The Fat Pipe - Most Popular Packet Pushers Pods
The Fat Pipe aggregates the most popular episodes from the Packet Pushers network of podcasts, including Heavy Networking, Network Break, Day Two DevOps, Packet Protector, and Network Automation Nerds. It provides a single stream of top content for IT professionals interested in networking, automation, and DevOps. The show covers deep technical discussions, industry news, and practical advice. New shows are added as they launch, ensuring listeners stay updated with fresh content.
Episodes
TCG086: Why Training AI to Have a Self Makes Governance Harder
John Capobianco returns to the show to discuss the latest developments in Model Context Protocol (MCP) and agentic infrastructure. John and host William Collins weigh in on the ongoing debate on AI consciousness, constitutional guardrails, and model welfare policies. They also look at emerging TypeSafe System One models and the practical realities of deploying autonomous... Read more »
NAN133: Beyond the Hype: The Realities of AI Infrastructure
Eric Chou speaks with Leo Fleskes on the pressing infrastructure challenges surrounding AI resource consumption, including data centers’ massive water and power demands. Together they discuss local community pushback, regulatory constraints, and the economic viability of AI providers. AdSpot Sponsor: Meter Most IT teams are managing networks stitched together from years of acquisitions and v
Tech Bytes: Get Ahead of AI-Driven Vulnerabilities with Frontier Virtual Patching (Sponsored)
Today on Tech Bytes we explore frontier virtual patching with sponsor Palo Alto Networks. Palo Alto Networks recently announced frontier virtual patching as part of PAN-OS 12.2. We’ll talk about how this release can help IT and OT organizations deal with the increased speed and scale of vulnerabilities being uncovered. Frontier virtual patching can help... Read more »
PP130: News Roundup—FBI and Pentagon Breached, AI Amplifies Threat Actors, UK Rolls Out Passkey Option, and More
Our October news roundup is a boiling cauldron of consternation. The FBI and the Pentagon suffered breaches, serious exploits are targeting network gear, and researchers discover a lone threat actor who successfully hit hundreds of sites with the help of AI agents. Infostealer malware is impersonating brands such as LastPass to trick users into downloading... Read more »
HS146: Costly Choices and Forced Dollars – Thanks AI
Sometimes IT is forced to spend money to do nothing. It might be the cost of evaluating the products and services you don’t end up deploying. Or it’s the cost of scrambling to disable new functionality–mostly AI features these days–in existing apps and services, so it can be evaluated and re-enabled selectively, if at all.... Read more »
NB595: Arista Racks Up New AI Infrastructure Options; Arelion Expands Existing Fiber Optics Capacity
Take a Network Break! We startup with follow-up on global tech news coverage and pronunciations, then pivot to Red Alerts about Dell Container Storage and SonicWall. This week’s news includes a quantum networking controller prototype from Cisco, new rack-scale AI architecture options from Arista, and Cloudflare applying to become a Certificate Authority. Three country-level TLDs... Read more
TNO076: Observability and Automation for AI Networking
Christian Adell and David Flores join host Scott Robohn to discuss the intersection of observability, automation, and networking in AI data centers. With AI data centers linking thousands or tens of thousands of GPUs, observability becomes a huge challenge. Scott and guests dig into those challenges, including maintaining lossless networking, managing elephant flows, and leveraging... Read more &#
HN845: Real Life Use Cases for BGP Monitoring Protocol (BMP)
Bart Dorlandt discusses the practical applications and architecture of the BGP Monitoring Protocol (BMP) for service providers. Bart has developed a BMP application to help his customers monitor BGP. He talks about how he handles data collection, why it’s important to capture pre- and post-policy filtering, how he deals with excessive prefix volumes, future plans... Read more »
LIU024: Dennis Thankachan: Lightyear and Beyond
Lightyear CEO and co-founder Dennis Thankachan shares his transition from investment banking to entrepreneurship and the lessons learned from his early startup failure. He also discusses the creation of Lightyear, the implementation of AI in network operations, and shares some actionable advice for engineers early in their careers. AdSpot Sponsor: Meter Most IT teams are... Read more »
D2DO315: Running Agents Securely at Scale
