OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation: Zero-Code Observability Under 2% Overhead

What if you could achieve complete observability coverage—every HTTP request, database query, and gRPC call—without touching application code? Jordan and Alex investigate eBPF instrumentation for OpenTelemetry, revealing how kernel-level hooks deliver under 2% CPU overhead versus traditional APM agents' 10-50%. Discover the May 2025 inflection point, the TLS encryption challenge, and a practical framework for combining eBPF with SDK instrumentation.

In this episode:
- eBPF instrumentation achieves under 2% CPU overhead by observing kernel operations already happening—versus 10-50% for traditional APM agents
- Grafana donated Beyla to OpenTelemetry in May 2025, making eBPF instrumentation part of the core ecosystem
- eBPF captures protocol-level data (HTTP, gRPC, SQL) but cannot access application context like user IDs or feature flags—use SDKs for business-critical paths

Perfect for senior platform engineers, sres, devops engineers with 5+ years experience looking to level up their platform engineering skills.

Episode URL: https://platformengineeringplaybook.com/podcasts/00028-opentelemetry-ebpf-instrumentation