Explore Cilium's vocabulary — eBPF-based networking, L7 network policies, Hubble observability, and sidecar-free service mesh.
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At standup, a new platform engineer asks what eBPF programs are in Cilium's context. Which answer is correct?
eBPF programs run directly inside the Linux kernel in a sandboxed, verified environment. Cilium uses them to attach to kernel hook points (TC, XDP, socket) and implement packet forwarding, load balancing, network policy enforcement, and observability — all without user-space proxies like kube-proxy or per-pod sidecar processes.
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In a PR review, a colleague asks how CiliumNetworkPolicy differs from standard Kubernetes NetworkPolicy. What is correct?
CiliumNetworkPolicy goes beyond standard NetworkPolicy in two key ways: (1) L7 awareness — rules can match HTTP methods/paths, Kafka topics, DNS FQDNs, and more; (2) identity-based enforcement using Cilium's security identity derived from pod labels, rather than ephemeral IP addresses, making policies stable across pod restarts.
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An incident reveals that Hubble is not showing network flows. What is Hubble and why might flows be missing?
Hubble is Cilium's integrated observability platform. It captures every network flow seen by the Cilium agent and makes them available via gRPC (hubble observe) and a web UI. Flows will be missing if the --enable-hubble agent flag is absent, the Hubble relay deployment is not running, or the Hubble listener socket is not accessible.
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During a design review, the team asks how kube-proxy replacement works with Cilium. What is correct?
With kubeProxyReplacement: true, Cilium implements all Service types (ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer, ExternalIPs) using eBPF maps and XDP (for early packet processing). This eliminates all kube-proxy iptables chains, reducing network latency and CPU overhead — especially beneficial at scale with thousands of Services.
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In a code review of a Cilium service mesh deployment, a teammate mentions sidecar-free service mesh mode. What does this mean?
Cilium's sidecar-free service mesh replaces the traditional per-pod Envoy sidecar with a per-node Envoy proxy managed by Cilium. Using CiliumEnvoyConfig CRDs, you get L7 load balancing, mTLS, HTTP retries, and observability without injecting sidecars into every pod — dramatically reducing the per-pod memory and CPU overhead of a full service mesh.
What does the "Cilium eBPF Networking Vocabulary" vocabulary exercise cover?
This exercise tests real IT vocabulary related to cilium ebpf networking vocabulary through 5 multiple-choice questions, each built from realistic workplace sentences rather than abstract definitions.
Is this vocabulary exercise free to use?
Yes. Every exercise on CoderSlingo, including this one, is completely free — no account, sign-up, or payment required.
How many questions does this exercise have?
This exercise has 5 questions. Each one shows a real-world sentence or scenario with multiple-choice options and an explanation once you answer.
What happens after I answer a question?
You'll see immediate feedback showing whether your answer was correct, along with a short explanation of why — then a button to move to the next question, and a full results screen at the end.
Can I retry the exercise if I get questions wrong?
Yes. Once you reach the results screen, click "Try again" to reset your answers and go through the exercise from the start as many times as you like.
Do I need to create an account to take this exercise?
No account is needed. Your answers are scored in your browser during the session — nothing is saved to a server, so you can jump straight in.
Is my progress saved if I leave the page?
No — progress within an exercise resets if you navigate away or reload. Each exercise is short enough to complete in a few minutes in one sitting.
Are these vocabulary exercises connected to other topics?
Yes — browse the full vocabulary exercises hub to find related modules covering adjacent IT topics and roles.
How is this different from reading a glossary or blog article?
Exercises like this one are active recall drills — you have to choose the correct term or phrasing yourself, which builds retention faster than passively reading a definition.
Where can I find more vocabulary exercises?
Browse the full Vocabulary exercises hub for hundreds of modules covering Agile, DevOps, security, databases, architecture, and more — organised by IT role and skill.