Catalog
concept#Observability#Reliability#Microservices#Performance#Service Discovery

Service Mesh

A service mesh is an infrastructure layer that manages communication between microservices in a distributed application.

A service mesh facilitates efficient and secure communication between microservices in a distributed architecture.
Established
Medium

Classification

  • Medium
  • Technical
  • Architectural
  • Advanced

Technical context

Kubernetes for deployment of microservicesPrometheus for monitoringIstio for security and routing

Principles & goals

Access controlService discovery is crucial.Security should be considered from the outset.
Build
Team, Domain, Enterprise

Use cases & scenarios

Compromises

  • Dependency on infrastructure.
  • Potential performance degradation.
  • Misconfiguration can lead to security risks.
  • Offer regular training sessions for the team.
  • Actively use monitoring tools.
  • Clearly define security policies.

I/O & resources

  • Available microservices
  • Network resources
  • Access to monitoring tools
  • Optimized communication between microservices
  • Improved security posture
  • Increased scalability of services

Description

A service mesh facilitates efficient and secure communication between microservices in a distributed architecture. It provides essential features such as service discovery, load balancing, security features, and monitoring. By implementing a service mesh, organizations can reduce the complexity of their infrastructure and improve the maintainability of their applications.

✔

  • Scalability of services.
  • Optimization of communication.
  • Secure microservice interactions.

✖

  • Can introduce additional complexity.
  • Requires management overhead.
  • Not suitable for all applications.

  • Number of active microservices

    The total sum of microservices operating actively in the service mesh.

  • Average response time

    The time taken by microservices to respond to requests.

  • Security incidents per month

    The number of security-related incidents that occurred within a month.

Case Study: Service Mesh in a large e-commerce company

A large e-commerce company implements a service mesh to optimize communication between its microservices and meet security requirements.

Case study: Migration to a cloud-native service mesh

A company modernizes its infrastructure and migrates to a cloud-native service mesh for better scalability and maintainability.

Case study: Load balancing in a microservices application

A microservices application uses a service mesh to ensure effective load balancing and high availability.

1

Choose a suitable service mesh framework.

2

Integrate existing microservices.

3

Train the team on the new tools.

⚠️ Technical debt & bottlenecks

  • Technical debt due to insufficient testing.
  • Insufficient automation in deployment.
  • Outdated tools for system monitoring.
Infrastructure complexity.Delays in deployment.Lack of visibility in communication.
  • Using a service mesh in a simple monolithic architecture.
  • Poor configuration leads to redundant communication.
  • Setting inadequate security precautions.
  • Lack of documentation leads to confusion.
  • Ignoring uncompromising security as part of the implementation.
  • Overloading the infrastructure due to incorrect resource allocation.
Knowledge of microservices architectureAbility to use monitoring toolsFamiliarity with cloud technologies
Real-time communication requirements.Scalability of the application.Security requirements of the organization.
  • • Available budgets and resources.
  • • Technical skills of the team.
  • • Data security and management policies.