Install Istio by using the Istio Lifecycle Manager

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.

Before you begin

1. Set the names of your clusters from your infrastructure provider. If your clusters have different names, specify those names instead.

   export REMOTE_CLUSTER1=<cluster-1>
   export REMOTE_CLUSTER2=<cluster-2>
   ...
   

2. Save the kubeconfig contexts for your clusters. Run kubectl config get-contexts, look for your cluster in the CLUSTER column, and get the context name in the NAME column. Note: Do not use context names with underscores. The context name is used as a SAN specification in the generated certificate that connects workload clusters to the management cluster, and underscores in SAN are not FQDN compliant. You can rename a context by running kubectl config rename-context "<oldcontext>" <newcontext>.

   export MGMT_CONTEXT=<management-cluster-context>
   export REMOTE_CONTEXT1=<remote-cluster-1-context>
   export REMOTE_CONTEXT2=<remote-cluster-2-context>
   ...
   

3. Save the Istio version information as environment variables.

   • For REPO, use a Gloo Istio repo key that you can get by logging in to the Support Center and reviewing the Istio images built by Solo.io support article. For more information, see Get the Gloo Istio version that you want to use.
   • For ISTIO_IMAGE, save the version that you downloaded, such as 1.16.2, and append the solo tag, which is required to use many enterprise features. You can optionally append other Gloo Istio tags, as described in About Gloo Istio. If you downloaded a different version than the following, make sure to specify that version instead.
   • For REVISION, take the Istio major and minor version numbers and replace the period with a hyphen, such as 1-16.

   export REPO=<repo-key>
   export ISTIO_IMAGE=1.16.2-solo
   export REVISION=1-16
   

4. To use a Gloo Mesh hardened image of Istio, you must have a Solo account. Make sure that you can log in to the Support Center. If not, contact your account administrator to get the repo key for the Istio version that you want to install from the Istio images built by Solo.io support article.

5. Deploy managed Istio in a multicluster or single-cluster setup.

Manage Istio installations in a multicluster setup

1. Prepare an IstioLifecycleManager resource to manage istiod control planes.

   1. Download the example file.
      • Kubernetes
      • OpenShift

      curl -0L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solo-io/gloo-mesh-use-cases/main/gloo-mesh/istio-install/gm-managed/gm-istiod.yaml > gm-istiod.yaml
      

      2. Elevate the permissions of the following service accounts that will be created. These permissions allow the Istio sidecars to make use of a user ID that is normally restricted by OpenShift.

         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:istio-system --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:gm-iop-1-16 --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:gloo-mesh-gateways --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
         

         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:istio-system --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2
         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:gm-iop-1-16 --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2
         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:gloo-mesh-gateways --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2
         

      3. In each workload cluster, create a NetworkAttachmentDefinition custom resource for each project where you want to deploy workloads.

         cat <<EOF | oc --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1 -n <project> create -f -
         apiVersion: "k8s.cni.cncf.io/v1"
         kind: NetworkAttachmentDefinition
         metadata:
           name: istio-cni
         EOF
         

         cat <<EOF | oc --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2 -n <project> create -f -
         apiVersion: "k8s.cni.cncf.io/v1"
         kind: NetworkAttachmentDefinition
         metadata:
           name: istio-cni
         EOF
         

      4. Elevate the permissions of the service account in each project where you want to deploy workloads. This permission allows the Istio sidecars to make use of a user ID that is normally restricted by OpenShift.

         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:<project> --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:<project> --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2
         

      5. Download the gm-istiod.yaml example file.

         curl -0L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solo-io/gloo-mesh-use-cases/main/gloo-mesh/istio-install/gm-managed/gm-istiod-openshift.yaml > gm-istiod.yaml
         

   2. Update the example file with the environment variables that you previously set, and optionally further edit the file to provide your own details. Save the updated file as gm-istiod-values.yaml. For more information, see the API reference.
      • Tip: Instead of updating the file manually, try running a terminal command to substitute values, such as the following command.

        envsubst < gm-istiod.yaml > gm-istiod-values.yaml
        open gm-istiod-values.yaml
        

   3. Apply the IstioLifecycleManager resource to your management cluster.

      kubectl apply -f gm-istiod-values.yaml --context $MGMT_CONTEXT
      

2. Prepare a GatewayLifecycleManager custom resource to manage the east-west gateways.

   1. Download the gm-ew-gateway.yaml example file.

      curl -0L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solo-io/gloo-mesh-use-cases/main/gloo-mesh/istio-install/gm-managed/gm-ew-gateway.yaml > gm-ew-gateway.yaml
      

   2. Update the example file with the environment variables that you previously set, and optionally further edit the file to provide your own details. Save the updated file as gm-ew-gateway-values.yaml. For more information, see the API reference.
   3. Apply the GatewayLifecycleManager resource to your management cluster.

      kubectl apply -f gm-ew-gateway-values.yaml --context $MGMT_CONTEXT
      

3. Optional: If you have a Gloo Gateway license, prepare a GatewayLifecycleManager custom resource to manage the ingress gateways.

