automation strategy; we will generate a wide range of artifacts using Jinja templates.
    Level: Beginner, Intermediate
    Agenda:
    + Everyone already has templates, Why are we here?
    + Background on templating languages
    + Revision Control
    + Template format
    + Jinja2 Fundamentals
    + Working Sessions

  • WS:C1 - Network Automation Zero to Hero
    Proctor: Mark Coleman, NetBox Labs
    Description: Implement a full intent-based network automation solution using NetBox, Slurpit, Netpicker, Icinga, and Ansible to gain a solid grasp of the core principles
    Level: Intermediate
    Agenda:
    + Make a change to the network, the old way, manually
    + Learn about Icinga, Slurpit, Netpicker, and intent based networking
    + Make a change to the network, the new way, automatically
    + Automatically update the devices with NetBox and Netpicker
    + Automatically update the monitoring
    + Network reconciliation with NetBox and Slurpit

    WS:C2 - Kubenet: Mastering Kubernetes for Network Automation
    Proctor:
    Wim Henderickx & Mauricio J. Rojas Pino, Nokia
    Description: Learn how to leverage Kubernetes APIs, configure network devices, and build custom automation frameworks in our hands-on workshop.
    Level: Intermediate
    Agenda:
    + Introduction to Kubernetes for Network Automation
    + Applying Network Configurations to Devices in a declarative way
    + Extending the Kubernetes API for Network Automation
    + Building Your Own Automation Framework using KRM

    WS:C3 - Network Monitoring for Beginners: Getting Started with TPG stack
    Proctor: Naveen Achyuta
    Description: Learn how to keep an eye on your network devices using the easy-to-use TPG stack: Telegraf, Prometheus, and Grafana.
    Level: Beginner, Intermediate
    Agenda:
    + Simulate a network using containerlab
    + Set up telegraf to collect device metrics using gnmi
    + Set up prometheus to scrape metrics from telegraf
    + Set up grafana and build network monitoring dashboards
    + Set up alerting using prometheus alert manager
    + Custom scripts in telegraf leveraging rest-api

    WS:C4 - Leveraging Python Ecosystem for Quick CLI Tool Creation
    Proctor:
    Urs Baumann
    Description: Dive into leveraging Nornir, Pydantic, Rich, and Typer to create powerful CLI tools your colleagues will actually want to use in this hands-on and practical workshop.
    Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert
    Agenda:
    + Setup Environment and install poetry
    + Nornir, Inventory, Tasks, & using Rich
    + Pydantic, Pydentify, JSONSchema, Models
    + Typer, Nettowel
    + Combine Nornir, Rich, Pydantic and Typer to a nice CLI tool
    + Questions, Demo, next steps, feedback!

  • WS:D1 - Automated & Scalable Network Testing with OTG
    Proctor:
    Manodipto Ghose, Keysight
    Description: Seeking fast, easy, automated network validation? Kickstart with free community tools and achieve testing continuum from design to production!
    Level: Intermediate, Advanced
    Agenda:
    + Open Traffic Generator (OTG)
    + OTG SDKs used in OpenConfig and SONiC
    + How to drive automated network testing using OTG

    WS:D2 - The Fundamentals of Setting Up and Populating a Network SoT
    Proctor:
    Josh VanDeraa, Steven Weiblinger, and Jeff Bradbury, Network to Code
    Description: Jumpstart Your Network Automation Journey: Learn to set up a Network Source of Truth and onboard devices in this hands-on workshop with labs!
    Level: Intermediate
    Agenda:
    + Proven processes for deploying a Network Source of Truth (NSoT)
    + Establishing an intended state model of the network
    + Best practices for onboarding devices
    + Approaches to defining the intended state
    + Best practices for capturing intended state as a model in the NSoT

    WS:D3 - Network resiliency with Event Driven automation using Ansible
    Proctor:
    Ganesh B. Nalawade & Nilashish Chakraborty, Redhat
    Description: Hands-on examples how AI will help in lowering the entry barrier for adopting network automation and introduce event driven automation with real world customer scenarios.
    Level: Beginner, Intermediate
    Agenda:
    + Set up the development environment
    + Writing Ansible playbook
    + Introduction to Ansible Controller
    + Introduction to EDA controller and various components

    WS:D4 - Implementing CI/CD Pipelines in a NetDevOps Environment
    Proctor:
    Eric Chou & Jeff Kala, Network to Code
    Description: Delve into the theories and practices of Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) with hands-on examples in a network engineering context.
    Level: Intermediate
    Agenda:
    + Introduction to NetDevOps and CI/CD
    + Hands-On Experience
    + Streamline Network Operations

- SOLD OUT -

- SOLD OUT -

Conference (event) registration is sold out.

AutoCon 2 Workshop Adventure tickets are sold out.

Here’s the plan, we’ll do our best to stick to it:

  • Workshop Tickets on-sale 15 August

  • Speaker List & Program Details published 5 September

  • Full Price Conference Registration on-sale 3 October

  • Sold out 18 October

Join us on Slack and sign up for the email list to be informed about future events.

Don’t want to miss the next event? Join our mailing list and watch for updates as they happen!

Venue

AutoCon 2 will held in Denver, CO, USA


Conference Hotel

The Westin Westminster

10600 Westminster Blvd, Westminster, CO 80020


BOOKING LINK

Discounted room rates

Use the following booking link to secure your room reservation.

We’ve negotiated a discounted group rate ($183/night) for all training and conference attendees, so book today! FYI: The rate is good up to 3 days before and 3 days after the event.

https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1718754714973&key=GRP

 

sponsors

Accelerating Sponsors

Strategic partner

Sustaining Sponsors

Community Partner

Supporting Sponsors

Official Media Partner

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