The Fat Pipe - Most Popular Packet Pushers Pods

Scott Robohn is responsible for so much of the current buzz and awareness of network automation. Today, we sit down with the co-founder of Network Automation Forum to learn about his own journey. We chat about his education and the question of if college degrees are necessary. We also talk about his experience at big... Read more »

Tabletop security exercises can help organizations game out their response to a security incident. From the technical and business considerations to legal and PR implications, a tabletop exercise, like Dungeons and Dragons, lets you play-test attack and defense scenarios. Johna Till Johnson, CEO of Nemertes consulting firm and co-host of the Heavy Strategy podcast, joins... Read more »

Welcome to a crossover episode with the Heavy Strategy podcast! Firing the wrong person, mistakenly rebooting core switches in a massive network, not passing the CCIE exam– today we talk all about failure. For this conversation, we’re joined by fellow Packet Pushers Kyler Middleton and Ned Bellavance, hosts of the Day Two Cloud podcast. We... Read more »

Take a Network Break! Lots of hardware news in today’s episode. We start with a new data center Ethernet switch from Dell designed to accelerate workloads on AI Ethernet fabrics. Public cloud networking startup Alkira raises $100 million in funding. Broadcom announces a 400G NIC that targets AI workloads, and Allegro Packets announces a 400G... Read more »

The variety and number of OT devices continue to grow at such a pace that network engineers really need to think through how to manage them as part of their broader network. Dan Massameno joins the show to talk about how he’s collaborating with his facilities department and using SD-Access to manage the OT virtual... Read more »

There are about 1.4 million Kubernetes clusters just sitting out there on the public internet as we speak. That is 1.4 million lateral-movement rich, highly privileged environments. The bearer of this anxiety-provoking news is today’s guest, Lee Briggs. Lee explains why major cloud providers make this the default option– ease of use. The good news... Read more »

Zero trust is a buzzword, but what does it actually mean and how will it impact network engineers? Jennifer is here to get us up to speed. First, she gives a general description: It’s a security architectural strategy that’s progressing toward increased observability and trust inferences. Then she breaks it down for the three main... Read more »

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss what IBM and Palo Alto Networks get out of a deal for Palo Alto Networks to buy the SaaS version of the QRadar SIEM from IBM, why LogRhythm is merging with Exabeam, and how Google is positioning its latest AI chip to take on the Nvidia juggernaut.... Read more »

Welcome to the second part of our interview with friend of the podcast, Russ White. We start our conversation with a listener question about VXLAN/EVPN which acts as a springboard for what Russ really thinks about network engineering these days. He defends network snowflakes, championing their power in business use cases. He questions the merit... Read more »

Curious about what it takes to write a technical book as a network engineer? You’re in luck. The team behind Nautobot is also the team behind the book “Network Automation with Nautobot: Adopt a network source of truth and a data-driven approach to networking.” Jason, Ken, and John tell us about their writing process, timeline,... Read more »

Have you ever noticed “threat hunting” in vendor products and wondered exactly what it means? James Williams is here to explain: Threat hunting is the R&D of detection engineering. A threat hunter imagines what an attacker might try and, critically, how that behavior would show up in the logs of a particular environment. Then the... Read more »

Take a Network Break! We begin the episode with some follow-up on edge AI chips, whether Packet Pushers should start a dedicated AI channel, and a clarification on AWS and VMware. On the news front, we discuss the soft launches of AI assistant from Extreme Networks and Gluware, and a new virtual appliance for Cisco’s... Read more »

We turn the nerd meter up to eleven on today’s episode with longtime friend of the show, Russ White. First we dive into how an Ethernet adapter knows when a link is lost, where Russ teaches us all about loss of carrier and OAM. He also gives us a tutorial on how the rest of... Read more »

Keith Gregory teaches us about data engineering in a way DevOps folks (and hydrologists) can understand. He explains that the role of a data engineer is to create pipelines to transport data from metaphorical rivers and make it usable for data analysts. Keith walks us through the testing process; the difference between streaming pipelines and... Read more »

What’s the difference between cybersecurity “as a service” vs. “managed” vs. “hosted”? And what’s the difference between an MSP and an MSSP? In this episode, JJ helps untangle the terms and concepts in cybersecurity offerings. She explains what questions you should ask vendors to make sure you’re picking the right one for your needs; negotiating... Read more »

Take a Network Break! This week we cover a new microsegmentation offering from Arista, new GenAI assistants from Fortinet, and a GenAI firewall from Versa Networks to monitor and report on how organizations are using generative AI tools and applications. AWS will stop selling VMware Cloud on AWS (but you can still get it through... Read more »

The future has arrived: 800 gig Ethernet is here. Amit Bhardwaj and Dmitry Shokarev from today’s sponsor, Juniper Networks, join the show to tell us all about Juniper’s 800 gig Ethernet and what we need to know as engineers: use cases, transition plans, fiber and power needs (a lot less than you’d think). We also... Read more »

