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Revision as of 15:41, 26 March 2024 by Amoloney (talk | contribs) (retargeting change to F41)

Add bpfman to Fedora 40 (Self-Contained Change proposal)

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This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.

Summary

bpfman: An eBPF Manager bpfman operates as an eBPF manager, focusing on simplifying the deployment and administration of eBPF programs. Its notable features encompass:

  • System Overview: Provides insights into how eBPF is utilized in your system.
  • eBPF Program Loader: Includes a built-in program loader that supports program cooperation for XDP and TC programs, as well as deployment of eBPF programs from OCI images.
  • eBPF Filesystem Management: Manages the eBPF filesystem, facilitating the deployment of eBPF applications without requiring additional privileges.

We do aim to have this included in Fedora 40 and besides the packaging work wanted to create a Self Contained change for wide communication to the community. It provides an easy way to load eBPF program and eventually we'd like for it to become a de-facto standard, but that's outside of the scope of this change.

Owner

Current status

Detailed Description

bpfman operates as an eBPF manager, focusing on simplifying the deployment and administration of eBPF programs. bpfman is a software stack that aims to make it easy to load, unload, modify and monitor eBPF programs whether on a single host, or in a Kubernetes cluster. bpfman includes the following core components:

  • bpfman: A system daemon that supports loading, unloading, modifying and monitoring of eBPF programs exposed over a gRPC API.
  • eBPF CRDS: bpfman provides a set of CRDs (XdpProgram, TcProgram, etc.) that provide a way to express intent to load eBPF programs as well as a bpfman generated CRD (BpfProgram) used to represent the runtime state of loaded programs.
  • bpfman-agent: The agent runs in a container in the bpfman daemonset and ensures that the requested eBPF programs for a given node are in the desired state.
  • bpfman-operator: An operator, built using Operator SDK, that manages the installation and lifecycle of bpfman-agent and the CRDs in a Kubernetes cluster.

bpfman is developed in Rust and built on top of Aya, a Rust eBPF library.

Feedback

N/A

Benefit to Fedora

bpfman is a software stack simplifying the management of eBPF programs in Kubernetes clusters or on individual hosts. It comprises a system daemon (bpfman), eBPF Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs), an agent (bpfman-agent), and an operator (bpfman-operator). Developed in Rust on the Aya library, bpfman offers improved security, visibility, multi-program support, and enhanced productivity for developers.

For Fedora, integrating bpfman would streamline eBPF program loading. It enhances security by restricting privileges to the controlled bpfman daemon, simplifies deployment in Kubernetes clusters, and offers improved visibility into running eBPF programs. This integration aligns with Fedora's commitment to providing efficient and secure solutions, making it easier for users to leverage the benefits of eBPF in their systems.

Scope

Upgrade/compatibility impact

N/A

How To Test

N/A

User Experience

Users would be able to easily load eBPF programs within Fedora in a way more simpler way than currently using bpfman.

Dependencies

Contingency Plan

  • Contingency mechanism: (What to do? Who will do it?) N/A (not a System Wide Change)
  • Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
  • Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change), No

Documentation

Release Notes