Heavy Networking
Technology Podcasts
Heavy Networking is an unabashedly nerdy dive into all things networking. Described by one listener as "verbal white papers," the weekly episodes feature network engineers, industry experts, and vendors sharing useful information to keep your...
Location:
United States
Description:
Heavy Networking is an unabashedly nerdy dive into all things networking. Described by one listener as "verbal white papers," the weekly episodes feature network engineers, industry experts, and vendors sharing useful information to keep your professional knowledge sharp and your career growing. Hosts Ethan Banks & Drew Conry-Murray cut through the marketing spin to explore what works—and what doesn't—in networking today, while keeping an eye on what's ahead for the industry. On air since 2010, Heavy Networking is the flagship show of the Packet Pushers podcast network.
Twitter:
@packetpushers
Language:
English
Website:
http://packetpushers.net
Email:
packetpushers@gmail.com
Episodes
HN822: Now I Understand. You Mean an AI-Safe Zero-Trust Network Automation Approach (Sponsored)
4/10/2026
On today’s sponsored episode we talk with David Gee, CEO at Curvium, a systems integrator and VAR. David holds thoughtful opinions about network automation and orchestration, how such platforms are to be built, and the impact AI is having on network automation. We dig into how AI fundamentally changes how we interact with systems, and... Read more »
Duration:01:12:08
HN821: Boring Network Design Is Good
4/3/2026
Ethan Banks sits down with Ryan Hamel at the 96th North American Network Operators’ Group (NANOG96). Ryan, a network automation developer for the Zayo Group, talks about why boring network design is actually a good thing. He and Ethan explore why simplicity and standardization are key to long-term success. They also emphasize the importance of... Read more »
Duration:00:55:52
HN820: Cyber Week 2026 Wrap Up with Palo Alto Networks: Agents, Prisma AIRS and NGTS (Sponsored)
3/27/2026
Palo Alto Networks released a slew of product news at the 2026 RSA conference around AI security, SASE, and a new certificate lifecycle management offering. On today’s Heavy Networking, sponsored by Palo Alto Networks, Ethan and Drew dig into these announcements to get details about how they work. They also talk about the risks of... Read more »
Duration:00:38:53
HN819: Recipes for Automation – A Look Inside Eric Chou’s AI Networking Cookbook
3/20/2026
Eric Chou, author of the AI Networking Cookbook and host of Network Automation Nerds, joins Ethan and Drew to discuss adding artificial intelligence to your network automation toolbox. The AI Networking Cookbook is aimed at network engineers and provides a systematic approach to learning AI for network automation. Together they break down pros and cons... Read more »
Duration:00:34:12
HN818: Introducing LIM: A Large Infrastructure Model for Multi-Cloud Terraform Migration (Sponsored)
3/13/2026
One of the early promises of public cloud was that, in theory, you could move workloads from Cloud Provider A to Cloud Provider B for any number of reasons: lower costs, new capabilities, better uptime, and so on. In practice, once a workload goes into a public cloud and you build out all the other... Read more »
Duration:00:58:35
HN817: Is There a Better Way to Do Software Defined Networking?
3/6/2026
Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a centralized architecture in which a controller, or a hierarchy of controllers, runs software that computes network-engineered paths and pushes that forwarding scheme into the network. It’s also very complex, which can lead to network failures. What if there was a way to keep the benefits of SDN while also... Read more »
Duration:00:57:29
HN816: Inside the Case: A Hardware Deep Dive with Meter (Sponsored)
2/27/2026
Our topic today is the designing and building of high-performance networking hardware. If you assume the hardware details don’t matter, you’re missing the intentional engineering required to build truly reliable and quiet infrastructure. In this sponsored episode, we discuss Meter’s hardware philosophy with our guest, Joshua Markell, Head of Hardware at Meter. Joshua walks us... Read more »
Duration:00:58:57
HN815: All About PCE
2/20/2026
Traditional routing protocols like OSPF simply choose the “shortest” path. If the shortest path is full of traffic and there are alternate paths carrying nothing, OSPF can’t help you. Path Computation Element (PCE) along with Path Computation Element Protocol (PCEP) is a way to construct forwarding paths through the network based on factors that distributed... Read more »
Duration:01:14:10
HN814: Automating Your Network with Cisco Crosswork Workflow Manager (Sponsored)
2/13/2026
Our topic today is building and running network workflows. If your network workflows live in a spreadsheet, a SharePoint document, or in your head, you really need a workflow manager. A workflow manager brings scalability, repeatability, and consistency to your network operations team. In this sponsored episode, we discuss Cisco Crosswork Workflow Manager. Our guests... Read more »
Duration:00:48:15
HN813: What Should Networkers Know About Software Development (and Vice Versa)?
