Istio 1.5 Released, introducing ‘Istiod’ and Envoy extension model

March 5, the development team of ’Istio’, a service mesh for container cluster, released ‘Istio 1.5’. It includes feature improvements to bring easier installation and configuration.

This latest version is the successor of v1.4, released in November 2019. Like v1.1, released in March 2019, it introduces many new features and improvements.

Installing Istio is made simpler by combining control plane components into a single binary. API and runtime are consistent with the previous components. Therefore managing is made easier for the mesh users, and it will continue to offer the same experience to them.

It introduces extension model for Envoy proxy servers. It was already equipped with Mixer plugins, which made custom policy and telemetry possible, and extensions that allowed customization, but v1.5 introduces Envoy’s new extension model, which uses WebAssembly (Wasm). By using Wasm, developers can distribute and execute code in Envoy proxy, for example allowing it to integrate with telemetry systems and policy systems, and transform the entire body of message.

There are also small improvements added to enhance usability, security, telemetry, and traffic control.

Istio 1.5 is available on the project website.

Istio
https://istio.io/