Ned and Kyler explore the challenges and best practices of running AI agents securely at scale with guest Michael Levan. Together they discuss operational realities of agentic workloads such as specialized AI gateways, semantic routing, sandboxing, and the importance of robust observability practices. AdSpot Sponsor: Gartner The Gartner IT Infrastructure Operations and Cloud Strategies Conference,
PP129: Inline Segmentation – HPE Networking’s Easy Button for Zero Trust (Sponsored)
Sponsor HPE Networking comes to Packet Protector to talk about zero trust inline segmentation. This is a feature available in Juniper switches that can segment LAN traffic using group policy tags without the complexity associated with VXLAN or other segmentation mechanisms. On today’s show we dig into how inline segmentation works, common use cases, how... Read more »
HW090: Inside eduroam
Keith Parsons talks with Mary Bull from Internet2 to discuss the history and widespread deployment of eduroam, a global Wi-Fi roaming service supporting research and education networks. Together they discuss the technical scale of the US eduroam infrastructure, recent load-balancing improvements, and strategies for modernizing campus Wi-Fi. AdSpot Sponsor: Meter Most IT teams are managing... Read
HS145: The Economics and Architecture of AI Factories (Sponsored)
What is an AI Factory, and why would an enterprise want to invest in one? Johna and John are joined by guests Thierry Pienaar of HPE and Kaushik Shirhatti of NVIDIA to discuss what an AI Factory is, the business case for it, and who should consider them. They also cover the value HPE’s expertise... Read more »
Tech Bytes: Inside The Velocity Room – A New Community for AI Infrastructure Professionals (Sponsored)
Today on the Tech Bytes podcast, you’re invited to The Velocity Room. The Velocity Room is a community for IT professionals with a focus on AI infrastructure and security. On today’s show we talk about this community, what kind of events it runs, and whether it might be worth your time. My guest is Richard... Read more »
NB594: Visa Offers AI Security Software Free of Charge; Meta’s 1Pb Subsea Cable Puts Petal to the Metal
Take a Network Break! We discuss listener follow-up on orbital data centers, and hit the Red Alert for a string of Citrix NetScaler vulnerabilities. Visa releases its homegrown agentic AI harness for finding and remediating vulnerabilities as open source software, a bad change borks Azure networking services in 19 regions around the world, and Gluware... Read more »
HN844: Multipath Reliable Connection (MRC)
Today’s show puts the “heavy” in Heavy Networking with a discussion about Multipath Reliable Connection (MRC). MRC is about getting an even distribution of RDMA traffic across equal cost multipath links in massive data centers, and doing so over plain old lossy Ethernet. Ethan, Drew, and guests discuss how packet spraying, resilience to link and... Read more »
TNO075: What Does Network Operations Look Like in 2030? (Sponsored)
What will network operations look like in 2030, and how can teams embrace agentic AI without losing operational control? In this sponsored episode, Rekha Shenoy and Irfahn Khimji of BackBox speak with Scott Robohn about the shift toward agentic NetOps, balancing automation with backup and rollback strategies, and the evolving role of network engineers. Episode... Read more »
N4N065: Well Actually 4: Multicast, MPLS, and More
Thank you for sending in even more follow ups! On today’s show, Holly and Ethan respond to listener comments and corrections on Multicast, MPLS, NAC, Twisted Pair Cabling, and more. A big thank you to everyone who sent in responses. If you’d like to leave a comment about this comments episode, you can do so... Read more »
IPB209: SREs Are Breaking IPv6 — And They Don’t Know It Yet
Ed and Nick explore why developers and SREs often become the bottleneck when transitioning to IPv6-only environments. They share practical strategies for bridging the communication gap between network and application teams, including early collaboration, data-driven monitoring, and fostering open dialogue. Episode Links: Watch this episode on YouTube
NAN132: The AI-Augmented Engineer
Garrett Masters talks with Eric Chou about the concept of the AI-Augmented Engineer. Together they discuss how IT professionals can use Python and NetMiko to automate tasks and even connect AI directly to lab environments. Garrett also shares practical advice on prompt engineering, the importance of context management, and how engineers can safely adopt AI... Read more »
TCG085: Enterprise Salescraft with Drew Meli
William Collins and guest Drew Meli explore the realities of buying enterprise SaaS and infrastructure. They cover the common engineering misconceptions about enterprise sales, navigating rigorous security reviews, establishing clear proof of value criteria, and how AI is reshaping buying behaviors. AdSpot Sponsor: Gartner AI is rewriting your cloud architecture, your operating model, and your...
