KubeCon + CloudNativeCon India 2024

Cloud Load Balancers (CLBs) have evolved significantly, now featuring advanced capabilities such as proxying, SSL/TLS termination, and auto-scaling. The underlying data-path technologies have advanced from traditional Linux networking to include eBPF, DPDK, VPP, and P4. Each of these technologies offers unique advantages and trade-offs: eBPF excels in real-time processing but lacks some comprehensive features, DPDK provides high performance with reduced transparency, VPP offers modular packet handling with strong Linux compatibility, and P4-based solutions, while still evolving, promise enhanced flexibility and performance. This session will delve into these data-path technologies, examining their maturity, limitations, and suitability for modern data centers. As specialized hardware units become increasingly integral to large data centers, we will highlight how these units effectively leverage data-path technologies to perform numerous tasks, thereby enhancing overall efficiency.