Install Primary-Remote

Follow this guide to install the Istio control plane on cluster1 (the primary cluster) and configure cluster2 (the remote cluster) to use the control plane in cluster1. Both clusters reside on the network1 network, meaning there is direct connectivity between the pods in both clusters.

Before proceeding, be sure to complete the steps under before you begin.

In this configuration, cluster cluster1 will observe the API Servers in both clusters for endpoints. In this way, the control plane will be able to provide service discovery for workloads in both clusters.

Service workloads communicate directly (pod-to-pod) across cluster boundaries.

Services in cluster2 will reach the control plane in cluster1 via a dedicated gateway for east-west traffic.

Configure cluster1 as a primary

Create the Istio configuration for cluster1:

$ cat <<EOF > cluster1.yaml
apiVersion: install.istio.io/v1alpha1
kind: IstioOperator
spec:
  values:
    global:
      meshID: mesh1
      multiCluster:
        clusterName: cluster1
      network: network1
EOF

Apply the configuration to cluster1:

$ istioctl install --context="${CTX_CLUSTER1}" -f cluster1.yaml

Install the east-west gateway in cluster1

Install a gateway in cluster1 that is dedicated to east-west traffic. By default, this gateway will be public on the Internet. Production systems may require additional access restrictions (e.g. via firewall rules) to prevent external attacks. Check with your cloud vendor to see what options are available.

$ @samples/multicluster/gen-eastwest-gateway.sh@ \
    --mesh mesh1 --cluster cluster1 --network network1 | \
    istioctl --context="${CTX_CLUSTER1}" install -y -f -

Wait for the east-west gateway to be assigned an external IP address:

$ kubectl --context="${CTX_CLUSTER1}" get svc istio-eastwestgateway -n istio-system
NAME                    TYPE           CLUSTER-IP    EXTERNAL-IP    PORT(S)   AGE
istio-eastwestgateway   LoadBalancer   10.80.6.124   34.75.71.237   ...       51s

Expose the control plane in cluster1

Before we can install on cluster2, we need to first expose the control plane in cluster1 so that services in cluster2 will be able to access service discovery:

$ kubectl apply --context="${CTX_CLUSTER1}" -n istio-system -f \
    @samples/multicluster/expose-istiod.yaml@

Enable API Server Access to cluster2

Before we can configure the remote cluster, we first have to give the control plane in cluster1 access to the API Server in cluster2. This will do the following:

• Enables the control plane to authenticate connection requests from workloads running in cluster2. Without API Server access, the control plane will reject the requests.

• Enables discovery of service endpoints running in cluster2.

To provide API Server access to cluster2, we generate a remote secret and apply it to cluster1:

$ istioctl x create-remote-secret \
    --context="${CTX_CLUSTER2}" \
    --name=cluster2 | \
    kubectl apply -f - --context="${CTX_CLUSTER1}"

Configure cluster2 as a remote

Save the address of cluster1’s east-west gateway.

$ export DISCOVERY_ADDRESS=$(kubectl \
    --context="${CTX_CLUSTER1}" \
    -n istio-system get svc istio-eastwestgateway \
    -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}')

Now create a remote configuration for cluster2.

$ cat <<EOF > cluster2.yaml
apiVersion: install.istio.io/v1alpha1
kind: IstioOperator
spec:
  values:
    global:
      meshID: mesh1
      multiCluster:
        clusterName: cluster2
      network: network1
      remotePilotAddress: ${DISCOVERY_ADDRESS}
EOF

Apply the configuration to cluster2:

$ istioctl install --context="${CTX_CLUSTER2}" -f cluster2.yaml

Congratulations! You successfully installed an Istio mesh across primary and remote clusters!

Next Steps

You can now verify the installation.