Your Cheese Moved a Long Time Ago
I was recently on a panel at the Event-Driven Automation Meetup at LinkedIn in Sunnyvale, CA, and we all had a really good hour-long conversation about automation. What really made me happy was that nearly the entire conversation focused on bringing the same principles that companies like LinkedIn and Facebook use on their network to smaller organizations, making them practical for more widespread use. Nina Mushiana of @LinkedIn says "Anything that can be documented should be automated".Learn Programming or Perish(?)
I was honored to return to Packet Pushers for a discussion on programming skillsets in the networking industry. I verbalized some thoughts there, but even 60 minutes isn’t enough for a conversation like this.
To be clear, this post is written primarily to my followers in the networking industry, since that’s largely where this conversation is taking place.
Scripting is NOT Programming
I want to put something to rest right now, and that is the conflation of scripting and software development. You may be hesitant to pick up any skills in this area because you feel like you have to boil the ocean in order to be effective, which is not true.
As I briefly mention in the podcast, I spent the first 4 years or so of my career making networking my day job. Because of that, I picked up a lot of useful knowledge in this area. However, as I started to explore software, I realized that networking wasn’t something I wanted to do as a day job anymore, but I still greatly value the networking skillset I retain from this experience.
Making this leap over 2 years ago revealed a multitude of subskills, fundamental knowledge, and daily Continue reading
Learn Programming or Perish(?)
I was honored to return to Packet Pushers for a discussion on programming skillsets in the networking industry. I verbalized some thoughts there, but even 60 minutes isn’t enough for a conversation like this.
To be clear, this post is written primarily to my followers in the networking industry, since that’s largely where this conversation is taking place.
Scripting is NOT Programming
I want to put something to rest right now, and that is the conflation of scripting and software development. You may be hesitant to pick up any skills in this area because you feel like you have to boil the ocean in order to be effective, which is not true.
As I briefly mention in the podcast, I spent the first 4 years or so of my career making networking my day job. Because of that, I picked up a lot of useful knowledge in this area. However, as I started to explore software, I realized that networking wasn’t something I wanted to do as a day job anymore, but I still greatly value the networking skillset I retain from this experience.
Making this leap over 2 years ago revealed a multitude of subskills, fundamental knowledge, and daily Continue reading
Learn Programming or Perish(?)
I was honored to return to Packet Pushers for a discussion on programming skillsets in the networking industry. I verbalized some thoughts there, but even 60 minutes isn’t enough for a conversation like this. To be clear, this post is written primarily to my followers in the networking industry, since that’s largely where this conversation is taking place. Scripting is NOT Programming I want to put something to rest right now, and that is the conflation of scripting and software development.2016 Recap and 2017 Goals
Yet another recap post to follow up on last year’s. 2015 was a big transition year for me, and last year I wanted to make sure I kept the momentum going.
I make this post yearly to publicly track my own professional development goals. I find this helps me stay accountable to these goals, and it also allows others to give me a kick in the butt if I’m falling behind.
2015 Goal Recap
First, let me recap some of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year, and see how well I did.
Network Automation Book - At this time last year, I announced that I was working on a network automation book with Scott Lowe and Jason Edelman. This has certainly taken a bit more time than any of us would have liked, but we’re very near the end. The three of us have had a very busy year, and there are very few things to do for this release. However, we have pushed several additional chapters to O’Reilly, so you can still read these via Safari.
Open Source - Given that I now work for a company centered around an open Continue reading
2016 Recap and 2017 Goals
Yet another recap post to follow up on last year’s. 2015 was a big transition year for me, and last year I wanted to make sure I kept the momentum going.
I make this post yearly to publicly track my own professional development goals. I find this helps me stay accountable to these goals, and it also allows others to give me a kick in the butt if I’m falling behind.
2015 Goal Recap
First, let me recap some of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year, and see how well I did.
Network Automation Book - At this time last year, I announced that I was working on a network automation book with Scott Lowe and Jason Edelman. This has certainly taken a bit more time than any of us would have liked, but we’re very near the end. The three of us have had a very busy year, and there are very few things to do for this release. However, we have pushed several additional chapters to O’Reilly, so you can still read these via Safari.
