Course Introduction

Welcome to the Service Mesh with Istio course!

I'm Sevi Karaköse, your instructor for this journey. With extensive experience as a software developer, team leader, and technical trainer, I have partnered with both development and infrastructure teams during DevOps transformations. My focus has involved transforming legacy applications into microservices and modernizing cloud environments. In this course, we’ll explore Istio through detailed lectures and hands-on labs.

Getting Started

First, let’s set up the necessary add-ons by running the following command:

kubectl apply -f samples/addons
# Output:
# serviceaccount/jaeger-collector created
# serviceaccount/jaeger-agent created
# deployment.apps/jaeger-collector created
# deployment.apps/jaeger-agent created
# service/jaeger-collector created
# service/jaeger-agent created

This command deploys essential monitoring and tracing components such as Jaeger to help you observe and troubleshoot your service mesh once Istio is installed.

Istio Basics and Practical Example

We begin with an introduction to Istio fundamentals, followed by practical examples and labs. By the end of the course, you'll know how to configure and manage your Service Mesh using Istio effectively.

Below is an example Kubernetes deployment and service configuration for a sample application called "reviews":

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: reviews
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: reviews
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: reviews
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: reviews
          image: reviews:v1
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: reviews
spec:
  ports:
    - port: 8080
  selector:
    app: reviews

This configuration deploys two replicas of the "reviews" application and exposes the service on port 8080.

Course Objectives

As we progress through the course, we will cover the following topics:

1. Introduction to Istio
   We start by distinguishing between monolithic and microservices architectures and discussing the critical need for a Service Mesh. Example-driven lectures will help you understand these concepts in depth.

   

2. Getting Started with Istio
   You'll learn how to install and configure Istio, and how to visualize your applications using Kiali.

3. Deep Dive into Istio Concepts
   We will explore advanced features of Istio, including:

   • Gateways and Virtual Services
   • Destination Rules and subsets
   • Timeouts and Retries
   • Circuit Breaking
   • Fault Injection
   • Request Routing and A/B Testing

   

4. Security and Observability
   Learn about certificate management, authentication, and authorization. Additionally, you'll discover how to collect metrics using Prometheus and Grafana, and how to implement distributed tracing for your services.

5. Kubernetes Fundamentals
   A brief review of essential Kubernetes concepts ensures you have the background needed as we integrate Kubernetes with Istio.

I am excited to guide you through the world of Service Mesh with Istio. Let’s begin this engaging learning experience and dive into the practical aspects of managing microservices effectively!