2025 INTERNET2
Technology exchange
Tutorials
Dec. 8 – 12 Denver, Colo.
Learn and Share Your Expertise
2025 Technology Exchange Tutorials, Workshops, and Co-located Meetings are held Monday, December 8 and Friday, December 12
The Technology Exchange, held at the Sheraton Denver Downtown, Denver, Colo., brings together our community to share technical expertise, impart lessons learned, and discuss visions for the future. As a bonus, our community also offers tutorials where we train each other. Please review the topics below! This year, we offer 18 tutorials and 3 co-located meetings throughout the day on Monday and Friday.
NOTE: All events on this page require separate registration through the same portal. Most have an associated fee to help defray costs. To participate in these tutorials and co-located meetings, you must register for the appropriate event as part of your overall registration. (View our event registration page for more details.) Space is limited for each of these, so plan to register early! All activities take place at the host hotel, the Sheraton Denver Downtown.
Tutorials (Monday, December 8)
Friday, Dec. 13 (Tutorials and Co-Located Meetings)
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 8 am - 4 pm | NetGurus |
Monday Half-Day Morning Tutorials:
A Hands-on Tutorial on BGP | 8-11:30 am
This tutorial, organized by the University of South Carolina (USC), Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), and ESnet / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), will provide hands-on training on BGP, from concepts to real implementation, conducted in a safe, virtual environment. The tutorial will allow attendees to:
- Deploy internetworks composed of multiple ASs connected via BGP, running a production-grade BGP implementation;
- Manipulate BGP attributes (local preference, BGP communities, MED, etc.) without the fear of disruptions, thus enabling learners to implement different policies (e.g., hot potato, cold potato);
- Acquire advanced BGP routing skills; and
- Familiarize with a platform that supports high-speed rates using a real protocol stack implementation.
Attendees will be provided with detailed laboratory manuals and a training platform, accessible from the Internet using a regular web browser (no SSH, Telnet, or other requirements). Access to the training platform will be granted for one year.
AWS GameDay: Migration | 8-11:30 am
AWS GameDay is an interactive team-based exercise designed for participants to use and expand their AWS skills in a realistic, gamified, risk-free environment. Participants are given an AWS account to share with a starting architecture that they will evolve in response to realistic business and technical requirements designed to challenge them. GameDay events delivered at public events and privately for customers provide awareness, enablement, and reinforcement of AWS services, best practices, and architecture patterns through open-ended experimentation.
Migration GameDay scenario:
You have been hired at a startup called Unicorn.Rentals as a new member of the IT team. After acquiring BuyMyUnicorns.com, Unicorn.Rentals need some assistance in setting up an optimal AWS Landing Zone according to AWS Well Architected Framework best practices, migrating the on-premises E-Commerce system to the AWS cloud, and modernize the system to operate in a more optimal manner. It’s up to our new hires (GameDay attendees) to dive deep into our production systems on their first day and fix all of our technical problems.
BGP For Data Centers: Designing, Deploying and Troubleshooting BGP in a Leaf-Spine Architecture | 8-11:30 am
This hands-on workshop introduces Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and its role in modern data center networks. Participants will gain hands-on experience in designing, implementing, and troubleshooting BGP in a data center environment.
The tutorial will focus on DC use cases, including eBGP/iBGP, route reflectors, and EVPN address family. This tutorial is designed for both beginner and intermediate skill levels.
Participants must bring a laptop, an SSH client of their choice, and provide their GitHub handle.
Federation Day: Connecting the Dots in InCommon Federation | 8-11:30am
The meeting will bring together stakeholders from across the InCommon community to explore recent developments, challenges, and strategic directions. We'll connect the dots between key efforts—such as assurance, metadata, attribute release, and technical tooling—and discuss how they support the evolving needs of research and education. We’ll also explore what’s coming next and how community members can engage and prepare. This session will be co-sponsored by the InCommon Community Trust and Assurance Board (CTAB) and the InCommon Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). Additional community stakeholders may also be invited to help shape the agenda and discussion.
Google Cloud Foundations Tutorial | 8-11:30 am
This 4-hour training provides a foundational understanding of how to establish a secure and scalable environment in Google Cloud. Participants will learn to set up a basic Google Cloud project and configure essential networking and security services, creating a robust "landing zone" for future cloud deployments.
Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:
- Understand the core components of a secure landing zone in Google Cloud.
- Create and organize Google Cloud projects within a defined resource hierarchy.
- Configure secure Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) networks, subnets, and firewall rules.
- Implement fundamental Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies and other security best practices.
- Identify key considerations for initial logging, monitoring, and governance within a secure Google Cloud environment.
Hands-On Tutorial on Infrastructure Workload Offloading Using SmartNICs/DPUs | 8-11:30 am
Traditionally, infrastructure workloads such as networking, security, and storage have been handled by the host’s general-purpose CPUs, consuming precious processing cycles. As the scale and complexity of network operations grow, offloading these tasks has become essential. SmartNICs address this need by shifting these functions from the CPU to the NIC, where domain-specific hardware accelerators—often implemented as ASICs—enable efficient execution of tasks such as custom packet processing, deep packet inspection, encryption, and storage operations at line rate. This offloading not only frees the CPU from intensive background processing but also enhances throughput, reduces latency, and improves the scalability and security of modern computing infrastructures. While large cloud providers are now using SmartNICs, campus networks and small- and medium-sized enterprises have yet to fully benefit from their advantages. An important barrier preventing the adoption of SmartNICs is the lack of engaging training materials.
This tutorial, organized by the University of South Carolina and Internet2, will provide an effective hands-on training on SmartNICs. The tutorial will cover offloading core infrastructure workloads to the domain-specific accelerators of the SmartNICs. The content is designed for CI engineers, network administrators, and research computing professionals. Participants will gain hands-on experience in configuring and managing a wide range of DPU-based workloads, including packet forwarding, firewalling, encryption, decompression, and storage acceleration. The labs leverage the NVIDIA BlueField DPU and are accessible through a web-based environment. No specialized hardware, SSH, or root access are required to complete the exercises. The labs do not have extensive programming instructions.
Multi-Cloud Networking with Internet2 Cloud Router | 8-11:30 am
This hands-on tutorial will guide participants through establishing multi-cloud connectivity using Internet2 Cloud Router. Participants will build and configure direct connections between two or more cloud service providers (CSPs) and verify routing functionality through Internet2's Cloud Connect service. By the end of this session, attendees will have practical experience with Internet2's Insight Console Virtual Networks feature and understand how to implement secure, high-performance multi-cloud networking solutions.
By the end of this tutorial, participants will be able to:
- Understand the concepts and benefits of multi-cloud networking
- Navigate Internet2's Insight Console to manage cloud connectivity
- Configure Internet2 Cloud Router to connect multiple cloud service providers
- Set up routing between cloud environments
- Verify routing and connectivity between cloud providers
- Implement best practices for multi-cloud network management
Audience:
- IT professionals managing campus network infrastructure
- Research computing support staff
- Cloud administrators looking to optimize connectivity between cloud providers
- Network engineers interested in implementing multicloud solutions
Prerequisites:
- Basic understanding of networking concepts (IP addressing, routing)
- Familiarity with a couple major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle Cloud)
Network Troubleshooting with Generative AI | 8-11:30 am
During this tutorial, attendees learn how to leverage Generative AI to help troubleshoot network issues. We'll build a chatbot using a common LLM, LangGraph, and Streamlit, and demonstrate how it can be used to query and make inferences on network state. The tutorial will include an intro to LLMs, the tools used, and time to work on hands-on creation of a chatbot.
Rethinking Campus Wireless Connectivity - Wi-Fi, Private 5G, Neutral Host, and more | 8-11:30 am
Target Audience: CIOs, CTOs, IT Directors, Network Architects, and Senior IT Leaders in Higher Education
Workshop Goal: To equip higher education IT leaders with a strategic understanding of advanced wireless networking solutions like Private 5G and Neutral Host, demonstrating their transformative potential for campus safety, research & innovation, grant acquisition, and advanced campus operations.
Total Duration: 3 Hours 30 Minutes
8:00 AM - 8:05 AM: Welcome and Introduction (10 Minutes)
- Description: A brief welcome and overview of the workshop's objectives.
- Facilitator: Ashish Jain, Co-founder, Wireless Enterprise PRO
8:05 AM - 8:30 AM: Beyond Wi-Fi: Making Wireless a Strategic Foundation for Your Connected Campus (25 Minutes)
- Description: This session challenges conventional thinking about wireless infrastructure. It will explore how advanced wireless solutions can become a foundational layer for critical campus operations, enhancing everything from smart buildings to IoT deployments and real-time data analytics. This session will emphasize the paradigm shift required for IT leaders to view wireless beyond traditional Wi-Fi, positioning it as a strategic and critical asset for the connected campus.
- Key Topics:
- The limitations of Wi-Fi for emerging campus needs.
- Identifying strategic gaps in current wireless deployments.
- The concept of wireless as a utility for digital transformation.
