Install Istio using the IBM Cloud

Follow this guide to install and configure an Istio mesh in IBM Cloud.

You can use the managed Istio add-on for IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service in IBM Cloud Public, install Istio manually in IBM Cloud Public, or install Istio in IBM Cloud Private.

IBM Cloud Public

Managed Istio add-on

Istio on IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service provides a seamless installation of Istio, automatic updates and lifecycle management of Istio control plane components, and integration with platform logging and monitoring tools. With one click, you can get all Istio core components, additional tracing, monitoring, and visualization, and the Bookinfo sample app up and running. Istio on IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service is offered as a managed add-on, so IBM Cloud automatically keeps all your Istio components up to date.

To install the managed Istio add-on in IBM Cloud Public, you can use the UI or the CLI.

To use the UI:

1. In your cluster dashboard, click the name of a cluster.

2. Click the Add-ons tab.

3. On the Istio card, click Install. The Istio check box is already selected. To also install the Istio extras and BookInfo sample app, select the Istio Extras and the Istio Sample check boxes.

   

4. Click Install. On the Istio card, verify that the add-ons you enabled are listed.

To use the CLI:

1. Install the istio, istio-extras, and istio-sample-bookinfo add-ons.

   $ ibmcloud ks cluster-addon-enable istio --cluster <cluster_name_or_ID>
   

   $ ibmcloud ks cluster-addon-enable istio-extras --cluster <cluster_name_or_ID>
   

   $ ibmcloud ks cluster-addon-enable istio-sample-bookinfo --cluster <cluster_name_or_ID>
   

2. Verify that the Istio services are deployed and their corresponding pods have a STATUS of Running.

   $ kubectl get svc -n istio-system
   

   $ kubectl get pods -n istio-system
   

3. Verify that the BookInfo microservices are deployed and their corresponding pods have a STATUS of Running.

   $ kubectl get svc -n default
   

   $ kubectl get pods -n default
   

Manual Istio install

Follow these instructions to install and run the current release version of Istio in IBM Cloud Public using the IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service (IKS).

To upgrade Istio in an existing IKS cluster, follow the upgrade instructions instead.

IBM Cloud Private

Follow these instructions to install and run Istio in IBM Cloud Private using the Catalog module.

This guide installs the current release version of Istio.

Prerequisites - IBM Cloud Private

• You need to have an available IBM Cloud Private cluster. Otherwise, you can follow Installing IBM Cloud Private-CE to create an IBM Cloud Private cluster.

Deploy Istio via the Catalog module

• Log in to the IBM Cloud Private console.
• Click Catalog on the right side of the navigation bar.
• Click Repositories drop-down on the right side of the search box.
• Select the ibm-charts check box.
• Input istio in the search box.

• Click ibm-istio in the right panel.

• (Optional) Change the Istio version using the CHART VERSION drop-down.
• Click the Configure button at the bottom right corner.

• Input the Helm release name (e.g. istio).
• Select istio-system as the target namespace.
• Select local-cluster as target cluster.
• If you agree with the license terms, check the agree to license terms box.
• (Optional) Customize the installation parameters by clicking All parameters.
• Click the Install button.

After Istio is installed, you can find it by searching for its release name on the Helm Releases page.

Upgrade or Rollback

• Log in to the IBM Cloud Private console.
• Click the menu button on the left side of the navigation bar.
• Click Workloads and select Helm Releases.
• Find the installed Istio using its release name.
• Click Action and select Upgrade or Rollback.

Uninstalling

• Log in to the IBM Cloud Private console.
• Click the menu button on the left side of the navigation bar.
• Click Workloads and select Helm Releases.
• Find the installed Istio using its release name.
• Click Action and select Delete.