   1. Download the gm-ingress-gateway.yaml example file.

      curl -0L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solo-io/gloo-mesh-use-cases/main/gloo-mesh/istio-install/gm-managed/single-cluster/gm-ingress-gateway.yaml > gm-ingress-gateway.yaml
      

   2. Update the example file with the environment variables that you previously set, and optionally further edit the file to provide your own details. Save the updated file as gm-ingress-gateway-values.yaml. For more information, see the API reference.
      • Tip: Instead of updating the file manually, try running a terminal command to substitute values, such as the following command.

        envsubst < gm-ingress-gateway.yaml > gm-ingress-gateway-values.yaml
        open gm-ingress-gateway-values.yaml
        

   3. Apply the GatewayLifecycleManager resource to your management cluster.

      kubectl apply -f gm-ingress-gateway-values.yaml --context $MGMT_CONTEXT
      

4. Verify that the namespaces for your Istio installations are created in each workload cluster.

   kubectl get ns --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
   kubectl get ns --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2
   

   For example, the gm-iop-1-16, gloo-mesh-gateways, and istio-system namespaces are created:

   NAME               STATUS   AGE
   default            Active   56m
   gloo-mesh          Active   36m
   gm-iop-1-16        Active   91s
   gloo-mesh-gateways Active   90s
   istio-system       Active   91s
   kube-node-lease    Active   57m
   kube-public        Active   57m
   kube-system        Active   57m
   

5. In each namespace, verify that the Istio resources that you specified in your Istio operator configuration are successfully installing. For example, verify that the Istio control plane pods are running.

   • Operator revision namespace
   • Istiod namespace
   • Gateway namespace

   kubectl get all -n gm-iop-1-16 --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
   

   Example output:

   NAME                                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
   pod/istio-operator-1-16-678fd95cc6-ltbvl   1/1     Running   0          4m12s
   
   NAME                               TYPE        CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)    AGE
   service/istio-operator-1-16   ClusterIP   10.204.15.247   <none>        8383/TCP   4m12s
   
   NAME                                       READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
   deployment.apps/istio-operator-1-16   1/1     1            1           4m12s
   
   NAME                                                  DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
   replicaset.apps/istio-operator-1-16-678fd95cc6   1         1         1       4m12s
   

   kubectl get all -n istio-system --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
   

   Example output:

   NAME                                   READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
   pod/istiod-1-16-b65676555-g2vmr   1/1     Running   0          8m57s
   
   NAME                       TYPE        CLUSTER-IP    EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)                                 AGE
   service/istiod-1-16   ClusterIP   10.204.6.56   <none>        15010/TCP,15012/TCP,443/TCP,15014/TCP   8m56s
   
   NAME                               READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
   deployment.apps/istiod-1-16   1/1     1            1           8m57s
   
   NAME                                         DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
   replicaset.apps/istiod-1-16-b65676555   1         1         1       8m57s
   
   NAME                                                   REFERENCE                     TARGETS   MINPODS   MAXPODS   REPLICAS   AGE
   horizontalpodautoscaler.autoscaling/istiod-1-16   Deployment/istiod-1-16   1%/80%    1         5         1          8m58s
   

   Note that the gateways might take a few minutes to be created.

   kubectl get all -n gloo-mesh-gateways --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
   

   Example output:

   NAME                                                   READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
   pod/istio-eastwestgateway-1-16-66f464ff44-qlhfk   1/1     Running   0          2m6s
   pod/istio-ingressgateway-1-16-77d5f76bc8-j6qkp    1/1     Running   0          2m18s
   