Open Source - Given that I now work for a company centered around an open Continue reading
2016 Recap and 2017 Goals
Yet another recap post to follow up on last year’s. 2015 was a big transition year for me, and last year I wanted to make sure I kept the momentum going. I make this post yearly to publicly track my own professional development goals. I find this helps me stay accountable to these goals, and it also allows others to give me a kick in the butt if I’m falling behind.2016 Recap and 2017 Goals
Yet another recap post to follow up on last year’s. 2015 was a big transition year for me, and last year I wanted to make sure I kept the momentum going. I make this post yearly to publicly track my own professional development goals. I find this helps me stay accountable to these goals, and it also allows others to give me a kick in the butt if I’m falling behind.Introduction to StackStorm
Earlier I wrote about some fundamental principles that I believe apply to any form of automation, whether it’s network automation, or even building a virtual factory.
One of the most important concepts in mature automation is autonomy; that is, a system that is more or less self-sufficent. Instead of relying on human beings for input, always try to provide that input with yet another automated piece of the system. There are several benefits to this approach:
- Humans Make Mistakes - This is also a benefit of automation in general, but autonomy also means mistakes are lessened on the input as well as the output of an automation component.
- Humans Are Slow - we have lives outside of work, and it’s important to be able to have a system that reacts quickly, instead of waiting for us to get to work. We need a system that is “programmed” by us, and is able to do work on our behalf.
- Signal To Noise - Sometimes humans just don’t need to be involved. We’ve all been there - an inbox full of noisy alerts that don’t really mean much. Instead, configure specific triggers that act on your behalf when certain conditions are Continue reading
Introduction to StackStorm
Earlier I wrote about some fundamental principles that I believe apply to any form of automation, whether it’s network automation, or even building a virtual factory.
One of the most important concepts in mature automation is autonomy; that is, a system that is more or less self-sufficent. Instead of relying on human beings for input, always try to provide that input with yet another automated piece of the system. There are several benefits to this approach:
- Humans Make Mistakes - This is also a benefit of automation in general, but autonomy also means mistakes are lessened on the input as well as the output of an automation component.
- Humans Are Slow - we have lives outside of work, and it’s important to be able to have a system that reacts quickly, instead of waiting for us to get to work. We need a system that is “programmed” by us, and is able to do work on our behalf.
- Signal To Noise - Sometimes humans just don’t need to be involved. We’ve all been there - an inbox full of noisy alerts that don’t really mean much. Instead, configure specific triggers that act on your behalf when certain conditions are Continue reading
Introduction to StackStorm
Earlier I wrote about some fundamental principles that I believe apply to any form of automation, whether it’s network automation, or even building a virtual factory. One of the most important concepts in mature automation is autonomy; that is, a system that is more or less self-sufficent. Instead of relying on human beings for input, always try to provide that input with yet another automated piece of the system. There are several benefits to this approach:A New Automation Chapter Begins
Two years ago, while I worked as a network engineer/consultant, I felt strongly that the industry was ripe for change. In February 2015 I jumped feet-first into the world of network automation by going back to my roots in software development, combining those skills with the lessons I learned from 3 years of network engineering.
I’ve learned a ton in the last 2 years - not just at the day job but by actively participating in the automation and open source communities. I’ve co-authored a network automation book. I’ve released an open source project to facilitate automated and distributed testing of network infrastructure. I’ve spoken publicly about many of these concepts and more.
Despite all this, there’s a lot left to do, and I want to make sure I’m in the best place to help move the industry forward. My goal is and has always been to help the industry at large realize the benefits of automation, and break the preconception that automation is only useful for big web properties like Google and Facebook. Bringing these concepts down to Earth and providing very practical steps to achieve this goal is a huge passion of mine.
Automation isn’t just about running Continue reading
A New Automation Chapter Begins
Two years ago, while I worked as a network engineer/consultant, I felt strongly that the industry was ripe for change. In February 2015 I jumped feet-first into the world of network automation by going back to my roots in software development, combining those skills with the lessons I learned from 3 years of network engineering.
I’ve learned a ton in the last 2 years - not just at the day job but by actively participating in the automation and open source communities. I’ve co-authored a network automation book. I’ve released an open source project to facilitate automated and distributed testing of network infrastructure. I’ve spoken publicly about many of these concepts and more.