- Examples of how advanced wireless solutions such as Private Cellular can support campus-wide initiatives.
- Speaker: Ashish Jain, Co-founder, Wireless Enterprise PRO
8:30 AM - 9:15 AM: Solving Campus-Wide Cellular Coverage Challenge: New Cost-Effective Solutions for Campus Safety and Operations (45 Minutes)
- Description: This segment will delve into innovative and cost-effective solutions for addressing public cellular coverage gaps across campus, both indoors and outdoors. It will introduce Neutral Host models as a viable alternative to traditional, expensive Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), reducing reliance on individual mobile operators.
- Key Topics:
- Neutral Host 101 (15 min):
- Understanding the challenges with existing in-building wireless solutions
- Understanding the core concept of CBRS Neutral Host networks.
- Different deployment models (e.g., private ownership, shared infrastructure).
- Advantages over traditional DAS (no DAS, minimal operator dependencies).
- Business value proposition for higher education – Emergency calling, Private Cellular & more.
- Case Studies: Learning from Your Peers (30 min):
- Real-world examples of universities successfully deploying Neutral Host & Private Cellular solutions.
- Challenges faced and lessons learned.
- Quantifiable benefits in terms of cost savings, improved coverage, and enhanced safety.
- Neutral Host 101 (15 min):
- Speaker: Jonathan Polly, Chief Technical Manager, Cal Poly University, other speakers TBD
9:15 AM - 9:30 AM: Networking Break (15 Minutes)
9:30 AM - 11:00 AM: Private Cellular Network Isn’t Complicated: Integrating Cellular & Wi-Fi Networks for Optimal Performance (90 minutes)
This session will provide a crucial comparison and integration guide for Private Cellular (5G/LTE) and Wi-Fitechnologies. Cellular has generated significant buzz, but network engineers need clear guidance on when to deploy one over the other, or how to integrate them effectively.
Session Takeaways
We will dive into the core differences and similarities between Private Cellular and Wi-Fi, addressing key questions:
- Comparison & Selection: How do the two technologies compare in terms of performance, range, and capacity? Learn the pros and cons of each and examine real-world use cases where one technology clearly wins (e.g., dense coverage, mobility, mission-critical applications).
- Technical Deep Dive: We'll demystify the two environments by clarifying the nomenclature. Understand how components and concepts that share a function (like a "controller" or "client device") are named differently in Wi-Fi versus Cellular.
- Integration and Coexistence: Discover where and why you should consider using a Private Cellular network to cover areas or sites where your traditional Wi-Fi network struggles. How to handle the common challenges in private cellular network planning and introduction to AI-driven network planning tools.
- Access & Mobility: We'll explore advanced identity and access methods, including the potential to leverage a Passpoint/eduroam-like security model to seamlessly integrate user access across both Wi-Fi and Private Cellular networks for enhanced mobility and user experience.
Leave this session equipped with the technical understanding necessary to make informed architectural decisions, ensuring you select the right wireless solution for the right job.
- Speaker: Mark Houtz, IT Director, Utah Education Services
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM: Leading with Private 5G Innovation Hubs: Driving Research, Grants & Revenue (15 Minutes)
- Description: This session will highlight how higher education institutions can leverage programmable Private 5G networks to establish innovation hubs. These hubs can become critical assets for securing research grants, developing future workforce training programs, and generating revenue through collaborations with external enterprises across various verticals.
- Key Topics:
- Advanced Application Innovation with Programmable Networks:
- Exploring the power of 5G programmability
- How programmable networks enable new research paradigms and innovative applications.
- Examples of cutting-edge applications developed on Private 5G.
- Advanced Application Innovation with Programmable Networks:
- Speakers: Ashish Jain, Co-Founder Private Wireless PRO, other speakers TBD
11:15 AM - 11:30 AM: Q&A and Wrap-up (15 Minutes)
- Description:
- Open Q&A with all speakers.
- Recap of key insights and action items.
- Resources for further exploration.
MONDAY DAY-LONG TUTORIALS:
Beyond the Core: Deploying IPv6 Networks to End Users | 8 am-4:30 pm
This full-day tutorial provides network engineers with both theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience in implementing IPv6 specifically for client networks. While traditional IPv6 training has focused primarily on core network deployment, this tutorial addresses the unique challenges and opportunities presented when implementing IPv6 in client networks.
The first half of the tutorial covers essential IPv6 concepts, including IPv6 basics, address planning, and a review of deployment options for end-user networks. We explore the spectrum from dual-stack implementations to IPv6-mostly and IPv6-only architectures, with special attention to transition technologies such as NAT64, DNS64, PREF64, and 464XLAT. We also cover technologies used to secure IPv6 Networks like RA Guard and DHCPv6 Snooping.
