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You can’t just model a train in Netbox: About Architecting and running modern IT Infrastructure in Trains#

DENOG 17 (Essen) digest Program Wildcard pick Essen · 9–11 November 2025

Abstract Recording

Vanessa Gaube (DB Fernverkehr)

Play the recording: You can’t just model a train in Netbox: About Architecting and running modern IT Infrastructure in Trains

  • Why: A genuinely novel operating environment — running "modern IT infrastructure" (passenger information, WiFi, increasingly full IT services) on a fleet of ICE high-speed trains. The constraints (no fixed racks, intermittent connectivity, hardware lifecycle in a moving vehicle) produce architectural lessons that challenge DC assumptions in productive ways.
  • What: How IT infrastructure on ICE trains has evolved from embedded systems and WiFi to a broader "modern IT" stack including passenger information services. Covers hardware selection, lifecycle differences from DC, the network architecture, and why standard DC tools (NetBox) don't map cleanly to rolling stock.
  • How: Not specified in the abstract. (from abstract only)
  • Where applicable: Uniquely DB-specific in context, but the problem — modeling and operating infrastructure that doesn't fit DC patterns in standard tooling — is a thought-provoking challenge for any architect who assumes NetBox/DCIM metaphors are universal.