Unified Load Balancer Configuration and Administration Guide, Release 2026.02

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Support for data path metrics based on eBPF

Updated: April 23, 2026

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Overview

Explains the support for data path metrics based on eBPF, including benefits, limitations, metric collection, and enabling data path metrics collection for technical implementation and operations.

ULB leverages Extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) technology to provide detailed visibility into the data path of the ULB service. It collects metrics related to ingress and egress traffic, enabling administrators to monitor performance and troubleshoot issues.

Note

This feature is supported only on Ubuntu Kernel versions which support CGROUP (Control Group) v2.

Benefits of using the data path metrics

ULB provides the following benefits when using the data path metrics.

  • Enhanced debugging: Provides granular data path metrics, facilitating faster identification and resolution of network issues.

  • Performance monitoring: Enables real-time monitoring of traffic throughput, allowing administrators to identify bottlenecks and optimize performance.

  • Improved visibility: Offers insights into service traffic patterns, aiding in capacity planning and resource allocation.

Limitations in supporting data path metrics

eBPF monitoring can introduce some overhead, so it's important to monitor the system resource usage.

How the data path metric collection and reporting works

This feature helps in understanding network traffic flow within the Load Balancer Service.

Summary

The process involves several actors and components working together to collect and report network traffic metrics.

  • eBPF: Passively observes traffic characteristics and counts packets and bytes for each service and pod.

  • ULB agent: Periodically collects the counts from eBPF and makes them available as metrics.

These metrics can be used for debugging and performance analysis.

Workflow

These stages describe the collection and reporting of data path metrics within the Load Balancer Service.

  1. Enable metric collection feature using this CLI command. metrics service-stats Once enabled, the monitoring program (eBPF) starts observing traffic characteristics. The feature is activated and ready for metric collection.
  2. eBPF observes traffic and counts packets and bytes for each service and pod. eBPF operates in the background, collecting data without impacting performance. Traffic metrics are accumulated for each service and pod.
  3. ULB agent collects the counts from eBPF and makes them available as metrics. Metrics are periodically gathered and made accessible for debugging and performance analysis.

Enable the data path metrics collection by eBPF

Procedure

1.

Enter the global configuration mode.

2.

Run this command to enable the data path metrics collection feature.

metrics service-stats
Note

This CLI is disabled by default.
3.

Commit the changes.