Another data source we’ve recently integrated with KDE using Universal Data Records is Istio, which is an open source “service mesh” that integrates tightly with Kubernetes. You can learn more in our recent Kubernetes Networking 101 blog post, but basically, service meshes were invented to allow operations teams to deploy monitoring, security, failover, etc. in a cloud-native environment without developers needing to change their code. Istio’s insight and control layer lets you secure, connect, and manage the applications that make up a distributed microservices architecture for hybrid and multi-cloud deployments. It’s currently one of the most popular service mesh architectures, and it enjoys strong backing from Google, Lyft and IBM.

With Kentik’s new integration, you can now ingest Istio metrics data into KDE. That allows you to view the connectivities and status of components and services within an application in the context of the underlying network infrastructure that delivers them, even if the application is spread across multiple physical, hybrid, or multi-cloud infrastructures. If one component fails, you can now observe the impact on the big picture.

One fundamental component of the Istio control plane is called “Mixer.” This layer provides operators with rich insights and control over service behavior without requiring changes to service binaries. Kentik integrates with Istio via a backend plugin that acts as a data receiver for Mixer. While metrics from Mixer can be exported to a number of different tools, Kentik is the only solution that fuses Mixer metrics with flow data, which is key to understanding how the application and its supporting infrastructure affect each other.

The process for using Istio metrics in queries is pretty much the same as described above for Cisco ASA:

• Add an Istio device via the Admin » Devices page.
• Select an Istio device in the Devices pane of Data Explorer.
• Select an Istio metric as a filtering or group-by dimension as shown below.

Among the various ways that you can use the Istio dimensions is to build a Sankey diagram like the one below, which maps service-to-service flow between the microservices that are using Istio within an application.

Descriptions of the Istio fields supported by Kentik can be found in our Knowledge Base topic on Istio Dimensions. For more information about using Istio with Kentik Detect, contact our Customer Success team.