HS144: Next-Generation Data Centers: The Rules Are Changing, How Should Your Strategy Change?
In-house data centers are a hot topic again! Companies of all sorts are repatriating cloud workloads. Many want to ramp up in-house AI development, training, and production deployment. However much (or little) you know about building a data center, the rules have all changed in the last few years. From political/regulatory concerns to economics to... Read more »
PP128: The Unseen Impacts of AI on Vulnerability Research
AI models have proven very effective at finding software vulnerabilities. This has dramatically increased the number of people (and agents) who can find bugs. But the number of experts who can verify and validate those bugs, and write fixes, has stayed exactly the same. On today’s Packet Protector we talk with Trey Ford, Chief Strategy... Read more »
Tech Bytes: Bring AI Inferencing on Prem with VMware AI Factory (Sponsored)
The early exuberance of AI adoption has run up against hard-nosed business requirements around managing costs, protecting sensitive data, and matching the right model with the right job at the right price. On today’s show, sponsor Broadcom is here to make a case that private cloud is the place for AI inferencing workloads. We talk... Read more »
NB593: AI Agents Come for Your Network; Google to Send TPUs Into Orbit
Take a Network Break! We sound a red alert for active exploits against Check Point’s Secure Gateway. On the news front, a Cisco survey says 51% of organizations run agentic AI in production, Selector announces agentic AI additions to its AI network observability platform, and NetBrain rolls out new AI agents to evaluate changes and... Read more »
TNO074: Lean Teams, Big Demands: Managing K-12 Complexity with AIOps (Sponsored)
“My goal in life is to say it’s not the network!” says Ben Shapiro, senior network engineer at Eugene (OR) School District 4J, the 6th largest school district in Oregon. He joins host Scott Robohn to discuss how to balance complexity, resiliency, legacy devices, security and more in an educational setting. He’s also a MistFit with... Read more »
HN843: From Network Engineer to Network Architect with Kevin Nanns
Drew and Ethan talk with Kevin Nanns about his journey from network engineer to network architect. Kevin shares his experience grappling with the shift in responsibilities, increased pressure, and communication and management challenges associated with his new role. They also discuss his content creation work on TikTok and his strategies for translating complex technical concepts... Read more 
LIU023: Wendell Odom – The Man Who Wrote THE Book
Renowned Cisco Press author Wendell Odom shares how he began writing the definitive guide for the CCNA exam. Alexis, Kevin, and Wendell discuss the balance between practical, on-the-job experience and certification study habits. Wendell also reflects on his career as well as the creation of his YouTube channel, Network Upskill. Episode Links: Watch this episode... Read more »
D2DO314: Backups SaaS – Safety as a Service
Ned and Kyler talk with Jim Jones about data protection, backups, and security in the age of hybrid cloud and AI. They explore the operational challenges of integrating automated AI agents into enterprise workflows, the need for proper permission scoping, immutable backups, and data security posture management (DSPM). AdSpot Sponsor: Gartner The Gartner IT Infrastructure... Read more »
HW089: Spectrum Analysis and Vibe Coding
Keith sits down with Kjetil Hansen to explore spectrum analysis and vibe coding for wireless networking tools. They also discuss building custom tools, using AI for 3D network modeling, and how Kjetil uses OpenIntent in his projects. Episode Links: Kjetil Hansen’s Website Kjetil Hansen on YouTube
HS143: Why We Don’t Believe in Self-Healing AI (Sponsored)
