Performance Evaluation of Kubernetes Networking Approaches across Constraint Edge Environments

Kubernetes (K8s) serves as a mature orchestration system for the seamless deployment and management of containerized applications spanning across cloud and edge environments. In this context, optimizing Kubernetes networking to achieve high-performance connectivity and minimal resource utilization is crucial for its applicability and effectiveness at the edge. This paper contributes to this effort, by conducting a qualitative and quantitative performance evaluation of diverse Container Network Interface (CNI) plugins within different K8s environments, incorporating lightweight implementations designed for the Edge. Our experimental assessment was conducted in two distinct (intra- and inter-host) scenarios, revealing interesting insights and tradeoffs for both researchers and practitioners. For example, the deployment of plugins across lightweight distributions does not necessarily lead to resource utilization improvements, e.g., in terms of CPU/memory or throughput, while, in contrast, their impact on lifecycle metrics such as pod readiness times, is significant.