Old meets new: The maintainer challenge in a new open source world of corporations and regulation

The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Cloud Native

For newcomers, stepping into the world of cloud native can feel overwhelming, with a maze of new concepts and technologies to grasp. According to the CNCF, cloud native is characterized by loosely coupled systems that interoperate in a manner that is secure, resilient, manageable, sustainable, and observable.

This session aims to break down these core concepts into simple, digestible pieces, helping participants understand what it truly means to be "cloud native."

Using relatable analogies and practical examples, we’ll explore the stages of the software development lifecycle, the fundamentals of cloud infrastructure, and an introduction to Kubernetes. Along the way, we’ll demystify the principles that drive the cloud native movement and the practices that help achieve its defining characteristics.

Whether you're brand new to cloud native or just seeking a clear way to explain your work to others—perhaps even your family—this session is designed for you!

Scaling CI/CD Testing: Insights from Practitioners in the Trenches

Automated testing in Kubernetes-powered environments unlocks new levels of agility, but not without its challenges. Connecting CI/CD systems like ArgoCD, Flux, Jenkins, or GitHub to orchestrate diverse test scenarios often overwhelms Platform Engineering and DevOps teams. Security concerns arise when developers and testers need cluster access, and managing the testing needs of multiple teams—from front-end to load testing—can create bottlenecks.

In this talk, we’ll explore how Kubernetes' dynamic resource allocation and test orchestration capabilities can transform these challenges into opportunities based on real-world use cases and experiences.

Exploring eBPF Use Cases in Cloud-Native Security

Cloud-native security requires a shift in mindset. Workloads are ephemeral, the attack surface has grown and with it, the complexities. eBPF has emerged as a powerful technology, enabling deep visibility and dynamic security capabilities within the Linux kernel. This panel will explore use cases in which eBPF enhances cloud-native security.

We will explore how eBPF can be leveraged to perform real-time monitoring, threat detection, and mitigation across containerized applications and microservices. Our expert panelists will share insights on using eBPF for network security, application profiling, anomaly detection, and enforcing security policies at the kernel level. Additionally, we will discuss the integration of eBPF with popular cloud-native tools and platforms, showcasing practical implementations.

Testing in Modern CI/CD Pipelines: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

As organizations embrace Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines to accelerate software delivery, testing becomes increasingly vital. Unfortunately, it also becomes more complex, too. In this talk we'll take a look at the various challenges faced by diverse teams when testing in modern CI/CD pipelines. We'll discuss different approaches and tooling that can help reduce complexity helping to orchestrate all testing processes from application testing to load testing and even infrastructure testing helping teams acheive seamless deployments.

Navigating the Path to Platform Engineering Excellence: A Comprehensive Guide

As organizations continue their digital transformation journey, the role of Platform Engineering is becoming more prominent. K8s is taking its position as the base to build platforms making the transition toward Platform-as-a-Product practices essential.

This panel brings together platform experts to discuss how we got here and where we're headed with a focus on the who, what, when, where, why, and how of getting started today.

We'll focus on actionable steps to ensure effective platform engineering and dissect critical considerations for anyone looking to invest in their own platform. Key discussion points include:

- Navigating distinct roles and dynamic intersection of DevOps and Platform Engineering
- Addressing the pivotal decision of building an in-house platform vs buying a PaaS provider and the long-term implications of each
- Integration of best practices and new tools over time
- The importance of a human-first mindset, collaboration, communication, and continuous learning