Packet Pushers - Full Podcast Feed

Today’s episode is all about high-performance memory in switches. We dig into the differences among TCAM, SRAM, DRAM, and HBM, and all the complex tradeoffs that go into allocating memory resources to networking functions. If you’ve ever had to select a Switching Database Manager template or done similar operations on a switch, this is your... Read more »

On today’s Total Network Operations we talk through the adoption of AI in network operations with John Capobianco, Head of DevRel at Selector. Selector is the sponsor of today’s episode. John walks us through his career journey as a network engineer, and describes the moment where he realized that AI was going to change how... Read more »

Democratizing the learning environment is a passion for Deepak Ahuja.  So much so, he founded CloudMyLab, a company that provides hands-on, cloud-based labs and networking environments. His goal is to offer an affordable lab-as-a-service for two groups of people: network engineers seeking certifications, and network engineers and automators that need a place to safely test... Read more »

In this unplanned and unfiltered conversation, we dive deep into network automation realities with Ivan Pepelnjak, networking’s long standing and independent voice from ipSpace.net. We explore why automation projects fail, dissect the tooling landscape (Ansible vs. Terraform vs. Python), and discuss the cultural barriers preventing enterprises from modernizing their networks. Ivan delivers hard truths about... Read more »

Microsoft is rethinking allowing endpoint security software to run in the Windows kernel (including third-party and Microsoft’s own endpoint security software). While there are benefits to running security software in the kernel, there are also serious downsides (see the CrowdStrike outage). Dan Massameno joins JJ and Drew on Packet Protector to talk about the role... Read more »

Google now estimates that the specs for a Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computer (CRQC), which can break conventional public key encryption in a useful amount of time, are lower than they had previously estimated…by 95%. Given the breadth and pace of advancement in quantum computing, this makes the advent of the CRQC likely to happen years... Read more »

Take a Network Break! We start with critical vulnerabilities in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center and Fortinet’s FortiSIEM. On the news front, SonicWall announces Gen8 firewalls plus a $200,000 warranty for customers that sign on to SonicWall’s Managed Protection Security Suite. IBM Cloud suffers its fourth major outage since May of this year, SASE vendor... Read more »

LLMs and AI-powered chatbots are becoming a regular feature of network operations tools and vendor product portfolios. Now the next iteration of AI in network ops and automation is likely to be agentic. On today’s Heavy Networking, sponsored by HPE Juniper Networking, we talk about what agentic AI actually means, how AI agents will accomplish... Read more »

Building things for people to use has been our guest’s goal since entering university in the 1960s. Total Network Operations is delighted to welcome Jack Haverty, who’s been instrumental in ARPANET operations and innovation, the development of TCP, and more. He takes us through the history of the internet from the early days of ARPANET,... Read more »

You’ve sent in questions and on today’s IPv6 Buzz episode Ed, Nick, and Tom answer them. Questions include using DHCPv6 versus SLAAC in a home network, IPv6 and email services, a NAT66 recap, and more. Stay tuned for full episodes coming up that cover Path MTU discovery and IPv6 and containers.  Episode Links: Google IPv6... Read more »

Ethan and Holly bring you the last installment of the OSPF series discussing OSPF area types. They discuss why OSPF areas exist, do a quick recap of what OSPF areas actually are, and then introduce the different types of OSPF areas.  Lastly, see if you can answer Ethan’s rapid-fire OSPF questions. Episode Transcript: This episode... Read more »

Developers Rizel Scarlett and Ian Douglas join Ned and Kyler to talk about building an AI agent. Rizel and Ian work at Block, where they’re part of a team building an agent called Goose. They talk about what the agent does, building challenges, observability, and more. They also dive into topics such as how using AI... Read more »

Packet Protector goes global for today’s security news roundup. Microsoft discontinues a program in which engineers in China supported the US Department of Defense’s cloud infrastructure (with the help of US ‘digital escorts’), Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC fires several employees over allegations of attempted theft of sensitive tech, an Arizona woman gets 8 years in prison... Read more »

Technical conferences are an excellent avenue for building community. Guest Peter Mackenzie talks about his love for conferences and how they’ve helped him in his career. In fact, Conferences helped him so much started one in Europe called Wi-Co. It has grown to include North America so that more wireless practitioners can join in the... Read more »

Take a Network Break! We start with follow-up on post-quantum support in firewalls and DPDK, then highlight a command injection vulnerability in Ruckus SmartZone software. In tech news, Broadcom rolls out the Jericho4 ASIC to help scale AI across multiple data centers, InfoBlox beefs up DNS protection to spot malicious domains faster, and HPE announces... Read more »

Telecom and ISP lifecycle management can be tedious and opaque. On today’s Tech Bytes, we talk with sponsor Lightyear about its SaaS-based platform that handles telecom and ISP procurement, tracks installations and inventory, manages billing, and more. We talk about the pain points that Lightyear can solve, the components of the platform, and how Lightyear... Read more »

Perhaps the biggest question around adopting network automation is whether you should build a solution using open source tools and a lot of coding glue, or buy a network automation platform from a vendor and construct your automation solution on top of that. Either way has tradeoffs. Network engineer Lee Harper joins Heavy Networking to... Read more »

Today we explore how to build sustainable tech companies with Brian Pontarelli, Founder of FusionAuth. Brian shares his path from early programming on an Apple IIe to creating innovative solutions in the complex world of customer identity and access management (CIAM). Brian argues that single-tenancy and local development capabilities are crucial for developers. He also... Read more »

Optical networks are an essential component of networking, but don’t get much attention. Today we shine a spotlight on the intersection of optical networks and the software that automates them. Our guest is Michal Pecek, consultant and teacher in optical communication, whose work has transformed organizations including Google and Alcatel-Lucent (now Nokia). From pioneering flexible DWDM... Read more »

From SAML to OAuth to FIDO2 to passwordless promises, we unpack what’s working—and what’s broken—in the world of identity and authentication. Today on the Packet Protector podcast, we’re joined by the always thoughtful and occasionally provocative Wolf Goerlich, former Duo advisor, and now a practicing CISO in the public sector. We also talk about authorization... Read more »