   NAME                                      TYPE           CLUSTER-IP     EXTERNAL-IP      PORT(S)                                      AGE
   service/istio-eastwestgateway             LoadBalancer   10.204.4.172   34.86.225.164    15021:30889/TCP,15443:32489/TCP              2m5s
   service/istio-ingressgateway              LoadBalancer   10.44.4.140    34.150.235.221   15021:31321/TCP,80:32525/TCP,443:31826/TCP   2m16s
   
   NAME                                              READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
   deployment.apps/istio-eastwestgateway-1-16   1/1     1            1           2m6s
   deployment.apps/istio-ingressgateway-1-16    1/1     1            1           2m18s
   
   NAME                                                         DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
   replicaset.apps/istio-eastwestgateway-1-16-66f464ff44   1         1         1       2m6s
   replicaset.apps/istio-ingressgateway-1-16-77d5f76bc8    1         1         1       2m18s
   
   NAME                                                                  REFERENCE                                    TARGETS         MINPODS   MAXPODS   REPLICAS   AGE
   horizontalpodautoscaler.autoscaling/istio-eastwestgateway-1-16   Deployment/istio-eastwestgateway-1-16   <unknown>/80%   1         5         0          2m7s
   horizontalpodautoscaler.autoscaling/istio-ingressgateway-1-16    Deployment/istio-ingressgateway-1-16    4%/80%          1         5         1          2m19s
   

Now that Istio is up and running, you can create service namespaces for your teams to run app workloads in. For example, you might start out with the Bookinfo sample application. Those steps guide you through creating workspaces for your workloads, deploying Bookinfo across workload clusters, and using ingress and east-west gateways to shift traffic across clusters.

For any service namespace, be sure to label the namespace with the revision so that Istio sidecars are deployed to your app pods: kubectllabel ns <namespace> istio.io/rev=$REVISION.

Manage Istio installations in a single-cluster setup

1. Prepare an IstioLifecycleManager resource to manage istiod control planes.

   1. Download the example file.
      • Kubernetes
      • OpenShift

      curl -0L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solo-io/gloo-mesh-use-cases/main/gloo-mesh/istio-install/gm-managed/single-cluster/gm-istiod.yaml > gm-istiod.yaml
      

      2. Elevate the permissions of the following service accounts that will be created. These permissions allow the gateways to make use of a user ID that is normally restricted by OpenShift.

         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:istio-system
         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:gm-iop-1-16
         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:gloo-mesh-gateways
         

      3. Create a NetworkAttachmentDefinition custom resource for each project where you want to deploy workloads.

         cat <<EOF | oc -n <project> create -f -
         apiVersion: "k8s.cni.cncf.io/v1"
         kind: NetworkAttachmentDefinition
         metadata:
           name: istio-cni
         EOF
         

      4. Elevate the permissions of the service account in each project where you want to deploy workloads. This permission allows the Istio sidecars to make use of a user ID that is normally restricted by OpenShift.

         oc adm policy add-scc-to-group anyuid system:serviceaccounts:<project>
         

      5. Download the gm-istiod.yaml example file.

         curl -0L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solo-io/gloo-mesh-use-cases/main/gloo-mesh/istio-install/gm-managed/single-cluster/gm-istiod-openshift.yaml > gm-istiod.yaml
         

   2. Update the example file with the environment variables that you previously set, and optionally further edit the file to provide your own details. Save the updated file as gm-istiod-values.yaml. For more information, see the API reference.
      • Tip: Instead of updating the file manually, try running a terminal command to substitute values, such as the following command.

        envsubst < gm-istiod.yaml > gm-istiod-values.yaml
        open gm-istiod-values.yaml
        

   3. Apply the IstioLifecycleManager resource to your cluster.

      kubectl apply -f gm-istiod-values.yaml
      

2. Optional: If you have a Gloo Gateway license, prepare a GatewayLifecycleManager custom resource to manage the ingress gateways.

   1. Download the gm-ingress-gateway.yaml example file.

      curl -0L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solo-io/gloo-mesh-use-cases/main/gloo-mesh/istio-install/gm-managed/single-cluster/gm-ingress-gateway.yaml > gm-ingress-gateway.yaml
      

   2. Update the example file with the environment variables that you previously set, and optionally further edit the file to provide your own details. Save the updated file as gm-ingress-gateway-values.yaml. For more information, see the API reference.
      • Tip: Instead of updating the file manually, try running a terminal command to substitute values, such as the following command.

        envsubst < gm-ingress-gateway.yaml > gm-ingress-gateway-values.yaml
        open gm-ingress-gateway-values.yaml
        

