Visibility for Modern Telco and Cloud‑Native Networks
Table of Contents
Introduction
As operators transition from 5G to 6G-ready cloud-native architectures, their networks are becoming more disaggregated, dynamic, and intelligent. Functions increasingly span virtualized 5G cores, AI-enhanced 6G control domains, MEC platforms, and hyperscale distributed edge clouds. Traditional visibility tools built for static or centralized topologies can no longer keep pace.
Telco and security architects now face the challenge of maintaining real‑time, end‑to‑end observability across highly adaptive, multi‑vendor, and multi‑cloud infrastructures where workloads may move between 5G and 6G service fabrics in milliseconds.
BIG‑IP eBPF Observability (EOB) meets this challenge with a high‑performance, kernel‑level telemetry framework built on Linux’s eBPF technology, delivering visibility that scales from 6G microcells to data center cores without adding operational overhead.
Why Legacy Visibility Approaches Fail in 5G/6G Environments
Tools like SPANs, TAPs, and broker appliances were effective for static topologies. But in cloud‑native 5G and 6G deployments, where AI dynamically places network functions across cores, edges, and reconfigurable slices, they break down.
Common limitations include:
- No reliable physical tap points in cloud-distributed or satellite-connected nodes
- SPAN mirroring constrained by virtual and container limits
- Encryption and service mesh layers hiding the real traffic context
- Vendor probes exposing only proprietary NFs, limiting multi‑domain visibility
These gaps fragment insights across control-plane (SBI, PFCP, NGAP, F1‑AP) and AI‑driven management planes now emerging within 6G intelligent network layers (INNs).
eBPF: Core Technology for Adaptive Observability
eBPF (Extended Berkeley Packet Filter) allows sandboxed programs to execute inside the Linux kernel, offering in‑situ visibility into packet, process, and syscall activities at near‑zero latency.
Its key advantages for 5G and 6G include:
- Safe, programmable telemetry without kernel module changes
- Full observability across containers, namespaces, and network functions
- Ultra‑low‑latency insights ideal for closed‑loop automation and AI inference workflows
6G networks depend on autonomous observability loops, eBPF forms the telemetry foundation that lets those loops sense and adapt to conditions in real time.
BIG‑IP EOB Architecture and Data Model
EOB leverages lightweight containerized sensors orchestrated via Kubernetes or OpenShift across core, edge, and RAN domains.
Its data model captures:
- Raw packets and deep forensic traces
- Dynamic service topologies reflecting 5G/6G slice relationships
- Plaintext records of TLS 1.3 and service mesh sessions for deep insight
- Metadata for telco protocols (SBI, PFCP, DNS, HTTP/2, F1‑AP, NGAP) and emerging 6G access protocols
- Rich CNFlow telemetry correlating control- and user-plane activity
Then telemetry streams to a message bus or observability fabric, ready for real‑time analytics, SIEM integration, or AI‑based fault prediction systems that’s vital for 6G’s full autonomy vision.
Core‑to‑Edge‑to‑AI Deployment Model
EOB spans the entire 5G/6G topology, from centralized cores to AI‑powered edge clouds:
- 5G Core Functions: AMF, SMF, NRF, PCF, UDM, UDR
- 6G Expansion: Cloud‑native service networks running AI‑orchestrated CNFs and reconfigurable RAN domains
- Edge & MEC: Low‑latency compute nodes supporting URLLC and industrial AI
- Open RAN: O‑RU, O‑DU, O‑CU, and AI‑RAN management functions
A central controller enforces data routing and observability policies, making EOB a unifying visibility plane for multi‑band, multi‑vendor networks that may straddle both 5G and 6G service layers.
Restoring Visibility in Encrypted and AI‑Automated Planes
Modern telco cores encrypt almost everything, including control messages used for orchestration and identity management.
EOB restores inspection capability by extracting essential 5G/6G identifiers and slice attributes from encrypted flows, enabling real‑time anomaly detection.
Capabilities include:
- Extraction of SUPI, SUCI, GUTI, slice/service IDs, and new AI‑Service Identifiers emerging in 6G
- Node‑level contextual threat detection across AMF, SMF, and cognitive NFs
- Direct integration with different security products and AI threat analytics for real‑time prevention
This removes “blind spots” that AI‑automated security systems would otherwise misinterpret or miss entirely.
Let’s go over a demo showing how BIG-IP EOB enhances visibility by TomCreighton
Ecosystem and Integration
BIG‑IP EOB integrates seamlessly with telco cloud environments:
- Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift: Certified operator framework, integrated with Red Hat’s bpfman for large-scale eBPF management
- AI/ML Pipelines: Telemetry exported to AIOps, CI/CD, and orchestration frameworks, key for autonomous fault resolution in 6G
While we highlighted multiple use cases for Service Providers, EOB can expand other capabilities to the enterprise sector,
- Application and data monitoring
- Security and policy assurance
- User experience and monitoring
- Cloud-native and infrastructure
Conclusion
BIG‑IP EOB enables a future‑proofed observability framework that supports the continuous evolution from 5G to 6G:
- Unified, vendor-neutral visibility across physical, virtual, and AI-driven domains
- Granular kernel-level insight without probe sprawl
- Control and user-plane correlation for real-time SLA and security validation
- Encrypted and service‑mesh traffic observability
- Telemetry foundation for 6G, autonomous and cognitive networking
EOB forms the visibility fabric of the self‑intelligent network—turning real-time telemetry into adaptive intelligence for secure, resilient, and autonomous telco operations.
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