The Everything Feed - All Packet Pushers Pods

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 »

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 »

“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 »

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 &#1...

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 »

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 »

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

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 »

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...

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 &...

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 »

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 &...

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...

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »