Service meshes are becoming the secure, observable networking layer for distributed computing systems like Kubernetes. However, they are also known for their operational complexity and steep learning curve. This talk will help clear up the mess around service mesh.

We will start by introducing what a service mesh is intended to do before diving into hands-on demos using Cilium Service Mesh powered by eBPF. The audience will learn how to monitor service-to-service connectivity, collect tracing data and golden metrics using standard Prometheus, Grafana, and OpenTelemetry with eBPF.

The talk will close by discussing how eBPF eliminates service mesh sidecars to improve performance and reduce latency, operational complexity, and resource usage. By the end, the audience will be able to understand and implement a service mesh rather than mess.