eBPF: Unlocking the Kernel [OFFICIAL DOCUMENTARY]

The official eBPF documentary.
In 2014, a group of engineers at Plumgrid needed to find an innovative and cost-effective solution to handle network traffic in SDN environments. What they created was a landmark in the industry known as the extended Berkeley Packet Filter (or eBPF). This vital technology allows user-level code execution inside the Linux Kernel, transforming network traffic handling for SDN environments. Whether these engineers knew it or not, they had just revolutionized the Linux Kernel. We go in-depth to explore the origins of eBPF and showcase the stories, challenges, and rewards of this game-changing technology. In the documentary film, we interviewed key stakeholders from Meta, Intel, Isovalent, Google, Red Hat, and Netflix who helped shape and build the tools that drove the success and adoption of eBPF. Join us for this premiere screening of why eBPF is seen as one of the most promising, emerging applications and cutting-edge technologies in the Linux ecosystem.
00:38 - Growth of Linux and SDN
02:51 - PLUMgrid
06:27 - Initial Patch Submission
12:14 - eBPF Merged into the Linux Kernel
16:26 - Hyperscalers Adopt eBPF
18:38 - Cilium Bring eBPF to End Users
20:33 - DockerCon 2017 eBPF Takes Off
23:19 - eBPF Expands to Security
24:43 - eBPF on Windows
28:26 - eBPF Everywhere
Find more information on the official website: ebpfdocumentary.com/

[@visa2256]

The production of this documentary is insane, telling a story simply via interviews makes this documentary so engaging, I can feel their excitement and passion, thanks for everything in this video.

[@sidharthmanohar7951]

"This is like putting Javascript into the kernel." - Brendan Gregg

[@afzalhussain8817]

I think JavaScript don't have enough features sense it more deeply bro...

[@blaiseutube]

😂 that is not the flex you think it is.

[@iogbole]

"This is like putting Javascript into the Kernel" (13:39). To add more context to this comparison, while poorly written JavaScript can break a website, eBPF bytecode undergoes rigorous validation by the eBPF verifier to ensure its safety and prevent it from breaking the kernel. This makes eBPF a reliable tech for extending kernel functionality without compromising system stability.

[@Ghent2007]

COOL!

[@blaiseutube]

A better analogy would be Python, because it is already pervasive in network engineering, infosec and DevOps in general.

[@mastertoru5531]

I have never heard about eBPF nor taken an interest in learning about kernels. This has given me some new inspiration. Thanks!

[@adityashinde6202]

Whoa!! This is awesome guys! Tech stories that are told so beautifully are very few and far apart. Loved everything from the narration, interviews, music and the overall feel of the documentary! Well done you guys! Would love to see more such content!!

[@speakeasyproductions]

Thank you! Tell us what you'd like to see next

[@tonysolomonik]

Maybe KVM?

[@dneary]

I agree! This was brilliant.

[@dneary]

@@speakeasyproductions I'll back up the KVM suggestion, but I would also like stories about something like Docker - a really nice example of a technology that became ubiquitous, but "failed" as a company (for some definition of failed).

[@yafz]

One of the highest quality documentaries on a super deep and niche technical topic, enlightening not only regarding engineering aspects but also business and open source sociological aspects. Very well done! 👏

[@dhananjay7513]

FInally The most awaited documentary is out 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@leifdavisson6409]

I finally got what eBPF is about.

[@sotirissalloumis6129]

Thanks for making and sharing this documentary, inspiring to see the people behind eBPF.

[@mikemaccana]

In additional to the other non-Linux implementations mentioned in this documentary, Solana also implements a global state machine with onchain programs compiled to eBPF.

[@DKLHensen]

Wow awesome video, did not know this collaboration brought such awesome features to the kernel. Also like the triple monitor setup that Dave Thaler is using (25:33)

[@danielbustillos8573]

Great work, looking forward to go deeper into eBPF and the Kernel.

[@MP-wm9gb]

You guys are inspiring! Thak you! I've recently found eBPF and I can't stop being amazed!

[@bewilderedlearningevolving]

These people are like superstars to me - what a great idea, capturing this story this way. Love it! Thank you!

[@rohan_devarc]

Nice! This really shows hardwork done by folks involved in this project.

[@MuthaNagavamsi]

Watched this completely, what an inspiring story it was. I have to appreciate everyone who are involved in making this wonderful video.

[@speakeasyproductions]

Thanks! Lots of talented people made this happen 🙏

[@brokenchains69]

such a well-made documentary. Great work guys

[@co88liwan31]

Thank you so much for sharing the documentary!

[@musicthreads]

Алексей Старовойтов, спасибо за крутой стафф!

[@danialzhuravchak8380]

Thank you very much! It's very cool to know who is behind this masterpiece!

[@ramane2900]

Awesome.. well presented. Thanks for the hard work all.

[@SushantMane7]

Wow! This documentary is the best one I've watched this year.

[@speakeasyproductions]

Thank you!

[@Bory1709]

The documentary is amazing. I am on my way to understand what is eBPF to reverse engineer eBPF program. I feel so lucky to have watched this video ^-^

[@deedeewallllll001]

First, features appear on top in the user space, then move down to the kernel space, and finally land in the silicon. That's why Brenden is working for Intel to harmonize processor with ebpf kernel stuff. And this is for better performance

[@frkangungor]

Very informative! Loved every second of it.

