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Cilium is a Kubernetes networking, security, and observability solution built on eBPF, used by platform and DevOps teams to provide scalable service connectivity and enforce fine-grained network policy. It helps organizations reduce complexity in cluster networking by applying identity-aware controls and visibility across services, making it useful for multi-tenant platforms and microservice-heavy environments.
It is typically deployed as a CNI in Kubernetes clusters (including managed offerings) and integrated into platform workflows for policy management, traffic observability, and operational troubleshooting. For broader Kubernetes architecture context, see Kubernetes consulting.
Networking, in the context of computer science and information technology, refers to the practice of connecting computers, servers, mainframes, network devices, peripherals, or other devices to exchange data and share resources. It encompasses both the physical (hardware) and logical (software) aspects of connections between devices. The primary goal of networking is to enable the sharing of data and resources, thereby improving efficiency and accessibility within and across computing environments. Networks can vary in size, ranging from simple local area networks (LANs) connecting a few devices in a single office, to complex wide area networks (WANs) spanning multiple geographic locations around the globe. Networking technologies and protocols facilitate communication and data transfer across these connections, adhering to standardized rules to ensure reliable and secure information exchange.
Cilium is a Kubernetes CNI that provides networking, security, and observability using an eBPF-based datapath. It is commonly used to improve performance and runtime visibility while enforcing identity-aware network controls in dynamic clusters.
Cilium is a strong fit for production Kubernetes environments that need higher performance networking, deeper runtime visibility, or more expressive policy than baseline CNI plus NetworkPolicy can provide. Trade-offs include added operational complexity, kernel and distribution compatibility constraints, and the need to validate eBPF behavior across node images and upgrade paths; the upstream Cilium documentation is a useful reference for supported modes and requirements.
Common alternatives include Calico, Flannel, and Weave Net, with different trade-offs around policy depth, observability, and operational simplicity.
Our experience with Cilium helped us build practical knowledge, reusable runbooks, and automation patterns for strengthening Kubernetes networking, security, and observability with eBPF across production clusters.
Some of the things we did include:
This experience helped us accumulate significant knowledge across multiple Cilium use-cases—migration, policy enforcement, observability, performance tuning, and day-2 operations—and enables us to deliver high-quality Cilium setups that are maintainable, measurable, and reliable in real production environments.
Some of the things we can help you do with Cilium include: