Show overview
N Is For Networking has been publishing since 2024, and across the 2 years since has built a catalogue of 55 episodes. That works out to roughly 50 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a fortnightly cadence.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 49 min and 1h 3m — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Technology show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 4 days ago, with 12 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2025, with 38 episodes published. Published by Packet Pushers.
From the publisher
N Is For Networking deconstructs the concepts, jargon and acronyms of the data networking industry. Join grumpy old network engineer Ethan Banks with networking newcomer Holly Metlitzky for these episodes that will help you place context around networking terminology.
Latest Episodes
View all 55 episodesN4N057: The Art of Troubleshooting
N4N056: A Wireless NAC Walkthrough
N4N055: A Wired NAC Walkthrough
N4N054: Network Access Control (NAC) Basics
N4N053: Well Actually 03 – Multicast, Routing Protocols, RFC 1918
Ep 52N4N052: Multicast Part 2
Lenny Giuliano, Sr. Distinguished Systems Engineer at HPE Juniper Networks, joins Holly and Ethan for another round of multicast. Part two helps fill in details not covered in episode 50. They cover how multicast traffic also affects Ethernet frame addressing, and the key differences between IPv4 and IPv6 multicast. They also explain new hybrid multicast... Read more »
Ep 51N4N051: MPLS Fundamentals
Today’s topic is Multiprotocol Label Switching or MPLS, a foundational technology that powers service provider networks and enterprise WANs all over the world. To help us break it down, we’ve invited James Bensley, a Network Tech Lead who’s spent fifteen years with MPLS. James explains what spurred the creation of MPLS and how it works... Read more »
Ep 50N4N050: Multicast Fundamentals
Today’s learning adventure is an overview of multicast. Ethan and Holly have invited a guest to share his multicast expertise: Lenny Giuliano, Sr. Distinguished Systems Engineer at HPE Juniper Networks. Lenny guides them through multicast principles and shares examples of where and how it’s used in live networks. He also explains how the OSPF routing... Read more »
Ep 49N4N049: Understanding Firewalls
Today, Ethan and Holly provide an overview of firewalls. While cybersecurity is a separate discipline from network engineering, much of what happens in cybersecurity is interesting at the packet level, so there’s a good deal of overlap. It’s likely that as a network engineer, you’ll be managing, or at least dealing with, firewalls in your... Read more »
Ep 48N4N048: QoS Fundamentals
Quality of Service (QoS) is a huge topic with a punishingly large group of acronyms. Join Ethan and Holly as they help you build a mental framework of what QoS is and what it solves. Not only do they break down essential acronyms, they also discuss QoS fundamentals, define the major groups of QoS tools,... Read more »
Ep 47N4N047: Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
Go beyond the basics to understand the mechanics that keep your default gateway from becoming a single point of failure. Ethan and Holly demystify Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), which helps provide network redundancy. They break down everything from the VRRP election protocol to the protocol’s unique communication methods. They also look back at previous... Read more »
Ep 46N4N046: In-Band vs. Out-of-Band Management
Ethan and Holly discuss the major differences between In-band and Out-of-band (OOB) management and the pros and cons of both. They explore how to implement a proper OOB network and critical use cases where OOB is required. They also explain the differences and roles of the data plane, the control plane, and the management plane.... Read more »
Ep 45N4N045: Audience Follow Up & 2026 Preview
If you’re curious as to what Ethan and Holly have in store for 2026, they give you a sneak peak on today’s episode. Hint: Some of these topics might include letters like B, G, P, Q, o, S, A and I. They also take time in this episode to answer listener questions, ranging from how... Read more »
Ep 44N4N044: Redundancy Vs. High Availability Part 2 – HA Networking Isn’t Free
In Part 1 of Redundancy vs. High Availability, we said that sometimes high availability and redundancy are considered to be the same thing, but we disagree. Holly and Ethan do agree that high availability can be considered a network design goal, and that redundancy is just one technique that can be used to help make... Read more »
Ep 43N4N043: Redundancy vs. High Availability Part 1
In today’s chat, Holly and Ethan consider a question from listener Douglas who asks, “How do you approach designing a network for high availability and redundancy?” They start by defining differences between redundancy and high availability, and talk about Holly’s experience with her own customers. Then they share examples of how to achieve redundancy in... Read more »
Ep 42N4N042: Meet MACsec
MACsec is a protocol for encrypting Ethernet frames on a local (though not always local) network. Ethan Banks and Holly Metlitzky have an ELI5 (explain like I’m 5) discussion as to what exactly is MACsec and how it differs from IPsec. They talk about when and whether you need to implement MACsec with all the... Read more »
Ep 41N4N041: Switched Virtual Interface (SVI) and Integrated Routing and Bridging (IRB)
If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between a Switched Virtual Interface (SVI) and Integrated Routing and Bridging (IRB), today’s show is for you! Ethan Banks and Holly Metlitzky start with some history and the basics of communication between layer 2 and layer 3 and then explain how the concepts of SVI and IRB... Read more »
Ep 40N4N040: Mock Interview for a Network Administration Job
The job interview is an inescapable part of a career journey. Today on N Is For Networking, we conduct a mock interview with a candidate who’s applying for a junior network administration role. The goal is to give Toni Mrowetz, our candidate, feedback. At the same time, we hope this helps anyone listening who might... Read more »
Ep 39N4N039: Configuring an IPsec Tunnel
We dive back into the world of IPsec with an episode dedicated to configuring IPsec tunnels. After discussing a listener comment regarding transport mode in IPsec tunnels, Ethan Banks and Holly Metlitzky work through topics such as multi-vendor IPsec configuration, licensing, and the details of configuration and routing. Bonus material: MTU size and NAT-T. Episode... Read more »
Ep 38N4N038: Well Actually 02 – OSPF Multi-Area and LSA Types
We got some interesting listener feedback from our series on OSPF, so today’s N Is for Networking is another “Well actually” episode where we dig into that feedback. In particular, we’ll cover a defense of OSPF multi-area deployments, and dig into OSPF LSA types. Episode Links: OSPF Basics – N Is For Networking Episode 38... Read more »