Everyone is talking about autonomous AI for network operations. But in critical infrastructure, is removing the human really the right goal? In this sponsored episode, Johna and John welcome BackBox CEO Rekha Shenoy and VP of Products and Engineering Richard Phillips to discuss the risks of blind autonomy, where AI can go wrong, why human... Read more »
PP127: Network Configuration and State Visibility at Scale with Unimus (Sponsored)
Today’s Packet Protector is a sponsored show that sits very nicely at the networking/security intersection. Our sponsor is NetCore, which makes the Unimus network configuration management software. Unimus supports network automation, configuration management and backup, change management, and auditing and compliance. We dive into how Unimus provides visibility into both the running config an
Tech Bytes: Why Beaver Excavating Tapped Firezone for WireGuard-Powered VPN (Sponsored)
Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we talk VPNs. Our sponsor is Firezone, which offers a secure remote access solution built on Wireguard. But instead of just hearing from Firezone, we talk with a customer. Our guest is Daniel Caruso, IT Network and Systems Administrator at Beaver Excavating, a construction firm headquartered in Canton, OH.... Read more »
NB592: AWS Recommends UAE Migration; FCC Wants More Spectrum for Satellite Broadband
Take a Network Break! We start with listener follow-up on Arista’s vulnerability reporting, and Cisco ISE takes center stage for our Red Alert. Then we dive into EVA Networks, a startup touting ephemeral network connectivity to minimize risks of persistent network access, why AWS is recommending customers relocate workloads away from its data centers in... Read more »
HN842: How Network Engineers Can Prepare for a Post-Quantum World
Q-Day signals the public emergence of a cryptographically relevant quantum computer that can break public key encryption. The date of Q-Day is unknown but the tech industry is making preparations now. Bill Dockery joins Drew and guest host Scott Robohn to dig into Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC), what network engineers need to know to test... Read more »
TNO073: Network Automation Forum: From Simple Survey to Global Community
In this crossover episode, Scott invites William Collins and Eric Chou to do the hosting so he and Network Automation Forum (NAF) cofounder Chris Grundemann can discuss how their community emerged from a simple question: Why haven’t we seen full adoption of network automation? They discuss the growth of AutoCon and how its practitioner-focused, vendor-neutral... Read more »
IPB208: IPv6 Address Management Is Broken
Traditional IPAM and DDI tools struggle to handle IPv6 at scale because they were originally designed around IPv4. Today Ed and Tom examine the visibility challenges posed by SLAAC addresses, broken DNS integrations, and massive prefix allocations. They also share potential solutions and strategies for enterprise IPv6 deployment. AdSpot Sponsor: Megaport If you’re supporting cloud... Read more &#
N4N064: A Gentle Introduction to Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), the routing protocol of the global internet, is finding uses in all sorts of places in 2026 beyond internet routing. It’s a huge topic. Large books have been written about BGP and its related technologies, so Ethan and Holly are here with a gentle introduction to BGP. They break down what... Read more »
D2DO313: Operations is a Reconciliation Loop (Sponsored)
In this sponsored episode, Paul Delory of Gartner joins Kyler and Ned to discuss the reconciler pattern for operations and the shift toward continuous operations. Together they discuss how immutable infrastructure, policy as code, and platform engineering help bridge the gap between traditional IT and modern automation. They also highlight Gartner’s upcoming Infrastructure, Operations &.
