eBPF Observability

eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter) allows you to run sandboxed programs in the Linux kernel without modifying kernel source code or loading kernel modules. This skill covers using eBPF for deep observability, network monitoring, and security enforcement across cloud-native infrastructure.

2. Prerequisites

Kernel Version Requirements

Verify Kernel Support

# Check kernel version
uname -r

# Verify BTF (BPF Type Format) is enabled -- required for CO-RE
ls /sys/kernel/btf/vmlinux

# Check BPF filesystem is mounted
mount | grep bpf

# If not mounted, mount it
sudo mount -t bpf bpf /sys/fs/bpf

# Verify BPF JIT is enabled
cat /proc/sys/net/core/bpf_jit_enable
# Should return 1; if not:
sudo sysctl net.core.bpf_jit_enable=1

Install Toolchain

# Ubuntu/Debian -- install bpftrace, bcc tools, and libbpf
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y bpftrace bpfcc-tools libbpf-dev linux-headers-$(uname -r)

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install -y bpftrace bcc-tools libbpf-devel kernel-devel

# Verify bpftrace works
sudo bpftrace -e 'BEGIN { printf("eBPF is working\n"); exit(); }'

3. Cilium Setup

Cilium replaces kube-proxy with eBPF-based networking, providing identity-aware security and deep network observability via Hubble.

Install Cilium on Kubernetes

# Add the Cilium Helm repo
helm repo add cilium https://helm.cilium.io/
helm repo update

# Install Cilium with Hubble enabled
helm install cilium cilium/cilium --version 1.16.4 \
  --namespace kube-system \
  --set kubeProxyReplacement=true \
  --set k8sServiceHost="${API_SERVER_IP}" \
  --set k8sServicePort="${API_SERVER_PORT}" \
  --set hubble.enabled=true \
  --set hubble.relay.enabled=true \
  --set hubble.ui.enabled=true \
  --set hubble.metrics.enableOpenMetrics=true \
  --set hubble.metrics.enabled="{dns,drop,tcp,flow,port-distribution,icmp,httpV2:exemplars=true;labelsContext=source_ip\,source_namespace\,source_workload\,destination_ip\,destination_namespace\,destination_workload}"

# Wait for Cilium to be ready
cilium status --wait

Install the Cilium CLI and Hubble CLI

# Cilium CLI
CILIUM_CLI_VERSION=$(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cilium/cilium-cli/main/stable.txt)
curl -L --remote-name "https://github.com/cilium/cilium-cli/releases/download/${CILIUM_CLI_VERSION}/cilium-linux-amd64.tar.gz"
sudo tar xzvf cilium-linux-amd64.tar.gz -C /usr/local/bin
rm cilium-linux-amd64.tar.gz

# Hubble CLI
HUBBLE_VERSION=$(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cilium/hubble/master/stable.txt)
curl -L --remote-name "https://github.com/cilium/hubble/releases/download/${HUBBLE_VERSION}/hubble-linux-amd64.tar.gz"
sudo tar xzvf hubble-linux-amd64.tar.gz -C /usr/local/bin
rm hubble-linux-amd64.tar.gz

Hubble Network Observability

# Port-forward the Hubble Relay
cilium hubble port-forward &

# Observe all flows in real time
hubble observe --follow

# Filter flows by namespace
hubble observe --namespace production --follow

# Filter by verdict (dropped traffic)
hubble observe --verdict DROPPED --follow

# Filter by DNS queries
hubble observe --protocol DNS --follow

# Filter HTTP traffic to a specific service
hubble observe --to-label "app=api-server" --protocol HTTP --follow

# Export flows as JSON for ingestion into SIEM
hubble observe --output json --last 1000 > flows.json

Hubble UI Access

# Port-forward the Hubble UI
kubectl port-forward -n kube-system svc/hubble-ui 12000:80

# Access at http://localhost:12000 -- provides a real-time service dependency map

4. Tetragon for Security

Tetragon is Cilium's runtime security enforcement engine. It uses eBPF to observe and enforce security policies at the kernel level with zero application changes.

Install Tetragon

helm repo add cilium https://helm.cilium.io/
helm repo update

helm install tetragon cilium/tetragon \

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