The power of Cloud Insights Workload Map and eBPF for platform engineering teams

Platform engineering teams face an ever-growing challenge to maintain the performance and stability of complex Kubernetes environments. As applications and infrastructure become increasingly distributed and dynamic, the need for robust monitoring solutions becomes paramount.

Cloud Insights Workload Map is crucial to platform engineering teams for troubleshooting because it serves as a reference point to identify the source of performance issues and system anomalies. By having a clear understanding of how workloads are distributed across the infrastructure, engineers can quickly identify potential bottlenecks, overloaded resources, or misconfigurations that may be causing problems. This actionable insight allows them to make informed decisions quickly, without having to consult many different tools and potentially outdated service maps. It also helps to optimize resource allocation and implement targeted fixes, reducing downtime, minimizing user impact, and ensuring a smooth and reliable operation.

NetApp^® Cloud Insights employs eBPF to give platform engineering teams real-time insights, enabling them to optimize performance and enhance the overall reliability of their platforms.

The following figure shows Cloud Insights Workload Map highlighting an issue with the ‘frontend’ workload in real-time.

Traditional monitoring solutions often struggle to keep up with the rapid pace of modern systems, especially with Kubernetes. Cloud Insights builds on eBPF with our own client to solve the scaling and performance challenges of many other implementations. This solution addresses the complexity and transient nature of modern systems by providing real-time observability into the operation of workloads, including relationships and dependencies. One of its most significant advantages is the ability to provide deep insights into workload behavior with minimal performance impact. This low-overhead approach ensures that monitoring activities do not degrade overall infrastructure performance, leaving more of your valuable resources for your workloads.

This observability gives platform engineering teams the ability to detect issues as they arise, leading to faster troubleshooting and resolution.

It’s important for platform engineering teams to understand the performance of the entire stack. Cloud Insights Workload Map excels in this area, allowing teams to observe traffic, analyze resource utilization, and identify bottlenecks. Armed with this data, platform engineers can fine-tune configurations, optimize critical components, and streamline resource allocation for maximum efficiency. By proactively addressing performance issues, teams can deliver a seamless user experience and improve overall platform reliability.

The following figure shows Cloud Insights Workload Map identifying the root-cause of an issue through a related ‘catalog’ workload.

Every platform is unique, and monitoring needs can vary greatly depending on the specific use case. Whether it's analyzing network traffic, identifying application-specific risks, or monitoring specific system calls, Cloud Insights Workload Map offers the flexibility to adapt and evolve to meet the platform's changing needs.

Monitoring using Cloud Insights Workload Map is a game changer for platform engineering teams, delivering real-time observability, low overhead, and deep insights into system performance. With the ability to optimize performance, enhance security, and customize monitoring solutions, the Workload Map enables empowers platform engineering teams to tackle the complexities of modern systems with confidence. By adopting Cloud Insights, engineering teams can proactively address issues, fine-tune their platforms, and provide a stable and seamless experience for users, making it indispensable tool. As the technology landscape continues to evolve, Cloud Insights Workload Map will be a crucial tool to help platform engineering teams stay ahead of the curve.