Packet Pushers - Fat Pipe

Take a Network Break! This week we cover a vulnerable implementation of a TLS module that affects switches from HPE Aruba and Extreme Networks' Avaya brand, Cisco teases a forthcoming technology called Predictive Networks that promises analytics and automated problem-solving, Fortinet announces new firewalls, and more IT news.

Today's Heavy Networking dives into data center fabrics with guest Russ White. We discuss just what makes a data center fabric, why the industry relies too much on BGP, fabric alternatives and options, the future of data center fabrics, and more. Russ is a network architect, author, and instructor.

Today's Day Two Cloud explores the Open Policy Agent (OPA), an open-source project that serves as a policy engine for cloud-native environments. According to the OPA Web site, you can use OPA to "enforce policies in microservices, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, API gateways, and more." Guest Anders Eknert walks through how it works, use cases, and more.

This week's Network Break discusses quantum key distribution, a startup getting millions to develop an enterprise SONiC distribution, Juniper expanding free cert training, quarterly financial results, and more tech news.

On today's sponsored Heavy Networking podcast we talk to Pluribus Networks. Pluribus can extend networking and security services directly to smartNICs/DPUs via its Unified Cloud Fabric to improve performance, visibility, and security. We talk with Mike Capuano and Alessandro Barbieri from Pluribus on how it all works.

Today's Day Two Cloud explores the vastness of IPv6 and public cloud. IPv6 provides so much address space that you can use an address once for one connection and never use it again, and it isn't wasteful. The abundance of IPv6 may influence how you approach cloud applications and networks.

This week's Network Break podcast discusses Nokia deal to sell switch hardware to Microsoft running the SONiC network OS. We also cover Dell's 4.0 release of its Enterprise SONiC distribution, a test of hollowcore fiber optics by Comcast, the British government making rules about watching TV in self-driving cars, and more tech news.

The business benefits of network automation are sometimes lost in discussion about technology and tools. Guest Tim Fiola joins this episode of Heavy Networking to discuss how to engage the business at a cultural level so that network automation is properly embraced and supported by management.

Today's Day Two Cloud gets into application security and working with developers to make sure code is sanitized and tested. Writing secure code at the outset can dramatically reduce risk and help simplify operations and security. Our guest is Tanya Janca, founder of We Hack Purple. We Hack Purple offers free training courses for people who want to get into security.

Take a Network Break! This week we cover several acquisitions including Barracuda Networks being bought by KKR, SailPoint being picked up by Thoma Bravo, Perforce buying Puppet, and Intel snapping up Ananki to get into the private 5G market. Plus more tech news.

Today's Heavy Networking, sponsored by Juniper, dives into the custom vs. merchant silicon debate. Juniper makes the case for its Trio 6 ASIC in MX routers. We get into the specifics of Trio 6 capabilities, examine the needs of the multi-service edge, and discuss the technology and business cases for custom hardware.

Today's Day Two Cloud episode bites into OpenZiti, an open-source project that brings zero trust principles to networks and applications. OpenZiti builds an overlay network to enforce zero trust. It has several moving parts including edge routers, a controller, and SDKs. OpenZiti was created by NetFoundry, our sponsor for this episode. Guest Clint Dovholuk takes us through the nitty-gritty of how it works.

This week's Network Break discusses AMD's $1.9 billion bid for Pensando, why Juniper is partnering with Synopsys on silicon photonics, a new application access control feature from Cato Networks, and a new mainframe from IBM and a new lawsuit against it. Plus more tech news!

Today's Heavy Networking dives into home IoT at scale. We’re going to get into the weeds with two network engineers who’ve gone way beyond lighting and a few smart plugs in their home automation setup. We'll talk devices, protocols, security, and more.

Today's Day Two Cloud is a discussion about how to build your multicloud fluency. That is, having knowledge of, and competence in, more than one cloud. The short answer? Learn to code. That's the position of our guest Forrest Brazeal, and he brings his justifications.

Today's Network Break examines new network fabric automation capabilities from Aruba, new network and security gear from Arista that opens up brand new markets for the company, a cloud-native firewall for AWS from Palo Alto Networks, an update on an attack against a satellite network, and more tech news.

On today's sponsored Heavy Networking we speak with Opmantek, a FirstWave company. Opmantek's NMIS is a suite of network monitoring applications for managing fault, performance, configuration, compliance and automation. It supports multi-vendor, multi-tenant and multi-server solutions. We discuss the latest features and real-world use cases.

On today’s sponsored Day Two Cloud episode with Cisco ThousandEyes, we discuss how to monitor what’s broken in public cloud services. With the right information, you can offer a nuanced, knowledgeable answer when executives want to know when the company’s crucial customer-facing app hosted on a bunch of cloud services is coming back online.

Today's Network Break discusses Aruba Networks moving closer to HPE GreenLake with a new reseller-focused way to sell network gear, how data center design hampered fire fighting at an OVHcloud facility, Okta's response to a January security incident, Intel's request for US government dollars, and more IT news.

Today's Heavy Networking is a roundtable conversation about career growth. Maybe your title is junior engineer, but you want to be a senior engineer. Be careful what you wish for! Maybe your title is junior but you feel you’re doing the job of a senior. Are you really? How would you justify this to your manager? We address these and other questions and issues including certs vs. experience, paying dues, the importance of communication skills, and more.