--- title: "Kubernetes Observability: Your Q&A Guide to Calico Whisker" source: "https://www.tigera.io/blog/kubernetes-observability-your-qa-guide-to-calico-whisker/" description: "Explore the Calico Whisker Q&A to master network traffic visibility in Kubernetes. Get answers to your pressing questions." --- [Technical Blog](https://www.tigera.io/category/technical-blog/) # Kubernetes Observability: Your Q&A Guide to Calico Whisker By [Reza Ramezanpour](https://www.tigera.io/blog/author/rezar/) on Sep 24, 2025 • 7 min read **Calico Whisker** is quickly becoming the go-to tool for teams that want granular, real-time visibility into their Kubernetes network traffic and security posture. It provides an intuitive, high-level view of your network, but as with any new tool, there are going to be questions: How does it handle manifest-based installations versus operator-based ones? Can it leverage eBPF for high-performance data collection? What’s the best way to export its rich flow logs to your existing SIEM or visualize traffic on a network map? Getting the most out of Calico Whisker requires understanding its inner workings and this guide is designed to help you master this exciting tool with support from the Calico community. We’ve compiled the most frequently asked questions from our [community Slack](https://calicousers.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-37ubh3jjr-VPzDmJD50esVklfNR9pGeQ#/shared-invite/email), support conversations, and CalicoCon sessions. This Q&A covers everything from initial installation tips and version requirements to advanced topics like filtering flow logs and integrating with Goldmane, the powerful API that underpins Calico Whisker. ## Frequently Asked Questions From The Community Whether you’re just beginning to evaluate Calico Whisker or looking to extract more value from your current deployment, this guide provides clear, actionable answers to help you level up your Kubernetes observability game. I’m not sure which version of Calico I’m running. Can I use Whisker? Yes you can, noting that Calico Whisker requires **Calico v3.30 or higher**. If you’re running an older version, you’ll need to upgrade your cluster first. To check your Calico version, run the following command: ``` `kubectl exec -it -n tigera-operator deployment/tigera-operator -- operator --version` ``` If your version is older than v3.30, follow the [upgrade guide](https://docs.tigera.io/calico/latest/operations/upgrading/kubernetes-upgrade#upgrading-an-installation-that-uses-manifests-and-the-kubernetes-api-datastore) or 📹 watch the video below for a demonstration of how to upgrade Calico on Kubernetes: My Calico installation is manifest-based. Is Whisker still supported? Yes! While we recommend upgrading to the operator-based installation for a smoother experience and easier lifecycle management, you can still use Calico Whisker with a manifest-based installation. Check out this [detailed installation guide](https://github.com/frozenprocess?tab=repositories&q=manifes&type=&language=&sort=) for enabling Calico Whisker manually. Why doesn’t Calico Whisker support exposure via a LoadBalancer? Calico Whisker and Goldmane contain sensitive network and workload data and are secured via NetworkPolicies by default. We strongly recommend against exposing this data externally. If you absolutely must expose it, you can create a new ingress NetworkPolicy to allow external traffic. However, you should also use the **Calico Ingress Gateway** and add authentication to ensure only authorized users can access your network data. Here’s an example of the NetworkPolicy: ``` `kubectl create -f -<