TCG084: Is AI Going to Kill Us All? Separating Frontier Risk From Frontier Theater
Is AI going to kill us all? Frontier systems are producing real security failures, but extinction forecasts are being used to support policies that could consolidate control over AI. Eyvonne and William discuss Jacob Coxon’s high-profile resignation from Anthropic, the gap between real technical risks and speculative extinction narratives, and the commercial incentives driving calls... Read
NAN131: Routing Through Space: The Reality of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Networks
Eric is joined by Sid Mathur, founder of Fastah Inc., to unpack the real-world implications of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) internet. Sid has built a career obsessing over data networks, system performance, and the operational challenges facing ISPs and satellite operators. Together they dive into the complexities of in-motion geolocation and explore the traffic routing implications... Read more »
PP126: Trying (and Failing) the CCIE Security Exam
Today we talk about trying and failing. More specifically, guest Keith Tokash wrote a pair of blogs on Packet Pushers about taking, but not passing, the CCIE Security written exam. Failure’s a hard thing to talk about, particularly in this age where every public utterance on LinkedIn feels like it has to document one’s ever-upward... Read more »
HW088: Scaling Your Wireless Team with Ekahau SaaS (Sponsored)
In this sponsored episode, Keith is joined by Matt Starling and Troy Martin of Ekahau to announce their new Software as a Service (SaaS) licensing model. Together they explain the different flexible subscription options and how they complement traditional perpetual licenses. They also breakdown the hardware capabilities of the Sidekick 2 and the Speedtest Pulse.... Read more »
HS142: The Blueprint for Automated Network Operations (Sponsored)
In this sponsored episode, Ronny Wolf of BlueCat Networks joins Johna and John to explore the importance of API-first architecture. They also discuss how BlueCat expanded beyond core DDI into intelligent network operations, the key differences between having APIs versus being built API-first, and how guardrails such as rate limiting and human in the loop... Read more »
NB591: Altera Adds PQC to FPGAs; Europe Spend Billions to Boost Satellite Broadband
Take a Network Break! Ivanti takes center stage with a red alert on four critical CVEs in its Neuron platform, and MikroTik also gets a mention for an actively exploited flaw in its OS. On the news front, BackBox announces new AI capabilities for its OS backup and config management platform, Amazon selects from Qualcomm’s... Read more »
TNO072: Connectivity and Community with Jason Gintert
Jason Gintert, Co-Founder of the US Networking User Association, returns to the show to discuss his key elements and events in his professional career. Jason shares valuable lessons learned from his early days in the 90’s ISP boom, the challenges of failing at scale, and his dedication to creating regional networking communities that foster genuine... Read more »
HN841: HPE Melds Apstra and Mist for Self-Driving Data Center Networks (Sponsored)
In this sponsored episode, Kyle Baxter and Sridhar Katere from HPE join Drew to talk about automating enterprise data center networks. They discuss how HPE integrates its Apstra and Mist products to bring AI ops and self-driving capabilities into data center operations. They also break down how HPE leverages the different strengths of each platform,... Read more »
LIU022: Chris Grundemann – From Pulling Cable to Network Automation Forum
Chris Grundemann joins Alexis and Kevin to discuss his career evolution from pulling cable to co-founding the Network Automation Forum. Chris shares insights on the challenges of adopting network automation, the impact of AI on the industry, the importance of professional networking, and strategies for maintaining a healthy work-life balance. AdSpot Sponsor: Meter Most IT... Read more »
D2DO312: Networking at Scale: AWS Transit Gateway War Stories
How can network architects successfully manage 95,000 hosts while navigating the complexities of large-scale cloud migrations? Devender Singh, a Principal Cloud Architect, joins Ned and Kyler to discuss the practical realities of managing network chaos, the migration from Transit Gateways to AWS Cloud WAN, and strategies for addressing the technical debt often encountered during enterprise... Read
