Hank Preston

When I joined DevNet in December of 2016 it was to dive deep and hard into all things network automation and programmability. Fairly quickly I was entranced with the idea of NetDevOps, and working out how to apply ideas like Infrastructure as Code, Configuration Management, CICD, Streaming Telemetry…

Do you find yourself thinking “Gee… I wish there was a weekly webinar and video series dedicated to NetDevOps and network programmability topics.”? Or maybe “I could really use some dedicated expert lead lab time about every other week.”? I knew it wasn’t just me,…

I’ve been talking and writing about NetDevOps here on DevNet for quite a while now. There are blog posts, videos, webinars, learning labs, and so much more that all delve into the rich and exciting topics within NetDevOps. NetDevOps is the combination of the culture, tools, ideas, and best pra…

Are you ready to have your mind blown by something so cool you’ll wonder how you lived without it before?  Of course you are… so without further a-do let me introduce you to virlutils, the NetDevOps command line tool for Cisco VIRL and Cisco CML. If you are not familiar with VIRL or CML,…

At a recent network programmability workshop one of the attendees asked, “Why is Cisco teaching me Python?” I was leading a workshop for a group of senior network engineers at a large financial company that was organized and sponsored by a member of their cloud leadership team.  This made the worksh…

One of the most often asked questions I get at events or online is “How do I get started with network programmability?” Another common question is “Should I get my CCNA, CCNP, or CCIE?”  These are important questions for network engineers with limited time and resources to invest in training, and lo…

In just a couple weeks I’ll be headed to Melbourne for my very first Cisco Live “down under” and I absolutely can’t wait!  #CLMel has long been on my bucket list to attend, and I was honored to be invited by the excellent DevNet Events team to come down this year.  And if I&#…

Whew… I’m freshly back from Barcelona and Cisco Live Europe 2018. It was without a doubt my favorite and most rewarding, Cisco Live yet!  #CLEUR 2018 marked my one year as a part of the #DevNet team and as an event it provided an excellent bookend to an amazing year where we were able to…

“Network as Code” comes from “Infrastructure as Code” No matter where you turn in IT today, the impact of “DevOps” and “Cloud” can be seen and felt.  And this is with good reason.  The massive benefits that have been seen through agile processes, autom…