Calico architecture overview

1. Anirban Sen Chowdhary

2. Project Calico, a Tigera open-source project that provides a
layer 3 network implementation, aimed at scalable datacenter
deployments. Compared to traditional network overlays, Calico
provides a more efficient implementation with minimal packet
encapsulation. This allows better usage of node resources and a
simple yet powerful network stack for your infrastructure.

3. Calico is highly scalable: With its Layer 3 approach to virtual networking
and Internet-style architecture, Calico is far more scalable than current
overlay solutions and Connect apps with a high performance service mesh
built on an Internet-scale routed network fabric.
Calico is secure: It Secure the cluster and meet compliance requirements
with network and application policies.
Calico is simple: Eliminate complexity and leverage proven technologies for
resilience and easy troubleshooting with a simplified networking model .

4. Calico integrates with major orchestration systems like Kubernetes,
Apache Mesos, Docker, OpenStack and more to provide a seamless
experience for developers and operators.
It support for industry standard APIs such as Container Network Interface
(CNI), Neutron, and libnetwork
Calico can talk to existing switches and routers in the network because it’s
based on IP and communicates using the same type of IP packets.
Calico is the most trusted networking solution for mission-critical cloud-
native applications.

5. Calico is made up of following interdependent components:
Felix, the primary Calico agent that runs on each machine that hosts
endpoints.
The Orchestrator plugin, orchestrator-specific code that tightly integrates
Calico into that orchestrator.
etcd, the data store.
BIRD, a BGP client that distributes routing information.
BGP Route Reflector (BIRD), an optional BGP route reflector for higher
scale.

7. “Hundreds of enterprises trust Calico to connect and secure their
cloud networks”

8. “Hundreds of enterprises trust Calico to connect and secure their
cloud networks”

9. For more information visit
https://www.projectcalico.org/
https://docs.projectcalico.org/v2.6/introduction/
https://blog.tigera.io/tagged/calico