Question 1

What is eBPF and how is Cilium using it?

Accepted Answer

eBPF = programs running in Linux kernel (safe sandbox). Cilium uses eBPF to process network packets at kernel level (faster than userspace). Examples: (1) network policy enforcement (drop packets without recompiling kernel), (2) load balancing, (3) observability (packet tracing). Traditional approach = iptables (slow, inflexible). Cilium = modern, programmable, 10x faster.

Question 2

Why use Cilium instead of Calico or Flannel?

Accepted Answer

Calico = iptables-based, works everywhere, slower. Flannel = simple overlay, less security. Cilium = eBPF, fastest, best security policies. Trade-off: Cilium requires Linux 4.8+ (most clouds have this). If stuck on old Linux, use Calico.

Question 3

Is Cilium production-ready (2026)?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Used by: Isovalent (company backing Cilium), Google Cloud, AWS, thousands of clusters. Stable since 2021. Not bleeding-edge anymore; mature. Some teams still prefer Calico (comfort, fewer surprises), but Cilium is production-solid.

Question 4

How hard is Cilium eBPF programming?

Accepted Answer

Very hard if you write eBPF. Moderate hard if you just deploy Cilium (use pre-built policies). Most operators don't write eBPF; they configure Cilium (YAML). If you want to contribute/customize, eBPF is 6-12 months learning curve (C + kernel concepts).

Question 5

What can I do with Cilium that I can't do with Calico?

Accepted Answer

Security policies at network level (layer 4-7 inspection, allow/deny based on DNS, HTTP host, path). Cilium can inspect encrypted traffic metadata. Load balancing without kube-proxy. Observability (packet loss, latency per pod-pair). Calico = layer 3 firewall; Cilium = full-stack network program.

Question 6

How do I debug Cilium network issues?

Accepted Answer

Tools: (1) cilium connectivity test (sanity check), (2) cilium monitor (live packet trace), (3) bpftool (inspect eBPF programs), (4) Hubble (observability UI). Common issues: IP overlap, pod CNI misconfiguration, eBPF map overflow. Debugging is deeper than Calico (kernel-level knowledge required).

Question 7

What salary for Cilium expertise?

Accepted Answer

Platform engineer ($120-160k) + Cilium mastery = $160-220k. SRE ($130-170k) + Cilium = $170-240k. Rare skill: maybe 500 Cilium experts globally in 2026. High demand: Google Cloud, AWS, startups building cloud platforms. If you own this, you're unfireable.

प्रदेश	ज्युनियर	मध्यम	सीनियर
USA	$110k	$170k	$260k
UK	£90k	£140k	£220k
EU	€95k	€150k	€230k
CANADA	C$130k	C$200k	C$310k

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