Grafana's Big Tent How eBPF Makes Observability Awesome
Nov 1, 2024
Liz Rice, Founder and CTO of Isovalent, shares her expertise on eBPF and its transformative impact on observability and security. Mario Macías, an Engineer at Grafana Labs, discusses tools like Grafana Beyla, showcasing eBPF's performance advantages. The duo explores the evolution of technologies like Tetragon, highlighting the humor in naming challenges. They also tackle eBPF integration on Windows, its expanding potential, and the importance of effective telemetry across varied programming languages, making observability not just advanced, but truly awesome!
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eBPF Explained
- eBPF programs dynamically change kernel behavior, enabling powerful system-wide observation.
- It's not limited to packet filtering anymore and offers a safer alternative to kernel modules.
Kernel Crash Analogy
- Liz Rice illustrates kernel crashes using the blue screen of death analogy.
- She emphasizes how eBPF's verification process mitigates this risk.
eBPF Use Cases
- eBPF is useful for observability, security, and even hot patching.
- It provides visibility into kernel and application runtime information.