If you no longer need your Gloo Mesh environment, you can uninstall Gloo Mesh components, such as the control and data plane, and any Gloo-managed Istio installations.

Single cluster

Sidecar service mesh

If you installed a sidecar mesh with the Gloo operator:

  1. Delete the ServiceMeshController resource.
      kubectl delete ServiceMeshController managed-istio
  2. Optional: Uninstall the Gloo operator.
      helm uninstall -n gloo-mesh gloo-operator
  3. Delete the Istio namespace.
      kubectl delete namespace istio-system

If you manually deployed a sidecar mesh with Helm:

  1. Uninstall the Helm release for istiod. Note that your release name might be different.
      helm uninstall -n istio-system istiod-gloo
  2. Optional: Uninstall the Istio CNI.
      helm uninstall -n kube-system istio-cni
  3. Uninstall the Istio CRDs.
      helm uninstall -n istio-system istio-base
  4. Delete the Istio namespace.
      kubectl delete namespace istio-system

If you used the legacy Istio lifecycle manager, uninstall the Istio control plane and gateways before you uninstall Gloo Mesh.

  1. Delete the GatewayLifecycleManager resources for any gateways.
      kubectl delete GatewayLifecycleManager istio-ingressgateway -n gloo-mesh
kubectl delete GatewayLifecycleManager istio-egressgateway -n gloo-mesh
  2. Verify that the gateway resources are removed before you proceed to the next step.
      kubectl get all -n gloo-mesh-gateways
  3. Delete the IstioLifecycleManager resource for the istiod control plane.
      kubectl delete IstioLifecycleManager istiod-control-plane -n gloo-mesh
  4. Verify that the Istio resources are removed before you proceed to the next step.
      # Change the revision as needed
kubectl get all -n gm-iop-1-24
kubectl get all -n istio-system
  5. Delete the Istio namespaces.
      kubectl delete ns istio-system
kubectl delete ns gloo-mesh-gateways

Ambient service mesh

If you installed an ambient mesh with the Gloo operator:

  1. Delete the ServiceMeshController resource.
      kubectl delete ServiceMeshController managed-istio
  2. Optional: Uninstall the Gloo operator.
      helm uninstall -n gloo-mesh gloo-operator
  3. Delete the Istio namespace.
      kubectl delete namespace istio-system

If you manually deployed an ambient mesh with Helm:

  1. Uninstall the ztunnel Helm release.
      helm uninstall -n istio-system ztunnel
  2. Uninstall the Istio CNI.
      helm uninstall -n istio-system istio-cni
  3. Uninstall the istiod control plane.
      helm uninstall -n istio-system istiod
  4. Uninstall the Istio CRDs.
      helm uninstall -n istio-system istio-base
  5. Delete the Istio namespaces.
      kubectl delete namespace istio-system

Gloo Mesh

  1. Uninstall the Gloo Mesh release.

      helm uninstall gloo-mesh -n gloo-mesh

  2. Uninstall any Gloo CRDs, such as by deleting the CRD Helm release.

      helm uninstall gloo-platform-crds -n gloo-mesh

    If you do not have a CRD Helm release, check for and manually remove any CRDs.

      kubectl get crds | grep solo
kubectl delete crd <$CRD>

  3. Delete the gloo-mesh namespace.

      kubectl delete namespace gloo-mesh

Multicluster

Before you begin, save the names and contexts of the clusters you want to uninstall Gloo Mesh from.

  export MGMT_CLUSTER=<management-cluster>
export REMOTE_CLUSTER1=<remote-cluster1>
export REMOTE_CLUSTER2=<remote-cluster2>
  
  export MGMT_CONTEXT=<management-cluster-context>
export REMOTE_CONTEXT1=<remote-cluster1-context>
export REMOTE_CONTEXT2=<remote-cluster2-context>

Sidecar service mesh

If you installed a sidecar mesh with the Gloo operator:

  1. Delete the ServiceMeshController resource.

      kubectl delete ServiceMeshController managed-istio --context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT1}
kubectl delete ServiceMeshController managed-istio --context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT2}

  2. Optional: Uninstall the Gloo operator.

      helm uninstall -n gloo-mesh gloo-operator --kube-context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT1}
helm uninstall -n gloo-mesh gloo-operator --kube-context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT2}