[@LarrysMachineShop]

This is awesome , really much kudos

[@asadkhanuit]

Excellent documentary. more of such content is required to be created on Tech community

[@speakeasyproductions]

So true. Tell us what you want to see a documentary about next

[@autohmae]

@@speakeasyproductions 2 suggestions: Docker/containers (but this time would be good to include the Sun history as well, which is missing things like dtrace from this documentary) the other 'new hotness' in the Linux kernel would io_uring

[@speakeasyproductions]

@@autohmae great suggestions - Docker would make a great documentary

[@autohmae]

@@speakeasyproductions I see your euh... friends (?) of honeypot already made one about Kubernetes. So I guess I don't need to ask for that anymore. I think Gitops/Flux/ArgoCD is also something to explore. I had been saying back in 2014, we need something (which I couldn't put into words yet) like what is now Gitops and it took the industry years to get there.

[@esantix]

This should be on Netflix ;)

[@mitchellfang8805]

Wow fascinating. Good overview of eBPF considering I knew nothing about it. Saw a security tool that uses it and wanted to know what it was.

[@MartinCharles]

This was very inspiring. I love that stories from the bowels of tech are getting an audience!

[@Sicaine]

Great behind the scene 🙂

[@gideonyeboahasante8886]

Incredible documentary 🎉

[@abdellahcodes]

Wow, Awesome story And whoever made it exactly 30 mins should get a raise

[@speakeasyproductions]

Agreed! 😉

[@comosaycomosah]

this was great i eventually wanna learn more kernal stuff

[@aarav3890]

I love this format! Could you do one for nmap? :)

[@jamaicauptown]

I was at Meta when this was taking off good stuff guys!!

[@milenkomarkovic]

Great documentary!

[@Shogoeu]

"I posted my first patch but no one looked at it" - we all love open source.

[@legenduzo]

The way the Linux guy looks so 'stable' is on another level

[@nicoladellino8124]

Nice video, THX.

[@kenanfarukcakir8559]

Great documentary! Big thanks to everyone that had any effort in creation of eBPF.

[@worldautotrader]

Алексей Старовойтов просто гений !

[@khreesdelight]

Nice video!

[@wangweiyang]

Great guys，I want to work with them!

[@kellymoses8566]

Cillium is REALLY cool tech.

[@swapnilnakade2402]

Who noticed that Brended is wearing two watches a classic casio and one smart watch.

[@tomaszkoczko8606]

OMG .. Linux developers discovered what is in Solaris since Solaris 11 beta 😃

[@TheUser04460]

No, BSD have this from 1993, two decades until eBPF was created

[@GoofySurferSkater]

Why is Linus Torvalds not even so much as mentioned in this video? I enjoyed this, but I'm just curious. I thought he'd have something to say!

[@jonnytheponny5753]

Thanks very much for the video!

[@kellymoses8566]

Ever person interviewed in this must make at least $400,000 a year.

[@cybernagle]

before this video, i'm not aware that windows is also support ebpf now, hoping soon apple will support ebpf :)

[@vsoch]

This is a great story!

[@thecloudtherapist]

Two ironies: 1 - the "server error" sound in the docu is from Windows OS. 2 - most open source folks use Apple Macs. One of the most closed ecosystems in the tech world. 🤦‍♂️

[@yega3k]

Re #2 - this is overrated. If using Macs wasn’t feasible for developers, no developer would use it. Simple as that.

[@SabbirImon]

Too little information and tutorial about ebpf found on KZbin or other platforms😢

[@germank7924]

I get it! eBPF can shrink my BPH!

[@VipulVaibhaw]

great stuff.

[@michaelcoleman9044]

Im really considering switching all my computers to linux.

[@tango2olo]

User and Kernel space separation must vanish eventually. Making the kernel absolutely programmable shall do that. System calls MUST replace eBPF like bytecode, which are verified using Rust like semantic analysis.

[@madhavgoyal9064]

noice

[@parv08888]

Solana should be mentioned here

[@MrSergey371]

Open Your Kernel! :)

[@AlsGeekLab]

A 28.5 min documentary about some kernel programmers are congratulating themselves, and for around 1.5m there is a very high level discussion on what ebpf is, and why it might actually help. What I got from this: it's like Internet Explorer 6 running ActiveX executables right in the kernel. The security person inside me is screaming, how can this be a good thing, other than performance and visibility? I appreciate the production time and quality of this video, however the narrative tells me almost nothing of the appropriate application of eBPF.

[@GTJC]

GO READ!!!!!!!

[@gekkkoincroe]

Are they talking about Meta Service & Google Services which eats up my ram 😂

[@MartinCharles]

I watched this video with hopes I could find a great linux laptop (whatever the ppl in the video are using) but seems like everyone is using macbooks!

[@levaidaniel]

This was some marketing bullshit

[@rich_in_paradise]

Never ceases to amaze me how people can make films like this which are just person after person talking but never explain anything. What is BPF? what does it do? how does it work? why was eBPF developed? How does it work? I mean, I get it, this is a very technical topic - you want it to sound interesting by telling stories rather than explaining stuff, but you could answer those questions in a few minutes and then tell the people's to make them seem cool. But nope, this is a lot of blah blah talking and then only people who can understand what they're talking about are people who already know what eBPF is.

[@9ss633]

But seriously ?

[@jamie_ar]

Spelling mistake in the first 30 seconds doesn't fill me with confidence in this doc... "collaboration"

[@SomeBodyInTime]

Akin to putting javascript into the kernel? If in fact that is remotely true, what a DISASTER. Seriously. Javascript is ... so unpleasant to work with. The "ecosystem" of javascript is a mess.

[@kelownatechkid]

Utterly baffling, barely even touches on the technology whatsoever. Like watching some kind of crypto ad

[@jkowall]

I am surprised that nothing was discussed around BPF and the actual origin story of programmability in the kernel. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Packet_Filter It just ignored the actual research and achademic work that underpins BSD and the contribution of the original engineers and thought leaders back in the early 1990s.

[@andrewramos1542]

😢 Promo_SM

[@diofeher]

Great documentary!