The second half of the tutorial shifts to virtual lab exercises where participants will configure NAT64, DNS64, PREF64, 464XLAT, DHCPv6-PD, as well as layer 2 protections like RA Guard and DHCPv6 SNooping. These practical sessions allow engineers to immediately apply theoretical concepts in a controlled environment.
Participants will leave with refreshed IPv6 knowledge specifically tailored to client-facing networks, practical configuration experience, and the confidence to implement secure and effective IPv6 solutions for end-user environments.
Get Good with GitOps | 8 am-4:30 pm
This full-day tutorial will survey the technologies and techniques used in GitOps, a versioned and immutable declaration of an information system's desired state that's automatically deployed and continuously reconciled.
Attendees will start by creating a small serverless web app using Python, AWS Lambda, and AWS DynamoDB. After deploying the first version by hand, they will re-define the web app as an infrastructure-as-code project using OpenTofu. Attendees will review pre-commit hooks, atomic commits, Conventional Commits, and Semantic Versioning as they build their first continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline in GitHub Actions.
To avoid breaking their new production web app, attendees will isolate further development in Git feature branches. They'll follow the red-green-refactor pattern of test-driven development, and ensure that their production deployments reproduce what they tested. At each step, attendees will rely on their build tooling and their CI/CD pipeline to reduce development and operational effort. At the end of the tutorial, attendees will evaluate different deployment strategies and explore how they might adapt their test scripts to continuously validate their production environments.
perfSONAR Tutorial | 8 am-4:30 pm
perfSONAR is a popular network measurement software platform that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Even though it has been around a long time, there have been a number of changes in recent years and this is a great chance to get up-to-date on the latest perfSONAR has to offer! Whether your institution already runs perfSONAR or you are new to the project, this session will have something for you.
This hands-on tutorial will walk participants through the process of installing, using, and customizing a perfSONAR installation from the ground-up. The workshop will cover concepts that will be directly relevant to not only building a new perfSONAR installation at your home institution, but also getting the most out of an existing installation. The first half of the tutorial will focus on setting-up a perfSONAR measurement host, central archive and Grafana instance to view results. The second half will focus on using Grafana to build custom dashboards.
The tutorial will be led by multiple perfSONAR developers, so will also be a great chance to ask questions and learn from the individuals building the software.
MONDAY HALF-DAY, AFTERNOON TUTORIALS:
BGP and Route Policy for R&E Networks | 1-4:30 pm
Good BGP route policy is essential for routing security and to ensure your network traffic is making the best use of your R&E network connectivity and peering.
This hands-on tutorial will cover creating a complete BGP routing policy for your network and best practices for configuring BGP. We will also look at useful tools for troubleshooting BGP routing issues. The tutorial will include multiple, hands-on activities.
Building Your Institution's AI-Powered Future: A Hands-On Cloud Analytics Tutorial | 1-4:30 pm
Transform your institution's approach to data-driven decision making in this hands-on workshop. Participants will go beyond theory to actually build and experiment with cloud-based analytics solutions that address real higher education challenges. Through guided hands-on labs, you'll learn to implement AI/ML solutions for common use cases such as student engagement analysis, student outcome prediction, and personalized student communication generation. This tutorial combines practical technical implementation with strategic insights, allowing participants to both understand and execute on the promise of cloud analytics.
Working in small teams with AWS solutions architects, participants will:
- Deploy and configure actual cloud-based analytics environments using AWS services
- Practice with real-world datasets to build predictive models for student success and institutional operations
- Experience building AI/ML solutions that can spark ideas applicable to your institution
- Develop a technical implementation roadmap aligned with institutional goals
Participants will leave with:
- Working examples of cloud analytics solutions they built during the session
- Architecture templates and code samples for immediate implementation
- High level roadmap for scaling AI/ML initiatives at their institution
- Access to AWS technical resources and continuing education paths
This hands-on tutorial is ideal for a combined technical and strategic leader pair or small team to attend together who want to move beyond conceptual understanding to actual implementation of cloud-enabled analytics solutions.
DWDM Fiber Optic Networking Concepts and Technologies | 1-4:30 pm
This tutorial will cover Dense Division Wave Multiplexing (DWDM) technologies and how to use them. During the tutorial, we will be covering such topics as:
- DWDM fiber concepts, such as channels, fixed grid, flex grid, bandwith and passband
- Filters, multiplexers and other passive devices.