Today we chat with the maintainers of Nautobot, the open source network source of truth and network automation platform. Jason Edelman, Ken Celenza, John Anderson explain how their day jobs at professional services company, Network to Code, informs their work on Nautobot. They walk us through Nautobot’s core, out-of-the-box capabilities as well as the extensibility... Read more »

The classical encryption algorithms that currently undergird our IT infrastructure will be broken once there’s a powerful and stable enough quantum computer to do the job. Quantum-resistant algorithms are being developed by NIST, but implementation and deployment of these algorithms still have to be addressed. So what does all this mean for busy IT and... Read more »

Take a Network Break! We welcome guest commentator Kyler Middleton of Day Two Cloud to discuss the IBM/HashiCorp deal, then pivot to new Wi-Fi 7 APs from HPE Aruba Networking, and discuss why a data center builder in Ireland is constructing a power generation plant alongside the generator–and powering it partly with vegetable oil. Noncompete... Read more »

What if instead of sending multiple queries out to APIs and getting disparate data back, you could just send a single query and receive a single answer. That’s exactly what GraphQL does for you. Rick Donato joins the show today to teach us about GraphQL and how it can help us on the path to... Read more »

The expectations for application delivery are higher than ever before, the networks that support those applications are increasingly distributed, and visibility is essential for network operations and troubleshooting. On today’s sponsored episode, Kentik’s Phil Gervasi joins us to discuss how Kentik collects essential performance data to help you monitor and manage all the networks your... Read more »

What makes for a good manager, director, and independent contributor (IC), and how do you figure out which is the best fit for you? Hazel Weakly has had a whirlwind tour of all three and is ready to share her insight into each. We talk about the skill set needed for each, and figuring out... Read more »

IoT devices are often like the tiny aliens in the locker in Men in Black: They’ve created a whole little world on your network without almost any humans knowing they exist. Today Troy Martin joins the show to teach us the basics of how to find and secure IoT devices on your network, specifically focusing... Read more »

Take a Network Break! This week we cover Hypershield, a new Cisco security product that uses technology from its Isovalent acquisition. We parse a blog from Broadcom CEO Hock Tan on the company’s VMware strategy, and discuss China’s latest counter-punch in its tech infrastructure fight with the United States. A KPMG survey reveals that executives... Read more »

If you haven’t made the leap from traditional wide area networking to SD-WAN, or perhaps you’re thinking about adding security services to your SD-WAN infrastructure, this episode is for you. Rajesh Kari from Palo Alto Networks joins the show to share customer stories from the front lines of multi-branch businesses’ networks. Industry verticals including retail,... Read more »

AI has been around forever; AI is emergent. AI is just data analytics; AI hallucinates. AI doesn’t have many business use cases; AI is already being used by your employees. Today, Greg and Johna from the Heavy Strategy podcast join Day Two Cloud to give their takes on enterprise AI. Johna brings with her the... Read more »

This is Part 2 of Kirk Byers’ interview. We discuss the Git course he’s developing and the need to build bridges between networking and testing so we can move automation forward. This of course leads us to geek out about AutoCon and the talks we’re most excited about. Plus, Kirk shares his wisdom about creating... Read more »

The US government is seeking comment on a new law mandating detailed cyber incident reporting. In this episode, we cover what you need to know about the “Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act.” We break down the details, including what kind of companies the law applies to, what it defines as an “incident,” and... Read more »

Take a Network Break! This week we start with some FU on Intel drivers, and how FISA affects people outside (and inside) the US. In the news we cover Intel’s rollout of new XPU silicon and associated software as it tries to make up ground against Nvidia’s AI dominance, Zscaler’s acquisition of a microsegmentation startup... Read more »

With “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” as his guide, Srivats launched Ostinato, his open source project, in 2010. He needed an affordable network traffic generator at his day job, he was passionate enough to build one during his nights and weekends, and end users loved it– it has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.... Read more »

You can’t just drop a knife on fish and expect there to be sushi. Jack Lindamood joins us today to share his metaphors and thoughts on picking the right IT tools and processes as outlined in his popular article, “(Almost) Every Infrastructure Decision I Endorse or Regret after 4 Years Running Infrastructure at a Startup.”... Read more »

If your approach to firmware is that you don’t bother it as long as it doesn’t bother you, you might want to listen to this episode. Concerns about supply chain vulnerabilities are on the rise and for good reason: Attackers are targeting firmware because compromising this software can allow attackers to persist on systems after... Read more »

Take a Network Break! This week we start with some FU on Juniper’s Mist AI, the ConnectWise vulnerability, and the 25th anniversary of the Cisco Cat6. The US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has proposed new rules that require organizations to report security incidents within 72 hours and ransomware payments within 24 hours. Intel... Read more »