  3. Delete the Istio namespaces.

      kubectl delete namespace istio-system --context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT1}
kubectl delete namespace istio-system --context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT2}

If you manually deployed a sidecar mesh with Helm:

  1. Find the names of your Istio Helm chart releases.

      helm ls -A

  2. Uninstall the Helm release for istiod. Note that your release name might be different.

      helm uninstall -n istio-system istiod-gloo --kube-context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT1}
helm uninstall -n istio-system istiod-gloo --kube-context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT2}

  3. Optional: Uninstall the Istio CNI.

      helm uninstall -n kube-system istio-cni --kube-context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT1}
helm uninstall -n kube-system istio-cni --kube-context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT2}

  4. Uninstall the Istio CRDs.

      helm uninstall -n istio-system istio-base --kube-context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT1}
helm uninstall -n istio-system istio-base --kube-context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT2}

  5. Delete the Istio namespaces.

      kubectl delete namespace istio-system --context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT1}
kubectl delete namespace istio-system --context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT2}

If you used the legacy Istio lifecycle manager, uninstall the Istio control plane and gateways before you uninstall Gloo Mesh.

  1. Delete the GatewayLifecycleManager resources for any gateways.
      kubectl delete GatewayLifecycleManager istio-ingressgateway -n gloo-mesh --context $MGMT_CONTEXT
kubectl delete GatewayLifecycleManager istio-egressgateway -n gloo-mesh --context $MGMT_CONTEXT
  2. Verify that the gateway resources are removed before you proceed to the next step.
      kubectl get all -n gloo-mesh-gateways --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
kubectl get all -n gloo-mesh-gateways --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2
  3. Delete the IstioLifecycleManager resource for the istiod control plane.
      kubectl delete IstioLifecycleManager istiod-control-plane -n gloo-mesh --context $MGMT_CONTEXT
  4. Verify that the Istio resources are removed before you proceed to the next step.
      # Change the revision as needed
kubectl get all -n gm-iop-1-24 --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
kubectl get all -n istio-system --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
  5. Delete the Istio namespaces from the workload clusters.
      kubectl delete ns istio-system --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
kubectl delete ns gloo-mesh-gateways --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
  
      kubectl delete ns istio-system --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2
kubectl delete ns gloo-mesh-gateways --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2

Ambient service mesh

If you installed an ambient mesh with the Gloo operator:

  1. Save the name and kubeconfig context of one of your clusters in the following environment variables. Each time you repeat the steps in this section, you change these variables to the next workload cluster’s name and context.
      export CLUSTER_NAME=<cluster-name>
export CLUSTER_CONTEXT=<cluster-context>
  2. List the gateways in the istio-eastwest namespace.
      kubectl get gateways -n istio-eastwest --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
    Example output for an east-west gateway and a remote peer gateway for one linked cluster:
      NAME                                     CLASS            ADDRESS     PROGRAMMED   AGE
istio-eastwest                           istio-eastwest   <address>   True         29m
istio-remote-peer-cluster2               istio-remote     <address>   True         16m
  3. Delete the istio-remote-peer gateway for each cluster.
      kubectl delete gateway -n istio-eastwest --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT istio-remote-peer-<cluster>
  4. Delete the east-west gateway.
      kubectl delete gateway istio-eastwest -n istio-eastwest --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
  5. Delete the ServiceMeshController resource.
      kubectl delete ServiceMeshController managed-istio --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
  6. Optional: Uninstall the Gloo operator.
      helm uninstall -n gloo-mesh gloo-operator --kube-context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
  7. Delete the ca-certs secret.
      kubectl delete secret cacerts -n istio-system --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
  8. Delete the Istio namespaces.
      kubectl delete namespace istio-system --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
kubectl delete namespace istio-eastwest --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
  9. Repeat steps 1 - 8 for each cluster in the multicluster mesh setup. Be sure to reset the values of the $CLUSTER_NAME and $CLUSTER_CONTEXT environment variables each time you repeat the steps.

