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★★★★★

4.9

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326 reviews

Description

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.

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Defining A Modern Network Service

2026/04/17

On today’s episode Ethan is joined by Mark Prosser, a self-described Network Operator Advocate and Network Automation Dreamer, to embark on a thought exercise about network services. Together they grapple with questions such as: What is a network service, exactly? How is it defined? Is it even possible to define it when considered in the... Read more »

Now I Understand. You Mean an AI-Safe Zero-Trust Network Automation Approach. (Sponsored)

2026/04/10

On today’s sponsored episode we talk with David Gee, CEO at Curvium, a systems integrator and VAR. David holds thoughtful opinions about network automation and orchestration, how such platforms are to be built, and the impact AI is having on network automation. We dig into how AI fundamentally changes how we interact with systems, and... Read more »

Boring Network Design Is Good

2026/04/03

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 »

Cyber Week 2026 Wrap Up with Palo Alto Networks: Agents, Prisma AIRS and NGTS (Sponsored)

2026/03/27

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 »

Recipes for Automation - A Look Inside Eric Chou's AI Networking Cookbook

2026/03/20

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 »

Introducing LIM: A Large Infrastructure Model for Multi-Cloud Terraform Migration (Sponsored)

2026/03/13

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 »

Is There a Better Way to Do Software Defined Networking?

2026/03/06

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 »

Inside the Case: A Hardware Deep Dive with Meter (Sponsored)

2026/02/27

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 »

All About PCE

2026/02/20

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 »

Automating Your Network with Cisco Crosswork Workflow Manager (Sponsored)

2026/02/13

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 »

What Should Networkers Know About Software Development (and Vice Versa)?

2026/02/06

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 »

Nokia EDA: AI Ops You Can Trust (Sponsored)

2026/01/30

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 »

What AI Startups Get Wrong

2026/01/23

What is the real-world impact of AI on network operations? Drew and Ethan have a chat with Carlos Pignataro, Founder & Principal at Blue Fern Consulting, to cut through the AI hype machine. Carlos offers a thoughtful, balanced take on where the industry is headed, and where it’s missing the mark. Together they discuss Intent-Based... Read more »

AI in Network Operations: Pragmatism Over Hype (Sponsored)

2026/01/16

Are you an AI skeptic or an enthusiast? Ethan and Drew sit down with Igor Tarasenko, Senior Director of Product Software Architecture and Engineering at Equinix, to break down the reality of AI in the network. In this sponsored episode, Tarasenko discusses why APIs are the new CLI, the critical need for observability in AI,... Read more »

EVPN All the Things!

2026/01/09

It’s been over a decade since the first Packet Pushers podcast on EVPN. Now, guest Jeff McAdams can legitimately suggest that we “EVPN all the things.” Hosts Ethan Banks and Drew Conry-Murray dig into Jeff’s stance on EVPN/VXLAN. They look at how VXLAN and EVPN work; talk about use cases in the data center, the... Read more »

Podcast reviews

Read Heavy Networking podcast reviews

4.9 out of 5

326 reviews

★★★★★

spuluka 2023/09/14

Deep dive into both current

Heavy Networking is a deep dive into up and coming and relevant technologies in our business. And they get on experts that show you the practical appl...

★★★★★

linux 66 2022/12/25

Great podcast

Wonderful information!

★★★★★

ASobering 2021/12/06

Such a wealth of knowledge! 🧠

This is one of the most insightful podcasts that I have ever come across! The Packet Pushers team does such a great job of sharing their wisdom and I ...

★★★★★

Javolono 2020/04/13

Amazing Deep Networking Podcast!

Came across packet pushers and I can’t stop! As a Network Engenieer myself I find the topics, the guest, the insights and deep dives phenomenal, infor...

★★★★★

rst subr 2020/03/08

Great source of information

I’m a software engineer in the valley and I find your podcasts to be extremely useful in understanding larger picture. Thanks for freely sharing this ...

★★★★★

InformationSidewalk 2019/12/15

Valuable and Accessible Perspectives and Analysis

The unfortunate state of technology-related podcasts is that the dry delivery of the content is hard to stay engaged with and/or the hosts/guests aren...

★★★★★

Vinyl snob 2018/04/28

palace of my commute

I recently starting consistenly listening to the suite of shows provided by packet pushers everyday for the past 3 weeks during my commute. I even giv...

★★★★★

Network Automation Nerds 2018/01/31

My Weekly dose of Networking

Funny and in-depth conversations surrounding networking and tech in general. I often wonder if people find it funny that I sometimes smile like an idi...

★★★★★

ICS_Guy 2017/03/10

Great Podcast

★★☆☆☆

corvettematt 2017/08/07

Biased view of the industry

Self absorbed host who talks more than his guests. Very anti-cisco. Don't come here if your are looking for a full view of the industry.

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