Heavy Networking

Epizodes

• HN833: The State of Packet Pushers 2026 26.06.2026 1h 12min

  Ethan and Drew gather the rest of the Packet Pushers team to discuss the State of the Packet Pushers Network. Together they provide a behind the scenes look into current initiatives like adding video and raising the standards of our audio. They also share the details of the workflows behind all your favorite shows and... Read more »
• HN832: AI Agents Are Just Another Tool: How to Integrate With Your Network Automation Strategy (Sponsored) 19.06.2026 45min

  AI has complicated network automation. It has created questions: If AI generates code for me, do I need to learn Python? Should I be writing a script to gather network information if I can dispatch an AI agent to gather that information for me instead? What new skills can I skip obtaining if AI stands... Read more »
• HN831: The Sum, Not Just the Parts: How and Why to Think Holistically About Your Network 12.06.2026 55min

  Your network is an interconnected system. A change you make on one device has consequences beyond that device. Therefore, to do your job well, you must think about the network as a whole. That’s the big idea behind a blog post written by guest Jason Gintert. He joins Ethan and Drew to talk about how... Read more »
• HN830: Tailscale CEO on WireGuard, Zero Trust, and Securing AI (Sponsored) 05.06.2026 56min

  If you think Tailscale is just a VPN for the home lab, think again. On today’s sponsored episode Ethan and Drew are joined by Tailscale CEO Avery Pennarun. Avery explains how the company has evolved into an enterprise-grade connectivity and security platform. He also dives into Tailscale Aperture, their new AI gateway designed to bring... Read more »
• HN829: EVPN/VXLAN Vs. TradCore 29.05.2026 54min

  Drew and Ethan sit down with Tony Bourke to determine whether TradCore or EVPN VXLAN is right for your network. Tony is a seasoned instructor in automation, network design, and more. They explore the key factors for choosing a design, including scale and redundancy, operational complexity, and workload mobility. AdSpot Sponsor: Auvik Sponsor Auvik Network... Read more »
• HN828: How Selector Unifies Cloud and On-Prem Network Observability (Sponsored) 22.05.2026 46min

  Selector is extending its AI-driven network observability capabilities into public clouds. On today’s sponsored episode, we dig into how Selector gathers and analyzes public cloud network telemetry, how it integrates cloud and on-prem network data to provide end-to-end visibility, how it integrates with third-party Application Performance Monitoring (APM) systems to correlate network and application performance,... Read more »
• HN827: When Buffers Attack: Understanding Buffers to Better Diagnose Network Weirdness 15.05.2026 1h 12min

  Today’s episode covers buffers, the space between ingress and egress where a packet might have to live for a fraction of a second if the egress port is tied up transmitting other packets. This topic came courtesy of John Howard who joins Drew and Ethan as a co-host to discuss buffers with guest Rob Sherwood. How... Read more »
• HN826: An Inside Look at Palo Alto Networks Prisma Browser for Business (Sponsored) 08.05.2026 34min

  A Mastercard survey reveals that 46% of small and medium businesses have experienced a cyberattack, and nearly 20% of those that suffered an attack were then forced to file for bankruptcy or close their business. Ethan and Drew along with guest Shivam Srivastava discuss a new offering from today’s sponsor, Palo Alto Networks: Prisma Browser... Read more »
• HN825: Faster Than Dijkstra? Exploring a New Shortest-Path Algorithm with Bruce Davie 01.05.2026 54min

  Dijkstra’s algorithm is the foundation of shortest path calculations for link state routing protocols. But researchers have developed a new algorithm that improves on this decades-old approach. Today’s Heavy Networking welcomes Dr. Bruce Davie to discuss the potential of this new algorithm to unseat Dijkstra. After thoughtful consideration, and consultation with others, his opinion is... Read more »
• HN824: That’s Not a Job for an LLM: The Right Way to Apply AI to Network Operations (Sponsored) 24.04.2026 1h 1min

  On today’s sponsored Heavy Networking, we get off the AI hype train to talk about how different artificial intelligence techniques usefully impact network operations—and where they aren’t a fit. The various forms of AI represent a set of tools that, like any tool, have use cases, capabilities, and limitations. Our guest is Avi Freedman, CEO... Read more »
• HN823: Defining A Modern Network Service 17.04.2026 51min

  On today’s episode Ethan is joined by Mark Prosser, a self-described Network Operator Advocate and Network Automation Dreamer, to embark on a thought exercise about network services. Together they grapple with questions such as: What is a network service, exactly? How is it defined? Is it even possible to define it when considered in the... Read more »
• HN822: Now I Understand. You Mean an AI-Safe Zero-Trust Network Automation Approach (Sponsored) 10.04.2026 1h 12min

  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 »
• HN821: Boring Network Design Is Good 03.04.2026 55min

  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 »
• HN820: Cyber Week 2026 Wrap Up with Palo Alto Networks: Agents, Prisma AIRS and NGTS (Sponsored) 27.03.2026 38min

  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 »
• HN819: Recipes for Automation – A Look Inside Eric Chou’s AI Networking Cookbook 20.03.2026 1h 1min

  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 »
• HN818: Introducing LIM: A Large Infrastructure Model for Multi-Cloud Terraform Migration (Sponsored) 13.03.2026 58min

  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 »
• HN817: Is There a Better Way to Do Software Defined Networking? 06.03.2026 57min

  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 »
• HN816: Inside the Case: A Hardware Deep Dive with Meter (Sponsored) 27.02.2026 58min

  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 »
• HN815: All About PCE 20.02.2026 1h 14min

  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 »
• HN814: Automating Your Network with Cisco Crosswork Workflow Manager (Sponsored) 13.02.2026 48min

  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 »