- Transceivers, transponders and muxponder concepts (Modulation, Baud vs bit rates, form factors)
- Amplifier technologies
- ROADMs and other optical switching technologies
- Troubleshooting and testing, and more!
At the end of the tutorial, the attendee will have gained a good overview of these concepts and will be able to build further on the knowledge learned.
Fish and Chips: Hands-on tutorial using AI to address Grouper Concern | 1-4:30 pm
As AI matures from buzzword to business tool, it's casting a wide net across higher ed IT - and many a Grouper is getting caught in the current. This session dives into how artificial intelligence is being used to tackle some of Grouper’s most persistent pain points. From helping users understand how to manage their users' access, to assisting admins in writing Grouper scripts, AI is quietly reshaping how we interact with and extend the power of Grouper. We'll explore real-world examples and emerging patterns where generative AI is improving usability, helping schools leverage Grouper as an authorization platform, and reducing time spent wrestling with web services and documentation. Whether you're an identity architect, admin, or just AI-curious, come see how "Fish and Chips" -Grouper and AI - make a smart pairing in your IAM toolkit.
Gemini Code Assist Essentials | 1-4:30 pm
This 4-hour intermediate tutorial provides a comprehensive overview of Gemini Code Assist, an AI-powered platform designed to accelerate software development across various stages and environments. It delves into core features, enterprise capabilities, and real-world applications, emphasizing how AI assistance can enhance productivity, quality, and collaboration in software delivery for application developers, software engineers, and organizational leaders.
Upon completion of this tutorial, participants will be able to:
- Understand the core features and benefits of Gemini Code Assist.
- Learn how Gemini Code Assist can improve productivity and code quality.
- Explore the use of Gemini Code Assist across different stages of the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
- Become familiar with the measures and metrics used to evaluate the effectiveness of Gemini Code Assist.
- Understand enterprise capabilities, including code customization and IP protection.
Hands-On AWS Networking for Non-Cloud Majors | 1-4:30 pm
Want to get hands on with AWS networking concepts? Wondering what all those cloud folks are talking about with their VPCs and Gateways? This workshop is for you! In this workshop, we will take a look at how on-prem networking concepts compare with AWS Networking, understand how routing works in AWS and how we build hybrid connectivity. In the hands-on portion, we’ll build a small network from the ground up, deploy a few more networks, route between them and then connect them back to “campus” with a VPN.
Key topics we'll cover:
- VPC Architecture: Mapping traditional network segments to VPCs, subnetting in AWS, and understanding availability zones
- Routing in AWS: How route tables work, managing traffic flows, and implementing security groups vs. NACLs
- Hybrid Connectivity: Deep dive into AWS Direct Connect, Site-to-Site VPN, and Transit Gateway - connecting your data center to AWS
- DNS in the Cloud: Route 53, private hosted zones, and hybrid DNS architectures
- Participants will leave with hands on experience setting up networks in AWS, routing between them and connecting them to on-premises.
Implementing CI/CD Pipeline in a NetDevOps Environment | 1-4:30 p.m.
Delve into the theories and practices of Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) with hands-on examples in a network engineering context. This tutorial will cover:
- DevOps for Network Engineers Overview
- DevOps Principles
- DevOps Practices
- Network Engineering Challenges in DevOps
- Pre-requisite checks (we will communicate with attendees to set up ahead of time)
- Workshop Tools and Alternatives
- Lab 0. Overview of Lab setup and Components
- Running automation tasks without DevOps
- GitLab and CI/CD
- Lab 1. Basic Git Operations
- Lab 2. Build the first Pipeline
- Lab 3. Build Reviews
- Network DevOps Examples
- Lab 4. Configuration generation with templates
- Lab 5. ACL change Example
- Monitoring, Testing
- Lab 6. Testing Frameworks
Mobility Day at TechEX | 1-4:30 pm
Mobility Day is an annual event, covering topics including eduroam, mobile networks, 5G, CBRS, WiFi 7, Internet of Things, Passpoint/Hotspot 2.0 and more. There will also be an update from members of the eduroam Advisory Committee on their working groups, and on the eduroam Support Organization program's work to deploy eduroam for K12s at a statewide level.
Tutorials and Co-Located Meetings (Friday, December 13)
NetGurus | 8 am-4 pm
NetGurus is a group of campus Network Engineers/Architects that meet to contribute and learn from each other for the betterment of the broader education and research community. Participants discuss networking topics in a round table format to encourage open discussion and knowledge sharing.
NetGurus is a gathering of the senior network engineers and network architects for major universities. Attendance is restricted to those people.