If you manually deployed an ambient mesh with Helm:

  1. Save the name and kubeconfig context of one of your clusters in the following environment variables. Each time you repeat the steps in this section, you change these variables to the next workload cluster’s name and context.
      export CLUSTER_NAME=<cluster-name>
export CLUSTER_CONTEXT=<cluster-context>
  2. List the gateways in the istio-eastwest namespace.
      kubectl get gateways -n istio-eastwest --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
    Example output for an east-west gateway and a remote peer gateway for one linked cluster:
      NAME                                     CLASS            ADDRESS     PROGRAMMED   AGE
istio-eastwest                           istio-eastwest   <address>   True         29m
istio-remote-peer-cluster2               istio-remote     <address>   True         16m
  3. Delete the istio-remote-peer gateway for each cluster.
      kubectl delete gateway -n istio-eastwest --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT istio-remote-peer-<cluster>
  4. Delete the east-west gateway.
      kubectl delete gateway istio-eastwest -n istio-eastwest --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
  5. Uninstall the Helm releases for ztunnel, CNI, istiod, and the CRDs.
      helm uninstall -n istio-system ztunnel --kube-context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
helm uninstall -n istio-system istio-cni --kube-context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
helm uninstall -n istio-system istiod --kube-context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
helm uninstall -n istio-system istio-base --kube-context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
  6. Delete the ca-certs secret.
      kubectl delete secret cacerts -n istio-system --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
  7. Delete the Istio namespaces.
      kubectl delete namespace istio-system --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
kubectl delete namespace istio-eastwest --context $CLUSTER_CONTEXT
  8. Repeat steps 1 - 7 for each cluster in the multicluster mesh setup. Be sure to reset the values of the $CLUSTER_NAME and $CLUSTER_CONTEXT environment variables each time you repeat the steps.

Gloo Mesh

  1. Uninstall the Gloo agent that runs on each workload cluster.

      meshctl cluster deregister \
    --kubecontext $MGMT_CONTEXT \
    --remote-context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1 \
    $REMOTE_CLUSTER1
  
      meshctl cluster deregister \
    --kubecontext $MGMT_CONTEXT \
    --remote-context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2 \
    $REMOTE_CLUSTER2

    Example output:

      Deregistering cluster: cluster1
Finished uninstalling release gloo-mesh-agent
Successfully deregistered cluster: cluster1

    1. Uninstall the agent Helm releases.

        helm uninstall gloo-platform -n gloo-mesh --kube-context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
helm uninstall gloo-platform -n gloo-mesh --kube-context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2

    2. Delete the corresponding KubernetesCluster resources from the management cluster.

        kubectl delete kubernetescluster $REMOTE_CLUSTER1 $REMOTE_CLUSTER2 -n gloo-mesh --context $MGMT_CONTEXT

    3. Delete the relay secrets from each workload cluster, as you cannot reuse the same secret if you decide to re-register the agent later.

        kubectl delete secret -n gloo-mesh relay-client-tls-secret --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
kubectl delete secret -n gloo-mesh relay-identity-token-secret --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
kubectl delete secret -n gloo-mesh relay-root-tls-secret --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
  
        kubectl delete secret -n gloo-mesh relay-client-tls-secret --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2
kubectl delete secret -n gloo-mesh relay-identity-token-secret --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2
kubectl delete secret -n gloo-mesh relay-root-tls-secret --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2

    4. Uninstall any Gloo CRDs, such as by deleting the CRD Helm release.

        helm uninstall gloo-platform-crds -n gloo-mesh --kube-context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1
helm uninstall gloo-platform-crds -n gloo-mesh --kube-context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2

      If you do not have a CRD Helm release, check for and manually remove any CRDs.

        kubectl get crds --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1 | grep solo
kubectl delete --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1 crd <$CRD>
kubectl get crds --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2 | grep solo
kubectl delete --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2 crd <$CRD>

  2. Delete the gloo-mesh namespaces from each workload cluster.

      kubectl --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT1 delete namespace gloo-mesh
kubectl --context $REMOTE_CONTEXT2 delete namespace gloo-mesh

  3. Uninstall the Gloo management plane components from the management cluster.

      helm uninstall gloo-platform -n gloo-mesh --kube-context $MGMT_CONTEXT
helm uninstall gloo-platform-crds -n gloo-mesh --kube-context $MGMT_CONTEXT

  4. Delete the gloo-mesh namespace.

      kubectl --context $MGMT_CONTEXT delete namespace gloo-mesh