NLNOG Day 2024
Welcome & Opening
In an era where bandwidth demands grow exponentially and network complexity evolves, the Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology has remained a cornerstone of the transport networks. Join us at NLNOG Day 2024 for an insightful journey through the history and future of DWDM in the presentation, "A Brief History of DWDM: Return of the Transceiver" by Yurii Polovyi, Head of DWDM Operations at RETN.
The journey of how I grew from a servicedesk employee to a NOC engineer at AMS-IX
Running a large network for events can be a big challenge. In this panel discussion, three experienced operators share their insights on the challenges they faced and how they solved them.
Many of us build complex home networks, host our own services for mail, storing documents, etc. And many of us share these with friends and relatives. We often have a online life mostly unknown to our relatives.
But what happens when we're not here anymore...
To efficiently and safely manage Dutch airspace and prevent unsafe situations, we rely on secure, robust, and reliable network communications. At Air Traffic Control the Netherlands (LVNL), a complex network that connects sensors (such as radars), communication systems, airports, airlines, and air traffic controllers, both nationally and internationally is built and maintained. The continuous evolution of this network—combined with phasing out legacy systems and transitioning to an all-IP infrastructure—presents a range of exciting technical challenges. In a 24/7 safety-critical environment, these challenges are even more pronounced. In this tech talk, we will dive into the key aspects of our network infrastructure and the connected systems currently in use. We'll explore both the technical and non-technical hurdles that the Network Infrastructure team at LVNL faces in keeping these essential networks running reliably while driving innovation. How do you keep a critical system operational and secure while upgrading it at the same time? Or, as we like to say, how do you "maintain and enhance the plane in mid-flight"? Don’t miss this unique opportunity to gain insights into one of the most challenging network environments in the Netherlands!
It is important for our work to stay in touch with new technologies. However, there is so much "new" that we should also be careful to not always chase the new shiny thing. Conversely, some technologies are hyped to such an extent (AI) that we'd be tempted to conclude that all new stuff is bullshit. This in the end leads to bad outcomes also. In this talk I present, with examples, how to deal with technological change, and how individuals and organizations can work together to determine what is good and what is not good. I also touch on how this can work out for your career, and why you might want to learn something completely different from time to time.
Automation. Everyone seems to want more of it. It's the A in CALMS, the basic tenets of DevOps. It’s the best way to eliminate all the tedious repetitive tasks that make up so much of our daily operational work. Just automate everything, and all our lives will be better.
In my day job I help network teams improve by embracing automation. But lately I've been wondering: is this really the silver bullet we're looking for? Are there any risks or downsides that we're overlooking? Is there a case to be made for old fashioned, bespoke, manual labor?
Join me for a short journey into the dark side of automation, and see what can go wrong when we start trusting all those computers too much.
HSM operations and adventures at the RIPE NCC
On Wednesday 26th of June, at 03:00, an orchestra of sad trombones (the ringtone of our on-call phones) rudely wakes me. Multiple systems report problems, but only sometimes: "the best kind of errors". What follows is a few weeks of intense debugging, together with the NLNOG community and heavily utilizing the NLNOG Ring.
During this story, we see why the NLNOG Ring and community are so important, the methodology behind debugging those impossible problems and the tooling created to pinpoint where exactly the problem existed.
Bio
Frank van Vliet has more than 20 years of hands-on experience in cybersecurity and is known as one of the best ethical hackers in the Netherlands. Frank started his impressive cybersecurity career as a security penetration tester and software auditor.
Frank co-founded Certified Secure in 2007 and is currently the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), overseeing all Certified Secure trainings. Frank’s famous slogan “What could possibly go wrong”, has kick-started the Hacker Mindset of thousands of trainees world-wide.
Quiz