PP125: News Roundup—Cyberattack Impacts Pacemakers, OpenAI Publishes Eye-Opening Postmortem, and More
If it feels like everything is on fire, today’s News Roundup will not dispel that feeling. We discuss consumer routers that ship with factory-installed backdoors, US law enforcement agencies shutting down hacking domains, and how a threat actor tied to China is targeting Cisco IOS-XR routers. Android-based auto infotainment systems are susceptible to malware, OpenAI... Read more »
HW087: Designing for 6GHz Standard Power Indoors
Keith welcomes David Coleman to examine the technical advantages and practical challenges of implementing standard power 6Ghz Wi-Fi in indoor environments. They also discuss automated frequency coordination (AFC), geolocation mechanisms for indoor APs, and LPI fallback strategy. AdSpot Sponsor: Meter Most IT teams are managing networks stitched together from years of acquisitions and vendor contra
NB590: Blue Origin Wins NASA Bid for Mars Telecoms; Fortinet Offers High School Hackers Curriculum
Take a Network Break! We begin with follow-up on the Cisco/Teleport deal and Chinese models on US public clouds. Our Red Alert warns of two critical vulnerabilities in HPE’s Aruba Networking Fabric Composer, and we offer a quick heads-up on OpenAI and Anthropic outages and forthcoming security disclosures from Arista. On the news front, Broadcom... Read more »
TNO071: The Network Team Is Drowning. Is AI the Life Raft? (Sponsored)
Last year, 49,000 CVEs were published, more than 130 new vulnerabilities every day. So what actually happens with all of those CVEs in your network infrastructure? In this sponsored episode, Rekha Shenoy and Irfahn Khimji of BackBox join Scott Robohn to discuss why the math of manual network operations no longer works, where traditional tools... Read more »
HN840: How to Make a Technology Buying Decision
When engineers look to buy new technology they tend to focus on features and functionality, but there’s more to it than that. Sian Morgan joins Drew and Ethan to discuss the best practices involved in making a good technology buying decision. Sian shares how engineers can align their technical focus with broader business objectives, calculate... Read more »
IPB207: Flying Blind: Monitoring Might Not See IPv6
Is your current network monitoring infrastructure capable of seeing IPv6 traffic or are you flying blind in a dual-stack environment? Today Ed, Nick, and Tom explore the critical challenges surrounding IPv6 visibility such as the limitations of vendor tools and the complexities of maintaining observability as networks evolve.
N4N063: Link Layer Discovery Protocol
Ethan and Holly tackle the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP). They explain how this protocol helps network engineers map network topologies and validate wiring. They also discuss how LLDP devices use frames to send information, mandatory and optional type length values (TLVs), and why security on edge ports remains critical. Episode Links: Watch this episode... Read more »
TCG083: Superintelligence for Everyone: Who Actually Holds the Power?
Mark Zuckerberg argues that broadly distributed personal AI, or a “superintelligence” in his parlance, can increase prosperity and counter the risks of AI being controlled by a handful of government and corporate entities. Drew Conry-Murray joins Eyvonne and William to engage in a lively roundtable where they examine whether distributing access meaningfully distributes power when... Re
NAN130: Network Automation Forum: From Simple Survey to Global Community
Eric Chou welcomes guest co-host William Collins as well as Network Automation Forum founders Scott Robohn and Chris Grundemann to discuss how their community emerged from a simple question: Why haven’t we seen full adoption of network automation? They discuss the growth of AutoCon and how its practitioner-focused, vendor-neutral approach has fostered a unique environment... Read more »
HS141: EA vs AI
What does Enterprise Architecture (EA) mean when AI is everywhere in the stack? Enterprise Architecture is about nailing down relationships and functions while AI pushes back with dynamic processes and probabilistic results. Join Johna and John as they discuss the possibilities for EA: does it prevail, adapt, or die? Episode Links: Watch this episode on... Read more »
PP124: How Coruna, DarkSword, and Other Exploits Slice Up Apple iPhones
