Telco workloads such as 5G Core and MEC pose unique networking challenges when deployed as Cloud-Native Network Functions (CNFs) on Kubernetes. Unlike typical apps, CNFs demand ultra-low latency, line-rate throughput, and scaling to millions of sessions — requirements that push Kubernetes networking to its limits.

In this session, we share hard-won lessons learned from a layered networking design: Calico with IPVS mode for scalable control-plane routing and policy, and SR-IOV, OVS, and Multus for high-performance data-plane traffic. This separation of control and user flows enabled us to meet carrier-grade SLAs, but also revealed challenges in automation, NUMA alignment, hugepage allocation, and observability when traffic bypassed the kernel.

Attendees will gain practical insights into designing and operating CNF networking: how to balance performance and flexibility, automate complex CNI setups, and maintain visibility in high-performance telco clusters.