loxilb-io/loxilb

cloud-native ebpf edge golang k8s networking hybrid-cloud kubernetes public-cloud nat nat64 nat66 clustering service-loadbalancer network-security sctp kubernetes-networking loadbalancing

What is loxilb

loxilb is an open source cloud-native load-balancer based on GoLang/eBPF with the goal of achieving cross-compatibility across a wide range of on-prem, public-cloud or hybrid K8s environments.

Kubernetes with loxilb

Kubernetes defines many service constructs like cluster-ip, node-port, load-balancer etc for pod to pod, pod to service and service from outside communication.

All these services are provided by load-balancers/proxies operating at Layer4/Layer7. Since Kubernetes's is highly modular, these services can be provided by different software modules. For example, kube-proxy is used by default to provide cluster-ip and node-port services.

Service type load-balancer is usually provided by public cloud-provider(s) as a managed entity. But for on-prem and self-managed clusters, there are only a few good options available. Even for provider-managed K8s like EKS, there are many who would want to bring their own LB to clusters running anywhere. loxilb provides service type load-balancer as its main use-case. loxilb can be run in-cluster or ext-to-cluster as per user need.

Additionally, loxilb can also support cluster-ip and node-port services, thereby providing end-to-end connectivity for Kubernetes.

Why choose loxilb?

Performs much better compared to its competitors across various architectures
Utitlizes ebpf which makes it flexible as well as customizable
Advanced quality of service for workloads (per LB, per end-point or per client)
Works with any Kubernetes distribution/CNI - k8s/k3s/k0s/kind/OpenShift + Calico/Flannel/Cilium/Weave/Multus etc
Extensive support for SCTP workloads (with multi-homing) on K8s
Dual stack with NAT66, NAT64 support for K8s
K8s multi-cluster support (planned 🚧)
Runs in any cloud (public cloud/on-prem) or standalone environments

Overall features of loxilb

L4/NAT stateful loadbalancer
- NAT44, NAT66, NAT64 with One-ARM, FullNAT, DSR etc
- Support for TCP, UDP, SCTP (w/ multi-homing), QUIC, FTP, TFTP etc
High-availability support with BFD detection for hitless/maglev/cgnat clustering
Extensive and scalable end-point liveness probes for cloud-native environments
Stateful firewalling and IPSEC/Wireguard support
Optimized implementation for features like Conntrack, QoS etc
Full compatibility for ipvs (ipvs policies can be auto inherited)
Policy oriented L7 proxy support - HTTP1.0, 1.1, 2.0 etc (planned 🚧)

Components of loxilb

GoLang based control plane components
A scalable/efficient eBPF based data-path implementation
Integrated goBGP based routing stack
A kubernetes agent kube-loxilb written in Go

Layer4 Vs Layer7

loxilb works as a L4 load-balancer/service-mesh by default. Although it provides great performance, at times, L7 load-balancing might become necessary in K8s. There are many good L7 proxies already available for K8s. Still, we are working on providing a great L7 solution natively in eBPF. It is a tough endeavor one which should reap great benefits once completed. Please keep an eye for updates on this.

Telco-Cloud with loxilb

For deploying telco-cloud with cloud-native functions, loxilb can be used as a SCP(service communication proxy). SCP is nothing but a glorified term for Kubernetes load-balancing/proxy. But telco-cloud requires load-balancing across various interfaces/standards like N2, N4, E2(ORAN), S6x, 5GLAN, GTP etc. Each of these interfaces present its own unique challenges(and DPI) for load-balancing which loxilb aims to solve e.g.

N4 requires PFCP level session-intelligence
N2 requires NGAP parsing capability
S6x requires Diameter/SCTP multi-homing LB support
MEC use-cases might require UL-CL understanding
Hitless failover support might be essential for mission-critical applications
E2 might require SCTP-LB with OpenVPN bundled together

How-To Guides

Getting started with different K8s distributions/tools

loxilb as ext-cluster pod

loxilb as in-cluster pod

Knowledge-Base

Community

Slack

Join the loxilb Slack channel to chat with loxilb developers and other loxilb users. This is a good place to learn about loxilb, ask questions, and work collaboratively.

General Discussion

Feel free to post your queries in github discussion. If you find any issue/bugs, please raise an issue in github and members from loxilb community will be happy to help.