There’s a lot of good stuff happening in the various tech areas I’m tracking.
Among others, thank you, GestaltIT/TechFieldDay for all the great presentations. I’ve got quite a backlog of those to fully digest!
This is a “catch-up” blog intended to share some interesting links in the area of (Network) Automation. Yes, some may not be directly relevant to #DayJob, but … awareness?
Automation Links
Network Automation Forum (NAF) and Autocon 0: They’ve got Day 1 YouTube video recording links up as I write this. Day 2 is coming soon (so probably posted well before you ever see this!):
- See https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGT0W1qiAOz3BUv9QH5kl0Q. Scroll down to the Video section!
- “Observations from NAF AutoCon0: The Need to Differentiate Automation & Orchestration”: https://www.itential.com/blog/company/hybrid-cloud-automation/observations-from-naf-autocon0-the-need-to-differentiate-automation-orchestration
- Three takeaways from Autocon 0 (Packet Pushers): https://packetpushers.net/3-takeaways-from-autocon0/
Russ White has been posting Hedge talks re network automation with Terry Slattery: https://rule11.tech/hedge-204/.
- Joel King posted the following LinkedIn comment I agree with: For most, the problem is people and process. The technology is a relatively easy problem in comparison.”
- I’d add budget to that. Automation needs to move from skunkworks or OnTheJob hobby to officially authorized and supported time and budget.
Aligning with the previous items, there’s a good Kentik blog “What’s Stopping the Adoption of Network Automation?”: https://www.kentik.com/blog/whats-stopping-the-adoption-of-network-automation/. Note also: https://www.kentik.com/blog/kubecon-2023-code-culture-community-and-kubernetes/
Blog post by #JulioPDX (member of FoDW, Friends of Dan Wade <grin>) on some network automation CI pipeline coding he has shared: https://juliopdx.com/2023/11/25/network-ci-and-open-source/
Link from IPSpace.net (https://blog.ipspace.net/2023/11/worth-reading-automation-github-actions.html) points to Github (GitOps) proof of concept tools for automated actions: https://github.com/gdmoney/network-automation-github-actions
Gluware is pushing their strength: canned automation vs. DIY, which I have to agree is likely one good way to go for small-medium organizations that can’t really afford to code and maintain. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gluwares-chief-product-officer-highlight-case-studies-key-outcomes-8mohc/
WebAssembly: I read that some consider this as potentially interesting for developers, not really a Kubernetes alternative. Think secure binary compilation for a native speed execution of stack-based VMs, that can run on many platforms, including 4 major browser engines. I understand this as a different foundational approach web developers might use. I mentally categorize this as “keep on radar but not yet directly relevant to networking”.
- https://webassembly.org
- https://thenewstack.io/webassembly/yes-webassembly-can-replace-kubernetes/
- https://gestaltit.com/podcast/stephen/webassembly-will-displace-containers-for-web-scale-applications/
Also not directly networking, but interesting. Possible second wave of DevOps. Programmability and Automation Meetup Group, hosted by WWT. Past sessions can be found at https://www.wwt.com/community/programmability-and-automation-meetup-group/past-sessions.
In particular, see the 11/29/2023 talk, “It’s Time to Rebuild DevOps” by the open-source firm System Initiative. The presenters are focused on AWS automation for now, but what they have to say seems also relevant to networking. Quick summary is like a two-way workflow, rather than line SSOT to testing to deploying.
- Slide deck: https://www.wwt.com/api/attachments/6567a73ce4dbd18c7d721d88/file
- Recording: see the Recordings tab
BlueAlly/NetCraftsmen is partnered with NetBox, providing NetBox services. Some links for those interested in NSOT and learning more (and possibly DIY):
- ”Why Network Automation Requires a Network Source of Truth” Webinar recording
- Webinar slides: https://23319422.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/23319422/Webinar%2028th%20Nov%2023%20-%20Why%20Network%20Automation%20Requires%20A%20Network%20Source%20of%20Truth.pdf
- NetBox Zero to Hero Course: https://netboxlabs.com/zero-to-hero/
Cisco DevNet Newsletter signup: https://go.devrelnews.cisco.com/developer-relations-newsletter-sign-up.html
Free (for the price of registering): AWS Ebook “GitOps and Everything as Code”. Pro: free, GitOps. Con: AWS buildout centric. https://pages.awscloud.com/awsmp-adhoc-mpd-devops-eb3-gitops-and-everything-as-code.html?
In the category of “being aware of where developers might be headed and why” … Blog: Why You Might Want to Move Your Workloads Out of the Cloud:
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/why-you-might-want-to-move-your-workloads-out-of-the-cloud/
Cisco Metrics Search Engine: search for Telemetry, Instrumentation, and Metrics of Cisco products: YANG models, SNMP MIBs, API files, CLI files for 180+ Cisco product categories:
https://developer.cisco.com/cmse/
A good reminder of SuzieQ for gathering info, etc.: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7135622223909818368/
Related interesting blog: https://danielhertzberg.net/posts/suzieq-multiroutes/
Post re webhooks and their use for GitOps and Event-Driven Automation: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/seanecavanaugh_eventdrivenautomation-eda-ansible-ugcPost-7132717337249550336-ILTZ/
Conclusion
There’s lots of good things happening, so many it can be a challenge keeping up. I hope the above material helps!
Let’s start a conversation! Contact us to see how NetCraftsmen experts can help with your complex challenges.