2/6/2026
What should network engineers know about software development? What should software developers know about networking? Ethan and Drew sit down with Chris Rapier and Nick Buraglio to discuss why crossing these silos can improve outcomes for everyone. They break down why being a little curious about the infrastructure can help software developers write better code,... Read more »
Duration:00:57:33
HN812: Nokia EDA: AI Ops You Can Trust (Sponsored)
1/30/2026
AI is everywhere in networking right now, but most of it feels like hype. In this sponsored episode, we go deeper than buzzwords with Steven Butler from Nokia to explore what it takes to make AI Ops real, reliable, and trustworthy in production environments. If you want AI to deliver value, you need the fundamentals... Read more »
Duration:00:51:01
HN811: What AI Startups Get Wrong
1/23/2026
What is the real-world impact of AI on network operations? Drew and Ethan have a chat with Carlos Pignataro, Founder & Principal at Blue Fern Consulting, to cut through the AI hype machine. Carlos offers a thoughtful, balanced take on where the industry is headed, and where it’s missing the mark. Together they discuss Intent-Based... Read more »
Duration:00:57:03
HN810: AI in Network Operations: Pragmatism Over Hype (Sponsored)
1/16/2026
Are you an AI skeptic or an enthusiast? Ethan and Drew sit down with Igor Tarasenko, Senior Director of Product Software Architecture and Engineering at Equinix, to break down the reality of AI in the network. In this sponsored episode, Tarasenko discusses why APIs are the new CLI, the critical need for observability in AI,... Read more »
Duration:00:59:37
HN809: EVPN All the Things!
1/9/2026
It’s been over a decade since the first Packet Pushers podcast on EVPN. Now, guest Jeff McAdams can legitimately suggest that we “EVPN all the things.” Hosts Ethan Banks and Drew Conry-Murray dig into Jeff’s stance on EVPN/VXLAN. They look at how VXLAN and EVPN work; talk about use cases in the data center, the... Read more »
Duration:01:08:39
HN808: Is IT a Young Person’s Game?
12/12/2025
Is the ideal IT employee just leaving college or a veteran with years of experience? Russ White joins Ethan Banks and Drew Conry-Murray to discuss the complexities of this question. Younger professionals just out of college are more willing to work longer hours or unpopular shifts, learn new tools and skills, and take risks. Older... Read more »
Duration:00:50:46
HN807: A ‘CLI Lifer’ No More
12/8/2025
Andy Lapteff once considered himself a ‘CLI lifer.’ As a network engineer he wasn’t interested in Python. He didn’t want to learn to code. He had no desire to embrace any of the developer-like processes and tools creeping into the profession, particularly around network automation. That’s changed. On today’s Heavy Networking, Andy shares the professional,... Read more »
Duration:00:52:23
HN806: Let’s Get NUTS!
11/21/2025
Unit testing is a software development practice for checking that an individual component of code works before integrating that unit with other components in a larger program. A new open source project called Network Unit Testing System, or NUTS, brings the same concept to network automation. The big idea is that by incorporating unit tests into... Read more »
Duration:00:46:07
HN805: The Past, Present, and Future of NANOG
11/14/2025
NANOG, or the North American Network Operation Group, is an organization committed to the continuing advancement of an open, secure, and robust Internet. At the NANOG Conference 95 in late October 2025, Ethan Banks chatted with Steve Feldman, a member of NANOG’s Board of Directors. Steve has been involved with NANOG since the very first... Read more »
Duration:00:47:46
HN804: How Prisma SASE Builds on Public Clouds for Scale, Resiliency (Sponsored)
11/7/2025
How do you architect a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) to provide critical security services to millions of endpoints distributed across the planet? How do you build such a service for scale, performance, and resiliency? One option is to build your own PoPs or use colocation facilities, run your own infrastructure stack, and connect everything... Read more »
Duration:00:56:07
HN803: How to Start a Networking Meetup
10/31/2025
On today’s episode, we take a break from one’s and zero’s for a discussion about starting a networking meetup. Our guest is Steinn “Steinzi” Örvar, who recently founded the ISNOG, a network operators’ group in Iceland. We quiz Steinzi about what worked and what didn’t. We also pick his brain for the nitty-gritty details about... Read more »
Duration:00:58:47