Coding for infrastructure is just coding, on how we moved from a script based model to an object oriented architecture#

Antonio Balmaseda & Alberto Villegas Erce, Roche

• Why: The second of two talks at this conference independently reaching the same conclusion about optical automation (Roche's optical network uses the same devices as ESnet and GEANT). Together they read as a mini-postmortem of Ansible-and-controller-based approaches to transport automation.
• What: Roche Pharma's move from scattered per-engineer scripts and Ansible playbooks to an object-oriented, model/controller/view architecture built on the Workflow Orchestrator framework, expected in production by the conference date.
• How: Abstract service models with Python clients talking directly to devices (RESTCONF, TL1 for ROADMs); hardware changes only require adding implementations via Python single-dispatch, giving clean boundaries between abstract intent and device config. Concrete results from the slides: 6000 backups in 20 minutes (down from 3 hours), and 200 devices patched unattended over a weekend with no CLI access. Massive changes now ship as a JSON file plus Jinja templates through a merge request.
• Where applicable: Roche-specific scale (worldwide multi-vendor network, thousands of devices), but the pattern — abandon YAML-nesting for real code when logic gets complex, keep Ansible only for what it's good at (backups, compliance, OS upgrades) — is broadly applicable.