What is Cilium?
eBPF-based networking, security, and observability for Kubernetes clusters.
Cilium is a CNI plugin for Kubernetes that uses eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter) to implement networking, security, and observability at the Linux kernel level — without sidecar proxies. It can replace kube-proxy entirely, enforce network policies at layer 7 (HTTP, gRPC), provide mTLS between services, and expose network flow visibility through its Hubble component. Cilium is significantly more performant than iptables-based solutions.
Deep Dive Guide
cilium ebpf networking complete guide
More Networking Terms
API Gateway
A server that acts as entry point for APIs, handling routing, auth, and rate limiting.
CNI (Container Network Interface)
A specification and plugins for configuring network interfaces in Linux containers.
eBPF
A Linux kernel technology for running sandboxed programs without changing kernel source code.
Istio
A service mesh that adds mTLS, traffic management, and observability to Kubernetes services.
Network Policy
A Kubernetes resource that controls which pods can communicate with each other.
Service Mesh
A dedicated infrastructure layer for managing service-to-service communication in microservices.
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