Configure Istio traffic management including routing, load balancing, circuit breakers, and canary deployments. Use when implementing service mesh traffic policies, progressive delivery, or resilience patterns.
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Comprehensive guide to Istio traffic management for production service mesh deployments.
| Resource | Purpose | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| VirtualService | Route traffic to destinations | Host-based |
| DestinationRule | Define policies after routing | Service-based |
| Gateway | Configure ingress/egress | Cluster edge |
| ServiceEntry | Add external services | Mesh-wide |
Client → Gateway → VirtualService → DestinationRule → Service
(routing) (policies) (pods)
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: VirtualService
metadata:
name: reviews-route
namespace: bookinfo
spec:
hosts:
- reviews
http:
- match:
- headers:
end-user:
exact: jason
route:
- destination:
host: reviews
subset: v2
- route:
- destination:
host: reviews
subset: v1
---
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: DestinationRule
metadata:
name: reviews-destination
namespace: bookinfo
spec:
host: reviews
subsets:
- name: v1
labels:
version: v1
- name: v2
labels:
version: v2
- name: v3
labels:
version: v3
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: VirtualService
metadata:
name: my-service-canary
spec:
hosts:
- my-service
http:
- route:
- destination:
host: my-service
subset: stable
weight: 90
- destination:
host: my-service
subset: canary
weight: 10
---
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: DestinationRule
metadata:
name: my-service-dr
spec:
host: my-service
trafficPolicy:
connectionPool:
tcp:
maxConnections: 100
http:
h2UpgradePolicy: UPGRADE
http1MaxPendingRequests: 100
http2MaxRequests: 1000
subsets:
- name: stable
labels:
version: stable
- name: canary
labels:
version: canary
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: DestinationRule
metadata:
name: circuit-breaker
spec:
host: my-service
trafficPolicy:
connectionPool:
tcp:
maxConnections: 100
http:
http1MaxPendingRequests: 100
http2MaxRequests: 1000
maxRequestsPerConnection: 10
maxRetries: 3
outlierDetection:
consecutive5xxErrors: 5
interval: 30s
baseEjectionTime: 30s
maxEjectionPercent: 50
minHealthPercent: 30
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: VirtualService
metadata:
name: ratings-retry
spec:
hosts:
- ratings
http:
- route:
- destination:
host: ratings
timeout: 10s
retries:
attempts: 3
perTryTimeout: 3s
retryOn: connect-failure,refused-stream,unavailable,cancelled,retriable-4xx,503
retryRemoteLocalities: true
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: VirtualService
metadata:
name: mirror-traffic
spec:
hosts:
- my-service
http:
- route:
- destination:
host: my-service
subset: v1
mirror:
host: my-service
subset: v2
mirrorPercentage:
value: 100.0
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: VirtualService
metadata:
name: fault-injection
spec:
hosts:
- ratings
http:
- fault:
delay:
percentage:
value: 10
fixedDelay: 5s
abort:
percentage:
value: 5
httpStatus: 503
route:
- destination:
host: ratings
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: Gateway
metadata:
name: my-gateway
spec:
selector:
istio: ingressgateway
servers:
- port:
number: 443
name: https
protocol: HTTPS
tls:
mode: SIMPLE
credentialName: my-tls-secret
hosts:
- "*.example.com"
---
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: VirtualService
metadata:
name: my-vs
spec:
hosts:
- "api.example.com"
gateways:
- my-gateway
http:
- match:
- uri:
prefix: /api/v1
route:
- destination:
host: api-service
port:
number: 8080
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: DestinationRule
metadata:
name: load-balancing
spec:
host: my-service
trafficPolicy:
loadBalancer:
simple: ROUND_ROBIN # or LEAST_CONN, RANDOM, PASSTHROUGH
---
# Consistent hashing for sticky sessions
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1beta1
kind: DestinationRule
metadata:
name: sticky-sessions
spec:
host: my-service
trafficPolicy:
loadBalancer:
consistentHash:
httpHeaderName: x-user-id
# or: httpCookie, useSourceIp, httpQueryParameterName
# Check VirtualService configuration
istioctl analyze
# View effective routes
istioctl proxy-config routes deploy/my-app -o json
# Check endpoint discovery
istioctl proxy-config endpoints deploy/my-app
# Debug traffic
istioctl proxy-config log deploy/my-app --level debug