A time-sensitive cloud-native network based on eBPF

The evolution of cloud computing and microservices is gradually supplanting traditional network deployment schemes within data centers. As applications deploy substantial computing resources in data centers, a fierce competition for network services ensues, marked by stringent quality requirements. Simultaneously, safeguarding the time sensitivity of the main flow becomes imperative. However, prevailing container network solutions primarily ensure service quality through scheduling and orchestration, neglecting the influence of computing resources on network service quality under intense resource competition. Consequently, our focus revolves around exploring the preservation of time-sensitive attributes of primary service network links, aiming to enhance the service quality of container networks in highly competitive computing resource environments. This paper introduces a novel container network solution designed to meet the quality of service requirements for time-sensitive data in container networks. Implemented on the Kubernetes platform, this solution establishes an underlay network structure based on Cilium for transmitting network packets requiring performance guarantees and exhibiting time sensitivity. Utilizing eBPF programs with adjusted CPU affinity for packet forwarding, the solution records packets necessitating quality of service guarantees. Network service quality is ensured through algorithms such as Multiqueue Priority, Earliest TxTime First, Enhancements for Scheduled Traffic, etc. The network packets requiring performance guarantees and time sensitivity refer to the TSN (Time-Sensitive Networking) standard. To assess the solution’s effectiveness, we deployed Kubernetes on two directly connected physical servers. Measurements were conducted in scenarios of both idle and highly competitive computing resources, evaluating bandwidth, latency, and jitter of container access packets across different hosts. The results confirm a noteworthy enhancement in container network service quality under highly competitive computing resource environments.