eBPF in Practice

Book Title: eBPF in Practice
Subtitle: From Linux Kernel Internals to Cloud-Native Observability, Networking, and Security
Unlock the full power of the Linux kernel with eBPF in Practice, the definitive, production-focused guide to extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) for modern engineers. Designed for developers, SREs, DevOps professionals, platform engineers, and security practitioners, this book takes you from foundational kernel concepts to real-world, cloud-native eBPF deployments used at scale.
Linux has evolved-but traditional tools like strace, perf, and static probes can no longer keep up with containers, Kubernetes, and high-performance networking. eBPF in Practice shows you how eBPF fundamentally changes the game by enabling safe, high-performance, programmable kernel instrumentation without kernel recompilation or system restarts.
Starting with a clear explanation of why eBPF changed Linux forever, the book methodically builds your understanding of eBPF architecture, execution models, verifier mechanics, and JIT compilation. You'll learn how eBPF programs are safely loaded, verified, and executed inside the kernel-and how to debug verifier errors with confidence.
This book goes far beyond theory. You'll write and load real eBPF programs, explore maps, memory constraints, per-CPU data structures, and ring buffers, and understand the critical performance trade-offs required for production systems. Dedicated chapters walk you through CO-RE (Compile Once, Run Everywhere) and BTF, solving the kernel version compatibility problem that blocks many teams from adopting eBPF at scale.
Observability is a major focus. You'll learn how to build low-overhead tracing, profiling, metrics, logs, and distributed tracing pipelines using eBPF-even in containerized and Kubernetes environments. Real-world debugging scenarios demonstrate how eBPF is used in production to diagnose latency spikes, performance regressions, and elusive kernel-level issues.
Networking engineers will gain deep insight into XDP, traffic control (TC), and cloud-native networking, including how eBPF powers modern CNIs like Cilium. Security professionals will learn how to implement kernel-level runtime security, syscall monitoring, behavioral detection, and container isolation-while managing false positives and operational risk.
Finally, eBPF in Practice prepares you for real-world operations. You'll understand performance overhead, failure modes, recovery strategies, user-space eBPF patterns, and emerging trends such as AI/ML-driven policy engines and automation. The book concludes with guidance on building an eBPF practice and advancing your career in one of the fastest-growing areas of Linux and cloud engineering.
What you'll learn:

• eBPF architecture, verifier internals, and execution constraints
• Writing, loading, and debugging eBPF programs (C, Go, Python)
• High-performance observability, networking, and security use cases
• CO-RE, BTF, and portable eBPF deployment strategies
• Operating eBPF safely and efficiently in production