Microservices architectures introduce several benefits to the application development and delivery process. Microservices-based apps are easier to build, test, maintain, and scale. They also reduce downtime through better fault isolation.
While container-based microservices apps have profoundly changed the way DevOps teams deploy applications, they have also introduced challenges. Kubernetes – the de facto container orchestration platform – is designed to simplify management of containerized apps, but it has its own complexities and a steep learning curve. This is because responsibility for many functions that traditionally run inside an app (security, logging, scaling, and so on) are shifted to the Kubernetes networking fabric.
To manage this complexity, DevOps teams need a data plane that gives them control of Kubernetes networking. The data plane is the key component that connects microservices to end users and each other, and managing it effectively is …