To run AI workloads, a network needs thousands of GPUs and those GPUs must operate in sync. If there is congestion or dropped frames, very expensive efforts could be delayed or disrupted. While there are advantages to using Ethernet for AI networking (including engineers well-trained in the protocol and a robust ecosystem), it wasn’t designed... Read more »

The intersection of Python and network engineering is Kirk Byers’ sweet spot. Today, the creator of the Netmiko library and core maintainer of NAPALM joins the show to tell us about his network automation journey. We also discuss Kirk’s experience on the business side of things, both the ups and downs. This is Part 1... Read more »

Learning cloud security can be daunting for experienced network engineers, much less complete newbies. That’s why Rich Mogull started “Cloud Security Lab A Week,” aka Cloud SLAW. Every Thursday, he emails subscribers a new hands-on lab, building a full enterprise deployment week-by-week, step-by-step. Rich explains all the details to JJ and Drew including the cost... Read more »

Take a Network Break! This week we try to peel back the layers on HPE’s announcement about new GenAI capabilties in Aruba Networking Central, parse Broadcom’s touting of its AI credentials, and feel conflicted about Intel sucking up billions in taxpayer dollars. South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix dangles a $4 billion investment promise to the... Read more »

Where there are containers, there is networking. Today we dig into the networking that underlies Kubernetes, the open source orchestration platform for container-based applications. Our guest Karim El Jamali takes us through the essential concepts: Nodes, pods, clusters, CNIs, virtual ethernet pairs, ingress controller, eBPF, and service meshes. As container-based applications grow in popularity, it’s... Read more »

Life isn’t easy for someone looking for a job in tech. There are lots of content mills pushing the idea that if you just pass this one six-month course, you’ll have a six-figure career in no time. There are lots of hiring companies who make job applicants jump through a ton of hoops, but often... Read more »

You’re already running IPv6, even if you don’t know it yet. Your remote users are using it at their homes, your printers come with it built into the kernel, your generals are using it on their mobile phones (check out our news headlines section). So let’s stop trying to disable it whack-a-mole style, and start... Read more »

Take a Network Break! Nvidia announces new 800G switches, one for Ethernet and one for InfiniBand, for building AI fabrics. Nvidia also announces an “AI supercomputer,” a rack-scale pre-built bundle of Nvidia GPUs and CPUs connected via InfiniBand switches. The NaaS startup Meter announces new campus switches and what it calls a “digital twin” capability,... Read more »

Fiserv is one of the largest payment processors in the world, In 2023 it handled more than 35 billion transactions worth $2.03 trillion US dollars. Its network is critical to the business. The organization knew it needed network automation, but early attempts got some things wrong. On today’s Heavy Networking we talk about how Fiserv... Read more »

In this podcast episode, Randy Horton from Orthogonal and Ian Sutcliffe from AWS discuss the complexities of supporting regulated medical devices in the cloud. They explore the challenges of adhering to regulations, the importance of security, and the need for robust frameworks. The conversation highlights the non-prescriptive nature of regulations, encouraging best practices rather than... Read more »

Welcome back for Part 2 of Eric’s interview with Roman Dodin, co-creator of containerlab. Roman describes containerlab as a “lab as code” tool that quickly and easily creates virtual networking topologies. With increased automation and containerization in network engineering, the tool’s popularity has exploded. We talk about how folks contribute to containerlab’s development and what... Read more »

This episode is for IT professionals who work in small- to medium-sized businesses and are expected to handle cybersecurity on top of issues like “my camera isn’t working on Zoom.” Guest Joe Stern has been filling this role for an 80-person company for almost 30 years. We talk about how he prioritizes risks, security tools... Read more »

This week on Network Break we discuss a new on-prem version of NetBox Labs’ source-of-truth software with enterprise support, why Selector AI is adding an LLM to its operations and observability product, and whether a new Web application firewall from Cloudflare can protect LLMs against malicious prompts. Viavi Solutions consolidates the network testing space with... Read more »

Matt Horn built a data center network through automation, remotely. This is the future of network engineering. Matt shares how his team did it technically: Terraform, a little Ansible, leveraging pipelines, etc. But he also shares the processes and culture that made it happen: Management and peer buy-in, tight enforcement based on user access, and... Read more »

What if you could eliminate the burdens of networking without losing your control and visibility of the network? That’s the idea behind Nile. With Nile co-managing the network, you don’t have to spend all your time chasing down tickets, running patches, and dealing with CLI syntax. Instead you get to focus on higher level tasks... Read more »

According to Bryson Bort, you can build higher metaphorical fences, electrify them, and have sharks with laser beams prowling the moat, but attackers are still going to get through the security perimeter. That’s why the priority of any IT team should be to identify anomalies and anticipate attack logic. To do this, organizations need to... Read more »