Stretching CNI Boundaries with Service Meshes - A Roadmap for the Future

Explore the complexities of Container Network Interface (CNI) plugins and service meshes in this informative conference talk. Delve into the challenges of running multiple CNI plugins simultaneously, including potential race conditions and configuration conflicts. Learn how to detect and resolve these issues, and discover best practices for ensuring compatibility between different CNI plugins. Examine the role of service meshes like Linkerd and Istio in utilizing CNI plugins for traffic interception. Gain insights into potential improvements to the CNI plugin specification that could address structural problems. Understand the importance of validating routing on pod startup and the concept of validator pods. Conclude with an overview of additional resources, including the Service Mesh Academy and fully managed Linkerd reviews.

Introduction
Overview
Agenda
What is LDN
What is a Service Mesh
Elevated Privileges
What is CNI
CNI Plugins
Multiple Plugins
Linker DCNI
Traditional CNI Plugin Setup
Installing the CNI Plugin
Running multiple CNI plugins
Installing multiple CNI plugins
CNI conflict files
CNI plugin manager
How could it be better
CNI plugin race conditions
What happens when this occurs
Well first of all
Scheduling pods
Pods in a broken state
Validate routing on pod startup
Validator Pod
Recap
Service Mesh Academy
Fully Managed Link Reviews
Linker D Booth
Jank