Fairwinds Insights now includes Network Observability, a feature that captures cluster network traffic and DNS activity via eBPF (using Inspektor Gadget) and enriches it with Kubernetes metadata like pod, namespace, and workload owner. It runs as two components: a DaemonSet agent capturing TCP connections and DNS queries, and an aggregator that enriches and forwards the data to Insights. The UI offers a Service Map showing live traffic between namespaces and external endpoints, plus a DNS Summary sorted by failures, both backed by a filterable Live Events table supporting CSV export. Requirements include Linux nodes with bpf and debugfs filesystems; Windows nodes are unsupported. The feature became generally available on July 28, 2026.
Table of contents
How Network Observability Works in Fairwinds InsightsWhat You'll See in InsightsRequirements for Network ObservabilityGet StartedQuestions this post answers
How does Fairwinds Insights capture network traffic and DNS queries in a Kubernetes cluster?
It uses eBPF through Inspektor Gadget via a DaemonSet agent called network-flow that attaches eBPF programs to the kernel on every node to capture TCP connections, traffic volumes, and DNS activity. A separate aggregator, network-flow-aggregator, enriches this raw data with Kubernetes metadata like pod, namespace, and workload owner before forwarding it to Insights, without needing elevated privileges itself. Teams debugging cluster network dependencies can track observability tooling changes like this on daily.dev.
What are the node requirements for running eBPF-based network observability in Kubernetes?
Nodes must run Linux with the bpf and debugfs filesystems available; Windows nodes are not supported. The agent also requires a set of elevated Linux capabilities and host filesystem mounts to operate through eBPF, which the deployment chart configures automatically as long as the cluster permits them. Platform engineers weighing eBPF tooling prerequisites keep tabs on requirements like these via daily.dev.
When did Fairwinds Insights Network Observability become generally available?
Network Observability became generally available on July 28, 2026, as an extension of the Fairwinds Insights platform that already provided cost, policy, and security data, now covering the network layer with workload-aware service maps and DNS query visibility. daily.dev helps engineers stay on top of new observability releases shaping their Kubernetes stack.
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