Install with Helm
Follow this guide to install and configure an Istio mesh using Helm for in-depth evaluation. The Helm charts used in this guide are the same underlying charts used when installing Istio via Istioctl or the Operator.
This feature is currently considered alpha.
Prerequisites
Perform any necessary platform-specific setup.
Check the Requirements for Pods and Services.
Install a Helm client with a version higher than 3.1.1.
The commands in this guide use the Helm charts that are included in the Istio release package located at manifests/charts.
Installation steps
Change directory to the root of the release package and then follow the instructions below.
Create a namespace
istio-systemfor Istio components:$ kubectl create namespace istio-systemInstall the Istio base chart which contains cluster-wide resources used by the Istio control plane:
$ helm install istio-base manifests/charts/base -n istio-systemInstall the Istio discovery chart which deploys the
istiodservice:$ helm install istiod manifests/charts/istio-control/istio-discovery \ -n istio-system(Optional) Install the Istio ingress gateway chart which contains the ingress gateway components:
$ helm install istio-ingress manifests/charts/gateways/istio-ingress \ -n istio-system(Optional) Install the Istio egress gateway chart which contains the egress gateway components:
$ helm install istio-egress manifests/charts/gateways/istio-egress \ -n istio-system
Verifying the installation
Ensure all Kubernetes pods in
istio-systemnamespace are deployed and have aSTATUSofRunning:$ kubectl get pods -n istio-system
Updating your Istio configuration
You can provide override settings specific to any Istio Helm chart used above
and follow the Helm upgrade workflow to customize your Istio mesh installation.
The available configurable options can be found by inspecting the top level
values.yaml file associated with the Helm charts located at manifests/charts
inside the Istio release package specific to your version.
For customizations that are supported via both
ProxyConfig and Helm
values, using ProxyConfig is recommended because it provides schema
validation while unstructured Helm values do not.
Upgrading using Helm
Before upgrading Istio in your cluster, we recommend creating a backup of your custom configurations, and restoring it from backup if necessary:
$ kubectl get istio-io --all-namespaces -oyaml > "$HOME"/istio_resource_backup.yaml
You can restore your custom configuration like this:
$ kubectl apply -f "$HOME"/istio_resource_backup.yaml
Migrating from non-Helm installations
If you’re migrating from a version of Istio installed using istioctl or
Operator to Helm, you need to delete your current Istio control plane resources
and and re-install Istio using Helm as described above. When deleting your
current Istio installation, you must not remove the Istio Custom Resource
Definitions (CRDs) as that can lead to loss of your custom Istio resources.
You can follow steps mentioned in the Istioctl uninstall guide or Operator uninstall guide depending upon your installation method.
Canary upgrade (recommended)
You can install a canary version of Istio control plane to validate that the new version is compatible with your existing configuration and data plane using the steps below:
Install a canary version of the Istio discovery chart by setting the revision value:
$ helm install istiod-canary manifests/charts/istio-control/istio-discovery \ --set revision=canary \ -n istio-systemVerify that you have two versions of
istiodinstalled in your cluster:$ kubectl get pods -l app=istiod -L istio.io/rev -n istio-system NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE REV istiod-5649c48ddc-dlkh8 1/1 Running 0 71m default istiod-canary-9cc9fd96f-jpc7n 1/1 Running 0 34m canaryFollow the steps here to test or migrate existing workloads to use the canary control plane.
Once you have verified and migrated your workloads to use the canary control plane, you can uninstall your old control plane:
$ helm delete istiod -n istio-system
In place upgrade
You can perform an in place upgrade of Istio in your cluster using the Helm upgrade workflow.
Upgrade the Istio base chart:
$ helm upgrade istio-base manifests/charts/base -n istio-systemUpgrade the Istio discovery chart:
$ helm upgrade istiod manifests/charts/istio-control/istio-discovery \ -n istio-system(Optional) Upgrade the Istio ingress or egress gateway charts if installed in your cluster:
$ helm upgrade istio-ingress manifests/charts/gateways/istio-ingress \ -n istio-system $ helm upgrade istio-egress manifests/charts/gateways/istio-egress \ -n istio-system
Uninstall
You can uninstall Istio and its components by uninstalling the charts installed above.
List all the Istio charts installed in
istio-systemnamespace:$ helm ls -n istio-system NAME NAMESPACE REVISION UPDATED STATUS CHART APP VERSION istio-base istio-system 1 ... ... ... ... deployed base-1.9.0 istio-egress istio-system 1 ... ... ... ... deployed istio-egress-1.9.0 istio-ingress istio-system 1 ... ... ... ... deployed istio-ingress-1.9.0 istiod istio-system 1 ... ... ... ... deployed istio-discovery-1.9.0(Optional) Delete Istio ingress/egress chart:
$ helm delete istio-egress -n istio-system $ helm delete istio-ingress -n istio-systemDelete Istio discovery chart:
$ helm delete istiod -n istio-systemDelete Istio base chart:
$ helm delete istio-base -n istio-systemDelete the
istio-systemnamespace:$ kubectl delete namespace istio-system
(Optional) Deleting CRDs installed by Istio
Deleting CRDs permanently removes any Istio resources you have created in your cluster. To permanently delete Istio CRDs installed in your cluster:
$ kubectl get crd | grep --color=never 'istio.io' | awk '{print $1}' \
| xargs -n1 kubectl delete crd