Coruna and DarkSword are exploit frameworks that have successfully targeted Apple iPhones to steal cryptocurrency and harvest data including messages, email, location data, and browsing history. On today’s show we trace the provenance of these exploits (Coruna was originally developed by a contractor for the US government), their rapid evolution in the cyber underworld, and... Read more 
NB589: OpenAI Makes Cyber Mess, Wants World to Clean It Up; Cisco Strategizes Infrastructure Identity
Take a Network Break! We start with listener followup about how Device Bound Session Credentials could thwart session cookie theft, and then highlight a string of critical vulnerabilities in IBM’s AIX. On the news front, Nvidia has reportedly bought Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, Nvidia and AWS team up on GPUs and physical AI, and... Read more »
TNO070: Spec Driven Design (SDD) for NetOps and NetEng
NetOps engineer Lasse Haugen sits down with Scott Robohn at AutoCon 5 to explore the power of Spec Driven Design (SDD) for transforming network engineering workflows from chaotic experimentation to structured, reliable automation. Together they define what SDD is, use cases for NetOps and NetEng, how it has changed NetOps, and more. AdSpot Sponsor: NANOG,... Read more »
HN839: Why Flows, Packets, and DDI are All Critical for Operational Effectiveness (Sponsored)
If you think of BlueCat as just an IPAM or DDI company, think again. BlueCat acquired LiveAction in 2024, and since then, they’ve been working to integrate LiveAction’s network observability capabilities with the DDI portfolio. In this sponsored episode, Ryan Grande, Field CTO at BlueCat, is here to dig into how network observability and DDI... Read more »
LIU021: Justin Ryburn – The Road More Traveled with a Field CTO
Kevin and Alexis welcome Justin Ryburn, VP of Global Solution Engineering and Field CTO at Kentik, to discuss the realities of traveling for technical work. Justin explains the nuances of his role, which balances executive engagement, public speaking, and team leadership with the challenge of a heavy travel schedule. They also touch on the importance... Read more »
D2DO311: Code Review Is Dead – Long Live Peer Review
Traditional peer review processes are breaking down in the new AI era. Dylan Ratcliffe, founder and CEO of Overmind Technology, joins Ned and Kyler to discuss the importance of treating AI as a machine to be audited rather than a peer. Together they share practical advice on how to adapt peer review processes and culture... Read more »
PP123: Using Gridctl to Keep MCP Configs From Leaking Secrets
If you’ve been spinning up AI tools — Claude Desktop, Cursor, Copilot, and so on — there’s a decent chance that API keys, credentials, and access tokens are sitting in plaintext on your laptop. With MCP, every quickstart guide tells you to paste your credentials right into a config file. That was a bad habit... Read more »
HW086: High Density Wi-Fi Part 2
By popular demand, Keith is joined once again by Ferney Muñoz and Tom Hildebrand to answer listener questions and to dive deeper into designing high-density Wi-Fi for large-scale events. Together they share practical insights on managing DHCP scopes, the realities of client isolation, and more.
NB588: Active Threats Target Siemens PLCs; IBM Chills Qubits With Modular Cryogenics
Take a Network Break! It’s a Red Alert double feature for Oracle’s Internet Directory LDAP server and Cisco’s Secure Workload Software. In tech news, US law enforcement and intelligence agencies release a joint advisory warning of active threats against Siemens PLCs, Marvell wins a deal to make chips for Google that could bring billions in... Read more »
HN838: Meet Mr. Packets – Building Your Own Agentic AI Team Member
What does it take to build your own AI agent that could help with day-to-day network tasks? Hank Preston, a Distinguished Architect at Cisco, asked himself that question. He developed a presentation that walks through all the elements one might need to build such an agent, as well as the risks to consider. On today’s... Read more »
TNO069: Network to Code Gets Enterprise Open-Core Right with Nautobot (Sponsored)
Network to Code’s Jason Edelman, Founder and CTO; and Jeff Bradbury, VP of Marketing of Network, join host Scott Robohn for this sponsored episode to discuss open-core done right — community first, and creating a path to scalable automation results for enterprise success. They update Scott on Nautobot 3.1, which includes AI and AI agents... Read more »
IPB206: Do IPv6 Mandates Work?
