Is it possible to use Istio without kubernetes or docker?

Question

I have 4 microservices running on my laptop listening at various ports. Can I use Istio to create a service mesh on my laptop so the services can communicate with each other through Istio? All the links on google about Istio include kubernetes but I want to run Istio without Kubernetes. Thanks for reading.

Answer 1

In practice, not really as of this writing, since pretty much all the Istio runbooks and guides are available for Kubernetes.

In theory, yes. Istio components are designed to be 'platform independent'. Quote from the docs:

While Istio is platform independent, using it with Kubernetes (or infrastructure) network policies, the benefits are even greater, including the ability to secure pod-to-pod or service-to-service communication at the network and application layers.

But unless you know really well the details of each of the components: Envoy, Mixer, Pilot, Citadel, and Galley and you are willing to spend a lot of time it becomes not practically feasible to get it running outside of Kubernetes.

If you want to use something less tied to Kubernetes you can take a look at Consul, although it doesn't have all the functionality Istio has, it has overlap with some of its features.

Answer 2

I do some googles, and found that istio claim to support apps running outside k8s, like in vm. But I never try.

https://istio.io/latest/news/releases/0.x/announcing-0.2/#cross-environment-support

https://jimmysong.io/blog/istio-vm-odysssey/