Build your expertise in the BPF virtual machine in the Linux kernel with this practical guide for systems engineers. You’ll not only dive into the BPF program lifecycle but also learn to write applications that observe and modify the kernel’s behavior; inject code to monitor, trace, and securely observe events in the kernel; and more.

Authors David Calavera and Lorenzo Fontana help you harness the power of BPF to make any computing system more observable. Familiarize yourself with the essential concepts you’ll use on a day-to-day basis and augment your knowledge about performance optimization, networking, and security. Then see how it all comes together with code examples in C, Go, and Python.

• Write applications that use BPF to observe and modify the Linux kernel’s behavior on demand


• Inject code to monitor, trace, and observe events in the kernel in a secure way—no need to recompile the kernel or reboot the system


• Explore code examples in C, Go, and Python


• Gain a more thorough understanding of the BPF program lifecycle