Heavy Networking
Heavy Networking is an unabashedly nerdy dive into all things networking. On air since 2010, it’s the flagship show of the Packet Pushers podcast network.
Packet Pushers
Show overview
Heavy Networking has been publishing since 2021, and across the 5 years since has built a catalogue of 260 episodes. That works out to roughly 230 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 47 min and 59 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. It is catalogued as a EN-language Technology show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed yesterday, with 23 episodes already out so far this year. Published by Packet Pushers.
From the publisher
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.
Latest Episodes
View all 260 episodesHN831: The Sum, Not Just the Parts: How and Why to Think Holistically About Your Network
HN830: Tailscale CEO on WireGuard, Zero Trust, and Securing AI (Sponsored)
HN829: EVPN/VXLAN Vs. TradCore
HN828: How Selector Unifies Cloud and On-Prem Network Observability (Sponsored)
HN827: When Buffers Attack: Understanding Buffers to Better Diagnose Network Weirdness
HN826: An Inside Look at Palo Alto Networks Prisma Browser for Business (Sponsored)
HN825: Faster Than Dijkstra? Exploring a New Shortest-Path Algorithm with Bruce Davie
HN824: That’s Not a Job for an LLM: The Right Way to Apply AI to Network Operations (Sponsored)
HN823: Defining A Modern Network Service
HN822: Now I Understand. You Mean an AI-Safe Zero-Trust Network Automation Approach (Sponsored)
Ep 821HN821: Boring Network Design Is Good
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 »
Ep 820HN820: Cyber Week 2026 Wrap Up with Palo Alto Networks: Agents, Prisma AIRS and NGTS (Sponsored)
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 »
Ep 819HN819: Recipes for Automation – A Look Inside Eric Chou’s AI Networking Cookbook
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 »
Ep 818HN818: Introducing LIM: A Large Infrastructure Model for Multi-Cloud Terraform Migration (Sponsored)
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 »
Ep 817HN817: Is There a Better Way to Do Software Defined Networking?
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 »
Ep 816HN816: Inside the Case: A Hardware Deep Dive with Meter (Sponsored)
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 »
Ep 815HN815: All About PCE
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 »
Ep 814HN814: Automating Your Network with Cisco Crosswork Workflow Manager (Sponsored)
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 »
Ep 813HN813: What Should Networkers Know About Software Development (and Vice Versa)?
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 »
Ep 812HN812: Nokia EDA: AI Ops You Can Trust (Sponsored)
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 »