   3. Apply the GatewayLifecycleManager resource to your management cluster.

      kubectl apply -f gm-ingress-gateway-values.yaml
      

3. Verify that the namespaces for your Istio installations are created.

   kubectl get ns
   

   For example, the gm-iop-1-16, gloo-mesh-gateways, and istio-system namespaces are created:

   NAME               STATUS   AGE
   default            Active   56m
   gloo-mesh          Active   36m
   gm-iop-1-16        Active   91s
   gloo-mesh-gateways Active   90s
   istio-system       Active   91s
   kube-node-lease    Active   57m
   kube-public        Active   57m
   kube-system        Active   57m
   

4. In each namespace, verify that the Istio resources that you specified in your Istio operator configuration are successfully installing. For example, verify that the Istio control plane pods are running.

   • Operator revision namespace
   • Istiod namespace
   • Gateway namespace

   kubectl get all -n gm-iop-1-16
   

   Example output:

   NAME                                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
   pod/istio-operator-1-16-678fd95cc6-ltbvl   1/1     Running   0          4m12s
   
   NAME                               TYPE        CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)    AGE
   service/istio-operator-1-16   ClusterIP   10.204.15.247   <none>        8383/TCP   4m12s
   
   NAME                                       READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
   deployment.apps/istio-operator-1-16   1/1     1            1           4m12s
   
   NAME                                                  DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
   replicaset.apps/istio-operator-1-16-678fd95cc6   1         1         1       4m12s
   

   kubectl get all -n istio-system
   

   Example output:

   NAME                                   READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
   pod/istiod-1-16-b65676555-g2vmr   1/1     Running   0          8m57s
   
   NAME                       TYPE        CLUSTER-IP    EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)                                 AGE
   service/istiod-1-16   ClusterIP   10.204.6.56   <none>        15010/TCP,15012/TCP,443/TCP,15014/TCP   8m56s
   
   NAME                               READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
   deployment.apps/istiod-1-16   1/1     1            1           8m57s
   
   NAME                                         DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
   replicaset.apps/istiod-1-16-b65676555   1         1         1       8m57s
   
   NAME                                                   REFERENCE                     TARGETS   MINPODS   MAXPODS   REPLICAS   AGE
   horizontalpodautoscaler.autoscaling/istiod-1-16   Deployment/istiod-1-16   1%/80%    1         5         1          8m58s
   

   Note that the gateways might take a few minutes to be created.

   kubectl get all -n gloo-mesh-gateways
   

   Example output:

   NAME                                                   READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
   pod/istio-ingressgateway-1-16-77d5f76bc8-j6qkp    1/1     Running   0          2m18s
   
   NAME                                      TYPE           CLUSTER-IP     EXTERNAL-IP      PORT(S)                                      AGE
   service/istio-ingressgateway              LoadBalancer   10.44.4.140    34.150.235.221   15021:31321/TCP,80:32525/TCP,443:31826/TCP   2m16s
   
   NAME                                              READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
   deployment.apps/istio-ingressgateway-1-16    1/1     1            1           2m18s
   
   NAME                                                         DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
   replicaset.apps/istio-ingressgateway-1-16-77d5f76bc8    1         1         1       2m18s
   
   NAME                                                                  REFERENCE                                    TARGETS         MINPODS   MAXPODS   REPLICAS   AGE
   horizontalpodautoscaler.autoscaling/istio-ingressgateway-1-16    Deployment/istio-ingressgateway-1-16    4%/80%          1         5         1          2m19s
   

Now that Istio is up and running, you can create service namespaces for your teams to run app workloads in. For example, you might start out with the Bookinfo sample application. Those steps guide you through creating workspaces for your workloads, deploying Bookinfo across workload clusters, and using ingress and east-west gateways to shift traffic across clusters.

For any service namespace, be sure to label the namespace with the revision so that Istio sidecars are deployed to your app pods: kubectllabel ns <namespace> istio.io/rev=$REVISION.

Next steps

Now that you have Gloo Mesh Enterprise and Istio installed, you can use Gloo Mesh to manage your Istio service mesh resources. You don't need to directly configure any Istio resources going forward.

• When it's time to upgrade Istio, you can use Gloo Mesh to upgrade Gloo Mesh-managed Istio installations.
• Review how Gloo Mesh custom resources are automatically translated into Istio resources.
• Configure workspaces to create boundaries for your teams’ resources.
• Try out the Policies for steps to secure, observe, and control network traffic.