Install Istio by using Gloo Mesh

Streamline the Istio installation process by using Gloo Mesh to install Istio in your workload clusters, as part of Istio lifecycle management.

With a Gloo Mesh-managed installation, you no longer need to use istioctl to individually install Istio in each workload cluster. Instead, you can supply IstioOperator configurations in a IstioLifecycleManager resource to your management cluster. Gloo Mesh translates this resource into Istio control planes, gateways, and related resources in your registered workload clusters for you.

• Install Istio by using the Istio Lifecycle Manager: Use the Gloo Mesh management plane to install Istio into one or more workload clusters.

• Upgrade Gloo Mesh-managed Istio: Upgrade your Gloo Mesh-managed Istio installations in workload clusters.

• Switch from unmanaged to managed Istio installations: Use the Istio lifecycle manager to switch from your existing, unmanaged Istio installations to Gloo-managed Istio installations.

Known issues

The following known issues exist for the Istio lifecycle manager in Gloo Platform version 2.2. These issues are resolved in version 2.3.

• Within your IstioLifecycleManager and GatewayLifecycleManager CRs, any operator profiles other than empty or minimal are not supported.
• If you completely uninstall your Istio installations by deleting the IstioLifecycleManager and GatewayLifecycleManager CRs, but workloads that were in the Istio service mesh still exist in your workload clusters, the gm-iop-1-16 namespace in each workload cluster might be stuck in the Terminating state due to resources not being properly cleaned up. To resolve this issue:
  1. Edit the istiod-control-plane operator, and delete the finalizers section.

     kubectl edit istiooperator.install.istio.io istiod-control-plane -n gm-iop-1-16 --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT
     

  2. Edit the istio-eastwestgateway-1-16 operator, and delete the finalizers section.

     kubectl edit istiooperator.install.istio.io istio-eastwestgateway-1-16 -n gm-iop-1-16 --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT
     

  3. If you also deployed an ingress gateway, edit the istio-ingressgateway-1-16 operator, and delete the finalizers section.

     kubectl edit istiooperator.install.istio.io istio-ingressgateway-1-16 -n gm-iop-1-16 --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT
     

  4. Repeat these steps for each workload cluster.