Evaluation of virtualization and traffic filtering methods for container networks

Abstract Future distributed scientific applications will rely on containerization for data handling and processing. Likewise, emerging digital marketplaces will be built using these technologies. In particular, support for multi-tenancy will be a major requirement. The question is whether container networking is already mature enough to support the level of usability required in these environments. With the work we present here we set out to experiment and evaluate three novel technologies that support addressing and filtering in container overlays: EVPN, ILA and Cilium/eBPF. We show that it is possible to integrate ILA and eBPF to support dynamic connections between containers. We describe performance testing of filtering operations with Cilium/eBPF and the initial demonstration of ILA showcased during the 2017 SuperComputing conference. All the experiments presented in this article identify the basic building blocks for the much needed container networking multi-tenancy.