Learn how to scale Cilium clusters beyond the limitations of Kubernetes Custom Resources in this 35-minute conference talk. Explore the benefits of using dedicated external etcd instances for managing Cilium-specific internal state when dealing with hundreds of nodes. Gain insights into operating external etcd from an operator's perspective and understand why Cilium leverages it for enhanced scalability. Discover techniques for cluster management by directly interacting with the etcd key-value store while bypassing the Kubernetes API, along with important considerations and potential pitfalls. Master the practical aspects of configuring dedicated etcd deployments specifically for Cilium state management and understand how this approach can significantly improve cluster scalability.