What is istio? | What does istio stand for

There are numerous options available for people to automate the functions of an application network. Out of known methods, Istio holds a prominent place. Before you start using it, you should clearly understand what Istio is all about. Continue to read, and we will share helpful tips on what Istio is all about.

What does Istio mean?

What is Istio, or what does Istio stand for? In simple terms, you can call it a service mesh. In other words, this is a modern service networking layer that offers a language-independent and transparent method to automate the functions of an application network.

This is one of the most effective methods available out there as of now for managing microservices that make up cloud-native applications.

On the other hand, the Istio mesh also supports how the microservices communicate and share data. This basic understanding of the Istio service mesh can help you learn more about the applications and benefits that come with it.

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What does Istio do?

Now you have a basic idea of what is Istio service mesh all about. We can see a massive increase in organizations moving to the cloud. Due to the same reason, there is a requirement to modernize cloud applications.

This forces businesses to abandon monolithic legacy applications and move towards cloud-native applications. However, this can be pretty challenging for the DevOps teams out there.

Developers out there should clearly understand how to assemble apps with the help of loosely coupled microservices. This will eventually help you ensure the portability of the applications within the cloud.

On the other hand, the DevOps teams will need to understand how to manage all cloud-native apps in multi-cloud and hybrid environments. This is where Istio can help.

Along with the help of Istio, DevOps engineers will be able to stay away from hassle when managing the applications on the cloud.

Here are some of the most prominent activities that Istio can do. As a DevOps engineer, you must keep these applications in mind.

– Monitoring service mesh

It is possible to use Istio and monitor a service mesh. This will eventually help you to get a better understanding of how the service performance is creating an impact on monitoring, tracing, and logging features within Istio.

– Securing cloud-native applications

You may think about using Istio to secure cloud-native applications. There is a possibility to implement security features in numerous ways. They include encryption, authorization, as well as identity-based authentication.

– Effectively manage traffic

You will also be able to manage traffic coming to your applications quite effectively with the help of Istio. Istio enables retries, rich routing rules, fault injection, and failovers.

– Ability to deploy quickly to virtual machines and Kubernetes

Along with the high level of visibility offered by Istio, DevOps engineers will be able to proceed with deploying their applications efficiently to Kubernetes as well as other virtual machines. It can provide a great helping hand to them.

If you want to know what is kubernetes and how it works (completely), click and read more.

– Simplifying load balancing

Apart from what Istio can do, as mentioned above, it can also offer automated load balancing to manage traffic properly. Moreover, you can find some advanced features for load balancing as well.

Canary rollouts and client-based routing are perfect examples of such load-balancing methods offered by Istio.

What is Istio used for?

As the next thing, let’s take a quick look at what does Istio do. These are some of the most prominent applications that you will be able to experience out of Istio.

– It supports consistent service networking

One of the best things about Istio is that it can help you achieve consistent service networking. The network operators can consistently take care of networking needs for all the services. They do not need to worry about adding any additional developer overheads.

– Servicing the services

When Istio is in place, the security operators can implement service-to-service security protocols quickly. Some of the best examples of such security protocols that they can implement include encryption, authorization, and authentication.

– Improving application performance

Another great benefit you can get from Istio is the ability to enhance application performance. This can be achieved through the implementation of best practices.

For example, it is possible to implement canary rollouts. Moreover, getting a deeper understanding of the applications and discovering where to focus the efforts is possible. Based on this, there is a possibility to proceed with enhancing the overall performance of applications.

What is Istio service mesh?

Istio is a perfect example of a service mesh. If you had looked at the above section on what Istio means, you would have understood it clearly.

This service mesh comprises a data plane and a control plane. Istio is using an extended version of Envoy in the form of the data place. This Envoy is capable of managing both inbound traffic as well as outbound traffic within the Istio service mesh.

When you cross-compare Istio with Kubernetes, you will be able to notice some significant differences. That’s because Kubernetes is an open-source platform that is overcoming the manual processes associated with scaling or deploying containerized applications.

This is done through orchestrating and automating the applications. Another noticeable difference is that Istio is platform-independent.

Read more about What is cloud native in another article.

Conclusion

Based on this article, you know what is the istio service mesh used for. If you are a DevOps engineer, you need to have a clear understanding of Istio. Based on that understanding, you can proceed with getting the most out of Istio and what it offers on your way.