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Multus CNI

by Intel / CNCF

Meta-CNI plugin enabling multiple network interfaces per Kubernetes pod — used for workloads requiring secondary high-performance networks alongside standard cluster networking.

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AIMenta verdict
Niche use
3/5

"Multi-CNI Kubernetes networking — APAC platform teams use Multus CNI to attach multiple network interfaces to APAC pods, enabling workloads requiring both cluster networking and specialized APAC data plane interfaces (SR-IOV, DPDK) for APAC telco and ML use cases."

Features
6
Use cases
1
Watch outs
3
What it does

Key features

  • Multiple network interfaces per pod: primary CNI + secondary specialized CNIs
  • NetworkAttachmentDefinition CRD for declarative APAC secondary network configuration
  • SR-IOV integration for hardware-accelerated APAC data plane interfaces
  • DPDK passthrough for APAC user-space packet processing (telco NFV)
  • InfiniBand/RoCE support for APAC GPU cluster high-speed training networks
  • Compatible with any primary CNI (Calico, Cilium, Antrea, OVN-Kubernetes)
When to reach for it

Best for

  • APAC telco teams deploying cloud-native network functions (5G, vRAN) and APAC ML infrastructure teams requiring RDMA high-speed networking for GPU distributed training alongside standard Kubernetes cluster networking.
Don't get burned

Limitations to know

  • ! Niche use case — most APAC application workloads do not need multiple interfaces
  • ! Complex APAC network configuration requiring deep networking expertise
  • ! SR-IOV and DPDK require compatible APAC hardware and kernel drivers
Context

About Multus CNI

Multus CNI is a meta-CNI plugin that enables Kubernetes pods to have multiple network interfaces — one provided by the primary CNI (Calico, Cilium, or Antrea for cluster networking) and additional interfaces provided by secondary CNIs for specialized APAC workloads. APAC platform engineering teams use Multus for telco network function deployments (5G UPF, DU/CU), ML training with InfiniBand or RoCE for APAC GPU cluster high-speed networking, and edge computing workloads that need access to physical APAC network interfaces.

Without Multus, a Kubernetes pod has a single network interface for all communication. With Multus, an APAC 5G network function pod can have: interface 0 (eth0) for Kubernetes cluster management traffic via Calico, interface 1 (net1) connected to an SR-IOV virtual function for APAC N6 interface high-throughput data plane, and interface 2 (net2) connected to an APAC OAM management network. This multi-interface model is essential for APAC telco cloud native network functions (CNF) that require separation of APAC management, control, and data plane traffic.

For APAC ML infrastructure teams, Multus enables GPU training pods to combine standard cluster networking (for APAC job scheduling, storage access, parameter server communication) with high-speed RDMA networking over RoCE or InfiniBand interfaces (for APAC all-reduce gradient synchronization between GPU nodes) — enabling near-native distributed training performance in Kubernetes-managed APAC clusters.

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