Why another Agent?
Qpoint operates directly on your hosts through our Qtap agent. This host-based approach is fundamental to providing the deep visibility and process-level traffic attribution that makes Qpoint powerful.
The Power of Being Local
Operating directly on the host gives us several key advantages:
Process Attribution: We can see exactly which processes are making external calls
Pre-Encryption Visibility: Access to traffic before TLS encryption occurs
Container and Pod Context: Direct access to container runtime information
Efficient Operation: Minimal overhead by operating at the source
No Network Changes: No need to redirect traffic or modify network architecture
Technical Foundation
eBPF Technology
At the heart of Qtap is eBPF (Extended Berkeley Packet Filter), a powerful Linux kernel technology that allows us to:
Execute programs safely within kernel space
Attach to specific kernel functions and events
Access network events and socket operations
Collect detailed process and connection information
Kernel Integration Points
Qtap taps into several key areas of the Linux kernel:
Network Stack
Socket operations
TCP/IP protocol events
Process Context
Process creation and execution
Container runtime details
TLS/SSL Libraries
OpenSSL function calls
GoTLS operations
NodeTLS interactions
Linux-Centric Design
Qtap is specifically designed for Linux environments because:
eBPF is a Linux kernel technology
Most cloud-native workloads run on Linux
Linux provides rich kernel instrumentation capabilities
Strong container and orchestration support
Operating Modes
Qtap can operate in two primary modes:
Native TLS Introspection
Direct integration with SSL/TLS libraries
Works with OpenSSL, GoTLS, and NodeTLS
No configuration changes needed
Egress Controller
Support for Java and other runtimes
Simple environment variable configuration
Local certificate injection
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