[TONIGHT] NetLdn #64

[Ben Cartwright-Cox]

== NetLdn 64 ==

NetLdn 63 will be on Thursday 10th of July 2025, with arrival from
1830hrs and talks starting promptly at 1900hrs at Finch’s in Finsbury Square:

If you can make it, please do. We've been lucky enough to not have a
min bar spend, but we do need to prove to our new hosts that we're
worth a long-term standing booking!

Henry’s Den, Downstairs @ Finch’s
12a Finsbury Square, London EC2A 1AN

https://www.finchspub.co.uk/ |
https://maps.app.goo.gl/GkfULQMwj832Q3sh8

== Talks ==

Talk 1: Building Trustworthy Network Automation, From Principles to Practice

Damien Garros (OpsMill)

Trust is essential for successful network automation adoption.

When automation platforms exhibit predictable behaviors and
transparent processes, teams can confidently delegate critical network
operations. Building trustworthy automation doesn’t happen by itself,
it needs to be baked into the design of every workflow.

This technical session examines core principles that build trust,
including idempotency, declarative workflows, and robust version
control. Using practical examples from production environments, we’ll
analyze how specific technical decisions affect automation reliability
and team confidence. The presentation covers key implementation
patterns like state verification, diff-based changes, and failure
handling. Attendees will learn concrete approaches for building
automation platforms that network teams can trust and rely on daily.

--

Talk 2: Building an open source network automation system with Nautobot

Johan van den Dorpe (VDL Tech)

Building network automation systems using open-source tools makes
automation more accessible to a wider audience, reducing barriers to
adoption and enabling more flexible, adaptable solutions.

A composable, open-source automation system relies on several key
components working together effectively. In this talk, I’ll explain
what those components are, why they matter, and how Nautobot provides
a strong foundation for building such a system.

Drawing from my experience, I’ll outline the essential building
blocks—including data models, configuration management, validation,
and integration with other automation tools—and explain how Nautobot’s
extensibility enables it to fit seamlessly within a network automation
system.


________________________________


== Participating and Contact ==

If you are attending any NetLdn event we expect that you have read and
agree to the participation policy on the NetLdn website
(https://netldn.uk/respect-policy/), we want to keep NetLdn open,
friendly, and safe for everyone. This also applies to all NetLdn
interactions, for example the mailing list, and Slack space, not just
the meetings.

* If you're attending NetLdn please note that the venue is a pub which
serves alcohol. There is no expectation that you must drink alcohol,
non-alcoholic drinks are also available. If you're under 18 please let
us know, we will need to inform the landlord. If you're crazy enough
to drive in London, please drink responsibly.

If you want to submit a talk for a future event, any area of
networking and any skill level is welcome. Please respond to our call
for presentations via the NetLdn website: https://netldn.uk/cfp/

If you want to contact the NetLdn team about any issues, concerns or
queries please do so via:

Email: he...@neldn.uk
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/netldn.bsky.social
Slack: netldn.slack.com

Many thanks and we hope to see you all soon,
The NetLdn Team.