Despite all this, there’s a lot left to do, and I want to make sure I’m in the best place to help move the industry forward. My goal is and has always been to help the industry at large realize the benefits of automation, and break the preconception that automation is only useful for big web properties like Google and Facebook. Bringing these concepts down to Earth and providing very practical steps to achieve this goal is a huge passion of mine.
Automation isn’t just about running Continue reading
A New Automation Chapter Begins
Two years ago, while I worked as a network engineer/consultant, I felt strongly that the industry was ripe for change. In February 2015 I jumped feet-first into the world of network automation by going back to my roots in software development, combining those skills with the lessons I learned from 3 years of network engineering. I’ve learned a ton in the last 2 years - not just at the day job but by actively participating in the automation and open source communities.A New Automation Chapter Begins
Two years ago, while I worked as a network engineer/consultant, I felt strongly that the industry was ripe for change. In February 2015 I jumped feet-first into the world of network automation by going back to my roots in software development, combining those skills with the lessons I learned from 3 years of network engineering. I’ve learned a ton in the last 2 years - not just at the day job but by actively participating in the automation and open source communities.Principles of Automation
Automation is an increasingly interesting topic in pretty much every technology discipline these days. There’s lots of talk about tooling, practices, skill set evolution, and more - but little conversation about fundamentals. What little is published by those actually practicing automation, usually takes the form of source code or technical whitepapers. While these are obviously valuable, they don’t usually cover some of the fundamental basics that could prove useful to the reader who wishes to perform similar things in their own organization, but may have different technical requirements.
I write this post to cover what I’m calling the “Principles of Automation”. I have pondered this topic for a while and I believe I have three principles that cover just about any form of automation you may consider. These principles have nothing to do with technology disciplines, tools, or programming languages - they are fundamental principles that you can adopt regardless of the implementation.
I hope you enjoy.
It’s a bit of a long post, so TL;DR - automation isn’t magic. It isn’t only for the “elite”. Follow these guidelines and you can realize the same value regardless of your scale.
Factorio
Lately I’ve been obsessed with a game called “Factorio”. Continue reading
Principles of Automation
Automation is an increasingly interesting topic in pretty much every technology discipline these days. There’s lots of talk about tooling, practices, skill set evolution, and more - but little conversation about fundamentals. What little is published by those actually practicing automation, usually takes the form of source code or technical whitepapers. While these are obviously valuable, they don’t usually cover some of the fundamental basics that could prove useful to the reader who wishes to perform similar things in their own organization, but may have different technical requirements.
I write this post to cover what I’m calling the “Principles of Automation”. I have pondered this topic for a while and I believe I have three principles that cover just about any form of automation you may consider. These principles have nothing to do with technology disciplines, tools, or programming languages - they are fundamental principles that you can adopt regardless of the implementation.
I hope you enjoy.
It’s a bit of a long post, so TL;DR - automation isn’t magic. It isn’t only for the “elite”. Follow these guidelines and you can realize the same value regardless of your scale.
Factorio
Lately I’ve been obsessed with a game called “Factorio”. Continue reading
Principles of Automation
Automation is an increasingly interesting topic in pretty much every technology discipline these days. There’s lots of talk about tooling, practices, skill set evolution, and more - but little conversation about fundamentals. What little is published by those actually practicing automation, usually takes the form of source code or technical whitepapers. While these are obviously valuable, they don’t usually cover some of the fundamental basics that could prove useful to the reader who wishes to perform similar things in their own organization, but may have different technical requirements.ToDD Has Moved!
ToDD has been out in the wild for 6 months, and in that time I’ve been really pleased with it’s growth and adoption. Considering this was just a personal side-project, I’ve been blown away by what it’s doing for my own learning experiences as well as for the network automation pipelines of the various folks that pop onto the slack channel asking questions.
For the last 6 months I’ve hosted ToDD on my personal Github profile. It was a good initial location, becuase there really was no need at the time to do anything further.
However, as of tonight, ToDD’s new permanent location is https://github.com/toddproject/todd. Read on for some reasons for this.
Native Testlets
One of the biggest reasons for creating the “toddproject” organization came about when I started rewriting some of the testlets in Go. These are called native testlets and the intention is that they are packaged alongside ToDD because they’re useful to a very wide percentage of ToDD’s userbase (in the same way the legacy bash testlets were).
For this reason, I created the “toddproject” organization, and once that was done, it made a lot of sense to move ToDD there as well.
Rewriting the legacy Continue reading