Heavy Networking
Packet Pushers
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 10, 2024 • 48min
HN733: Russ White Hour: IS-IS vs OSPF and a Deep Dive into Ethernet Adapters
Experienced network engineer Russ White delves into Ethernet adapter link detection and OAM importance. Discussions on network convergence, OSPF vs ISIS comparison, and network scaling challenges. Also, a shoutout from sponsor Palo Alto Networks and upcoming topics in the next episode.
May 3, 2024 • 39min
HN732: Juniper’s PTX Platforms: 800GE and Double-Density 400GE for DC and WAN (Sponsored)
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 »
Apr 26, 2024 • 35min
HN731: GraphQL: Open Source Query Language for APIs
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 »
Apr 19, 2024 • 48min
HN730: Retail, Healthcare, Manufacturing and More Transform Their Branches with Next-Gen SD-WAN and SASE (Sponsored)
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 »
Apr 12, 2024 • 48min
HN729: Open Source to Closed
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 »
Apr 5, 2024 • 48min
HN728: How Drivenets Leverages Ethernet Fabrics For AI Networking (Sponsored)
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 »
Mar 29, 2024 • 1h 7min
HN727: Kubernetes Networking Essentials
Networking expert Karim El Jamali discusses Kubernetes essentials such as nodes, pods, clusters, CNIs, virtual ethernet pairs, ingress controller, eBPF, and service meshes. Topics include IP addressing, network policies, eBPF technology, service mesh, encryption, and the role of containers in modern application delivery.
Mar 22, 2024 • 48min
HN726: From Automation to Orchestration for a FinTech Network (Sponsored)
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 »
Mar 15, 2024 • 48min
HN725: Standing up a DC Network Using Terraform
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 »
Mar 8, 2024 • 59min
HN724: How Packets Move Through a Network Device
Explore the complexities of network devices with discussions on how switches and routers work, RIB and FIB, CAM tables, line rates, and port-to-port latency. Discover the significance of understanding network device functionality for troubleshooting and equipment selection, delve into the components inside data center switches, and explore the evolution of network devices from configuration to forwarding states. Learn about programming network devices with P4 language and distinguishing between hardware and software forwarding in networking devices.
