Introduction to Cilium

About

When you deploy Kubernetes, you need to install a networking plug-in implementing the Container Networking Interface (CNI) to provide connectivity between workloads. Cilium is a popular and widely-deployed CNI solution that is now the default across many Kubernetes distributions and cloud provider offerings.

In this course, you will learn the basics of Cilium and how it can be used to connect, observe, and secure Kubernetes clusters. We will start by reviewing Kubernetes container networking and its challenges. We'll move on to discussing the architecture of Cilium and how it uses eBPF to address those challenges. eBPF is a Linux technology that allows changing the kernel's behavior through dynamically loaded custom programs. We'll provide an overview of what eBPF is and how Cilium uses it to benefit cloud native networking.

We will provide a step-by-step guide for installing and setting up Cilium as your CNI. Once installed, we will show how to configure basic network policies to secure your network and how we can use Hubble to observe these network flows. Finally, we will discuss some of the commonly used features of Cilium, such as support for FQDN-based and L7 protocol-aware network policies, and cluster mesh networking.

By the end of this course, you will understand how Cilium and Hubble work and how they can be used to connect, observe, and secure your cloud native environments.

What you will learn

• Describe Kubernetes networking and its challenges

• Discuss Cilium’s architecture and how it leverages eBPF

• Install Cilium and Hubble and verify their operational status

• Craft L3-L7 and DNS based Cilium Network Policy to secure Kubernetes network connectivity

• Use Hubble to observe network flows

• Enhance your network observability by enabling Cilium Prometheus metrics and integrating those metrics into Grafana dashboards

• Configure Cilium to provide transparent encryption of network traffic

• Learn how you can replace kube-proxy with Cilium

• Configure Cilium for cluster mesh operation to connect multiple Kubernetes clusters

Syllabus

• Welcome!
• Ch1. Introduction to Kubernetes Networking Concepts
• Ch2. Introduction to Cilium and eBPF
• Ch3. Cilium Network Policy In-Depth
• Ch4. Introduction to Hubble
• Ch5. Node to Node Transparent Encryption
• Ch6. kube-proxy and Kubernetes Service Networking
• Ch7. Replacing Kube-Proxy with Cilium
• Ch8. Introduction to Cilium Cluster Mesh
• Final Exam (verified track only)

Auto Summary

Discover the essentials of Cilium for Kubernetes networking in this foundational IT course by edX. Learn installation, observability with Hubble, securing connections, and multi-cluster support, leveraging eBPF for performance and security. Ideal for IT professionals, the course spans 11 hours with both Professional and Starter subscription options.