Introduction to Cilium

Course Description

"Introduction to Cilium" is an innovative and comprehensive course that delves into the world of Kubernetes networking and the powerful Cilium Container Networking Interface (CNI) solution. This course is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively connect, observe, and secure Kubernetes clusters using Cilium and its observability tool, Hubble.

What Students Will Learn

• Kubernetes networking concepts and challenges
• Cilium's architecture and its use of eBPF technology
• Installation and configuration of Cilium and Hubble
• Creating and implementing L3-L7 and DNS-based Cilium Network Policies
• Using Hubble for network flow observation
• Enhancing network observability with Cilium Prometheus metrics and Grafana dashboards
• Configuring transparent network traffic encryption
• Replacing kube-proxy with Cilium
• Setting up Cilium for cluster mesh operations

Pre-requisites

• Familiarity with Kubernetes operations
• Basic experience using the kubectl tool
• Understanding of fundamental Kubernetes concepts (pods, nodes, services, clusters)
• Comfort with deploying demo microservice applications in a development cluster environment
• Access to a Kubernetes cluster without a CNI plugin installed
• Linux kernel with socket load balancing support (v4.19.57, v5.1.16, v5.2.0 or newer)
• Availability of helm, kubectl, and curl commands on the learner's primary system

Course Content

• Introduction to Kubernetes networking concepts and challenges
• Cilium architecture and eBPF technology
• Installation and setup of Cilium and Hubble
• Cilium Network Policy configuration and implementation
• Network flow observation using Hubble
• Integration of Cilium Prometheus metrics with Grafana dashboards
• Transparent network traffic encryption
• Replacing kube-proxy with Cilium
• Cilium cluster mesh operations for connecting multiple Kubernetes clusters

Who This Course Is For

• DevOps engineers and Site Reliability Engineers (SREs)
• Kubernetes administrators and operators
• Cloud native developers and architects
• IT professionals looking to enhance their Kubernetes networking skills
• Anyone interested in learning about advanced container networking solutions

Real-World Applications

• Implement robust and secure networking solutions for Kubernetes environments
• Improve cluster performance and scalability using Cilium's eBPF-based approach
• Enhance network observability and troubleshooting capabilities
• Design and implement advanced network policies for microservices architectures
• Optimize Kubernetes service networking by replacing kube-proxy with Cilium
• Set up secure and efficient multi-cluster networking using Cilium cluster mesh

Syllabus

This comprehensive course offers a unique opportunity to master Cilium, a cutting-edge networking solution for Kubernetes environments. By the end of the course, you'll be well-equipped to tackle complex networking challenges in cloud native environments, making you an invaluable asset to any organization leveraging Kubernetes technology.