Nick Burgalio and Tom Coffeen discuss a Reddit post that had what appeared to be new federal guidance on IPv6 adoption. While it seems the timelines and guidelines haven’t changed, the post raises questions about the effectiveness of mandates in driving IPv6 adoption. They posit that enabling IPv6 is not just a technical requirement but... Read more »
N4N062: Your First Wi-FI Network, Part 3
In the third installment of the Wi-Fi networks series, Ethan Banks and Holly Podbielak discuss the basics of wireless security, the standards related to roaming between access points, and how to analyze access points to figure out which AP brand will best meet your organization’s needs. AdSpot Sponsor: Meter Most IT teams are managing networks... Read more »
TCG082: AI News Roundtable – Copyrights, AI Watermarks, and the Open Weight Debate
William Collins and Eyvonne Sharp dig into the latest AI headlines, from the largest copyright settlement in American history to stolen AI models and invisible watermarks on Claude output. Plus, they discuss why so many companies have rallied around NVIDIA’s support for open weight AI models. Our hosts also examine the biggest questions arising from... Read more »
NAN129: How Do We Make Network Engineering Cool Again?
Known across the industry for making network engineering cool again with her highly relatable tech content, Alexis Bertholf is a powerhouse when it comes to combining technical expertise with personal branding. Eric Chou sat down with Alexis at AutoCon 5 to chat about Alexis’ career, the art of storytelling in 60 seconds or less, the... Read more »
PP122: Using Burp Suite to Understand How Apps Collect and Share Our Data
Zack Whittaker is a journalist for TechCrunch and author of the newsletter “This Week In Security.” He recently wrote a post describing how he uses Burp Suite, an open source penetration testing tool, to see what data apps are collecting from users, and what other sites those apps share that data with. Zack joins JJ... Read more »
HS140: AI and Technical Debt – Boon or Bane?
Does AI increase or reduce technical debt? Join Johna Johnson and John Burke as they discuss how to make strategy in environments in which AI fuels untrammeled growth in enterprise complexity–but also points the way to automated optimization (and concomitant technical debt reduction). Episode Links: Watch this episode on YouTube The AI Technical Debt Crisis:... Read more »
NB587: US Calls for CyberSec Privateers; Oracle To Rent Out Quantum Computers
Take a Network Break! Our red alert goes to cluster of CVEs for Canonical’s LXD Linux Container system. On the news side, Palo Alto Networks adds AI-powered security evaluations as a service engagement, SonicWall introduces an endpoint security agent for SMBs, and the White House outlines a plan to authorize private companies to conduct cyber... Read more »
TNO068: Packet Pushers Assemble! Bridging the Telemetry Divide
Today, several members of our Packet Pushers podcast team assemble to discuss whether the grass is greener on the NetOps or DevOps side of the telemetry fence. William of The Cloud Gambit, Scott of Total Network Operations, and Ned and Kyler of Day Two DevOps discuss the difficulties and differences of getting telemetry and state... Read more »
LIU020: Ricki Cook: Reaching the Top and Walking Away
What do you do when you get your dream job and it’s not as fulfilling as you thought it would be? Ricki Cook speaks with Alexis and Kevin about navigating between career achievement and personal satisfaction. Ricki discusses his transition from traditional network architecture to touring systems engineering, the realities of maintaining real-time networks under... Read more »
D2DO310: Developing Efficient AI Workflows
Tyler Lynch, Outbound CTO at IBM, joins the show to discuss shifting from “tokenmaxxing” to “valuemaxxing” by optimizing AI agent workflows for efficiency. They explore using Obsidian for persistent agent memory to combat context bloat, the critical importance of secure sandboxing practices, and the strategic use of parallel verification to ensure your agents are performing
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