AutoCon 2 Logo

The only conference that dares to keep asking:

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

AutoCon 2 was held in
Denver, CO The Week of 18-22
NOV 2024

Thanks to everyone who made AutoCon 2 a success!!!

Event Photos

Testimonials

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

sponsors

Accelerating Sponsors

Strategic partner

Sustaining Sponsors

Community Partner

Supporting Sponsors

Official Media Partner

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