--- title: Do a Cleanup Before Automating Your Network «... description: Before deploying network automation, teams should standardize and clean up their network configurations first. Inconsistency and configuration drift create... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/do-a-cleanup-before-automating-your-network-ipspace-net-blog-ltcs5txlc twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Do a Cleanup Before Automating Your Network « ipSpace.net blog | daily.dev og:description: Before deploying network automation, teams should standardize and clean up their network configurations first. Inconsistency and configuration drift create... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/do-a-cleanup-before-automating-your-network-ipspace-net-blog-ltcs5txlc og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/LTcS5TXlC.png og:image:alt: Do a Cleanup Before Automating Your Network « ipSpace.net blog og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Do a Cleanup Before Automating Your Network « ipSpace.net blog **[ipSpace.net Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Before deploying network automation, teams should standardize and clean up their network configurations first. Inconsistency and configuration drift create complexity that makes automation harder to implement and maintain — automating a messy network just produces an automated mess. Experienced senior engineers tend to produce more stable, consistent networks that are better positioned for automation. The recommended approach is to treat standardization as a prerequisite or parallel track to automation, not an afterthought. The robot vacuum analogy captures it well: pick up the room before turning on the robot, or one problem becomes three. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Should I standardize my network before automating it or can I automate first? Standardization should come before or alongside automation, not after. Automating an inconsistent network amplifies existing problems — one issue becomes three when automation propagates bad configurations at scale. Networks with long-tenured senior engineers tend to be more consistent and are far easier to automate. The practical advice is to clean up configuration cruft first, then automate the standardized parts to lock in good habits. _Network engineers navigating this tradeoff share hard-won lessons on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Cisco at AutoCon 4: AI, Automation, and the Human Side of ‘Ops’](https://daily.dev/posts/cisco-at-autocon-4-ai-automation-and-the-human-side-of-ops--0uocrrvpa) · Cisco · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why “automated” infrastructure might cost more than you think](https://daily.dev/posts/why-automated-infrastructure-might-cost-more-than-you-think-xpwhatayr) · The New Stack · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to design infrastructure automation that scales from fresh install to production](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-design-infrastructure-automation-that-scales-from-fresh-install-to-production-wiem2usuv) · All Things Open · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How NetBox Assurance Drives Better Network Automation Outcomes](https://daily.dev/posts/how-netbox-assurance-drives-better-network-automation-outcomes-j8iyonxr4) · NetBox Labs · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#networking](https://daily.dev/tags/networking), [#iac](https://daily.dev/tags/iac) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/do-a-cleanup-before-automating-your-network-ipspace-net-blog-ltcs5txlc) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Do a Cleanup Before Automating Your Network « ipSpace.net blog","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/do-a-cleanup-before-automating-your-network-ipspace-net-blog-ltcs5txlc","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/do-a-cleanup-before-automating-your-network-ipspace-net-blog-ltcs5txlc"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:54:02.385Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T09:03:38.867Z","description":"Before deploying network automation, teams should standardize and clean up their network configurations first. 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Automating an inconsistent network amplifies existing problems — one issue becomes three when automation propagates bad configurations at scale. Networks with long-tenured senior engineers tend to be more consistent and are far easier to automate. The practical advice is to clean up configuration cruft first, then automate the standardized parts to lock in good habits. Network engineers navigating this tradeoff share hard-won lessons on daily.dev."}}]} ```