eBPF Kubernetes Tracing Tutorial

Learn how to debug Kubernetes applications using eBPF tracing when traditional logs and metrics fail you.

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Kubernetes 1.19+ cluster (local or cloud)
• kubectl installed and configured
• Cluster admin permissions
• Linux kernel 5.10+

1. Install Inspektor Gadget

# Install kubectl gadget plugin
kubectl krew install gadget

# Deploy to cluster
kubectl gadget deploy

# Verify
kubectl get pods -n gadget

Don't have krew? Install it here

2. Deploy Demo Application

kubectl create namespace demo-app
kubectl apply -f manifests/demo-app.yaml

# Wait for pods
kubectl wait --for=condition=ready pod -l app=frontend -n demo-app --timeout=300s
kubectl wait --for=condition=ready pod -l app=productcatalog -n demo-app --timeout=300s

3. Access the Application

Local cluster:

kubectl port-forward -n demo-app service/frontend 8080:80

Then visit: http://localhost:8080

Cloud cluster:

kubectl get service frontend -n demo-app
# Use the EXTERNAL-IP

4. Start Tracing

# Trace request loops
kubectl gadget traceloop -n demo-app

📚 What's Included

Manifests

• demo-app.yaml - Main demo application (frontend + product catalog)
• demo-app-with-bug.yaml - Version with intentional bugs for debugging practice
• demo-app-slow-backend.yaml - Simulates slow backend for performance debugging

Examples

Sample trace outputs showing:

• Healthy request flow
• Slow endpoint patterns
• Failed connection scenarios

🔍 Common Use Cases

Find Slow Endpoints

kubectl gadget traceloop -n demo-app --podname frontend
curl http://localhost:8080/products

Debug Connection Failures

kubectl gadget trace_tcp -n demo-app
# Observe connection patterns

Map Service Dependencies

kubectl gadget trace_tcp -n demo-app

Monitor Process Execution

kubectl gadget trace_exec -n demo-app

Trace DNS Queries

kubectl gadget trace_dns -n demo-app

🧹 Cleanup

kubectl delete namespace demo-app
kubectl gadget undeploy

📝 License

MIT License - see LICENSE

🔗 Resources

• Inspektor Gadget Documentation
• eBPF.io
• CNCF Observability Resources

👤 Author

Emidowojo Opaluwa

• LinkedIn: Emidowojo Opaluwa
• Twitter: @Emidowojo

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