CNI

Container Network Interface (CNI) standardizes the interaction between container runtimes and networking plugins, ensuring consistent configuration of container network interfaces and interoperability across diverse environments.

CNI is widely adopted in orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes and Docker, decoupling network configuration from the runtime and allowing seamless use of overlay networks, software-defined networking, and native IP routing solutions. This flexibility simplifies deployment and enhances portability of containerized applications.

At runtime, CNI plugins are executed during container creation and teardown to assign IP addresses, configure routes, and enforce network policies. While this plugin-based model offers extensibility and performance, it requires careful management of plugin versions and network policies to maintain security and avoid configuration drift.