List of CNI plugins used in kubernetes

Here is a list of some of the most popular CNI plugins used in Kubernetes:

  • Flannel: A simple, lightweight layer 3 fabric for Kubernetes. It is easy to set up and manage, and supports a variety of backend mechanisms.
  • Calico: A networking and network policy provider for Kubernetes. It offers advanced network administration and security capabilities.
  • Weave Net: A flexible networking solution for Kubernetes clusters. It is easy to install and configure, and creates a mesh overlay network to connect all the nodes in the cluster.
  • Cilium: A networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based data plane. It offers advanced features such as network policy enforcement, service discovery, and load balancing.
  • OVN-Kubernetes: A networking provider for Kubernetes based on OVN (Open Virtual Network). It is a mature and reliable solution that offers good performance and scalability.
  • Multus: A multi-plugin that allows you to use multiple CNI plugins in a single Kubernetes cluster. This can be useful for supporting different types of networks, such as overlay networks and host networks.

Other popular CNI plugins include:

  • Canal
  • Romana
  • Silk
  • Linen
  • Tigera Calico
  • Amazon VPC CNI
  • Azure Network Fabric CNI
  • Google Kubernetes Engine CNI

Container Network Interface (CNI) is an open standard for configuring network interfaces in Linux containers. Kubernetes uses CNI plugins to manage network connectivity for pods. Here are some popular CNI plugins commonly used in Kubernetes:

  1. Calico: Calico is a highly scalable CNI plugin that provides network policy enforcement and supports various networking modes, including BGP peering for routing.
  2. Flannel: Flannel is a simple and lightweight CNI plugin that can be used for both overlay and host-gateway networking. It’s easy to set up and configure.
  3. Weave: Weave is another CNI plugin that offers a simple and efficient networking solution for Kubernetes clusters. It provides DNS and network policy support.
  4. Cilium: Cilium is designed for modern, high-performance networking and security in Kubernetes. It uses eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter) for fine-grained network policies.
  5. Kube-router: Kube-router combines both network and network policy enforcement in a single CNI plugin. It supports various modes, including BGP, VXLAN, and IPVS.
  6. Antrea: Antrea is a CNI plugin specifically designed for Kubernetes. It offers network policy enforcement, observability, and supports multiple network modes.
  7. Multus CNI: Multus allows you to attach multiple network interfaces to a single pod, making it useful for complex networking scenarios where pods need multiple network connections.
  8. OVS (Open vSwitch) CNI: This CNI plugin uses Open vSwitch as the backend to provide advanced networking capabilities, including VLAN tagging and QoS.
  9. SR-IOV CNI: SR-IOV (Single Root I/O Virtualization) CNI is used when you need to allocate a physical NIC to a pod directly. It’s suitable for high-performance workloads.
  10. VPP (Vector Packet Processing) CNI: VPP is an open-source networking stack that can be used as a CNI plugin to achieve high-performance networking.
  11. NSX-T: NSX-T is a VMware product that provides networking and security services for Kubernetes clusters. It offers advanced features like micro-segmentation and load balancing.
  12. Contiv-VPP: Contiv-VPP is based on the Vector Packet Processing (VPP) framework and is designed for high-performance networking in Kubernetes.
Rajesh Kumar
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