Upcoming Events: CentOS Connect, FOSDEM, and CfgMgmtCamp

 January 31, 2025

The next few days are shaping up to be packed with open-source goodness! I’ll be heading to CentOS Connect, FOSDEM, and CfgMgmtCamp, three of the best events in the ecosystem. These conferences always include a great mix of technical talks, hallway conversations, and spontaneous meetups with friends—both old and new.

If you’re around, let’s catch up!

• CentOS Connect (Brussels, January 31)
  Although the event run yesterday and today, I’ll only be able to attend today. CentOS Connect is a small but incredibly valuable event where the wider CentOS community (Fedora, CentOS, and all the Enterprise Linux distros) meets to discuss the space’s present and future. It’s a great opportunity to meet contributors, learn about upcoming changes, and exchange ideas with people who shape the CentOS ecosystem. I really like this event because its atmosphere is similar to Flock: very casual and more like a friends’ gathering than a conference.

• FOSDEM (Brussels, February 1-2)
  FOSDEM should not require any introduction since it’s one of the biggest and best open-source conferences. I’ll be bouncing between various devrooms, catching up with people, and trying (probably failing) to see all the talks on my list. If you see me, don’t hesitate to say hi!

• CfgMgmtCamp (Ghent, February 3-5)
  Right after FOSDEM, I’ll be heading to Ghent for CfgMgmtCamp, one of the very few conferences in the world fully dedicated to automation, infrastructure, and DevOps. Like CentOS Connect, it is a focused event where the hallway track is just as important as the scheduled talks. This is the place to be if you work with configuration management tools like Ansible, Puppet, or Terraform.
  Personally, I’ll gravitate most to the Ansible tracks in the afternoons, and I’ll be at the Ansible Contributor Summit. I’ll also be delivering two talks:

  1. Simplifying Container Orchestration with Ansible and Podman
     Date & Time: February 3, 16:50–17:40
     Location: Ansible 1 (B.1.017)
     Description: As organizations increasingly adopt containerization, Kubernetes has become the de facto standard for orchestrating clusters. However, for many teams, the complexity and overhead of managing a Kubernetes cluster can be daunting. In this talk, we’ll explore an alternative approach to container orchestration that leverages Ansible’s automation capabilities and Podman’s container manager. We’ll discuss how to use Ansible to define and manage containerized applications and services, and dive into the world of Podman, a powerful, lightweight alternative to Docker that provides an easier and more secure way to run containers.

  2. Leverage Event-Driven Ansible to Reduce Your Automation Reaction Time
     Date & Time: February 4, 16:00–16:50
     Location: Ansible 2 (B.1.014)
     Description: In today’s complex IT environments, it is more important than ever to automate tasks and processes. Event-Driven Ansible is a new feature of Ansible that allows you to automate IT tasks based on events that occur in your IT environment. This session will provide an introduction to Event-Driven Ansible, including what it is, how it works, and the benefits of using it. We will also discuss some examples of how Event-Driven Ansible can be used in real-world scenarios.

One of the best parts of these events is the chance to meet people in person. If you’re interested in chatting about Fedora, open-source communities, or just catching up, I’d love to talk. I’ll be around at all three events, and the best way to find me is either to send me a message on Matrix, on the Fediverse, or just flag me down if you spot me.

Looking forward to great conversations, interesting talks, and, of course, plenty of Belgian beer. See you there!