← Back to Blog

Does Istio Support Hazelcast-Kubernetes? A Deep Dive for Data Scientists

As data scientists, we often find ourselves working with complex distributed systems. One such system that has gained popularity in recent years is Hazelcast, a leading in-memory data grid (IMDG) that provides distributed computing capabilities. When deployed on Kubernetes, Hazelcast offers a robust platform for building scalable, high-performance applications. But what about service mesh technologies like Istio? Does Istio support Hazelcast-Kubernetes? Let’s dive in to find out.
By Saturn Cloud | | Miscellaneous

Does Istio Support Hazelcast-Kubernetes? A Deep Dive for Data Scientists

As data scientists, we often find ourselves working with complex distributed systems. One such system that has gained popularity in recent years is Hazelcast, a leading in-memory data grid (IMDG) that provides distributed computing capabilities. When deployed on Kubernetes, Hazelcast offers a robust platform for building scalable, high-performance applications. But what about service mesh technologies like Istio? Does Istio support Hazelcast-Kubernetes? Let’s dive in to find out.

What is Istio?

Before we delve into the specifics, let’s briefly touch upon what Istio is. Istio is an open-source service mesh that provides a way to control and observe microservices networks. It offers features like load balancing, service-to-service authentication, and monitoring, making it a popular choice for managing Kubernetes deployments.

Hazelcast and Kubernetes: A Powerful Combination

Hazelcast, when deployed on Kubernetes, leverages the power of the Kubernetes ecosystem to provide automatic discovery of members, scaling, and recovery from failures. Hazelcast’s Kubernetes plugin, hazelcast-kubernetes, is designed to run Hazelcast IMDG and Hazelcast Jet clusters in the Kubernetes environment.

Does Istio Support Hazelcast-Kubernetes?

The short answer is yes, Istio does support Hazelcast-Kubernetes. However, there are some considerations to keep in mind to ensure smooth operation.

Networking

Istio’s Envoy proxies automatically intercept all network communication between microservices. However, Hazelcast uses its own networking and doesn’t communicate via HTTP or gRPC, which are the protocols that Envoy is designed to handle. To ensure that Hazelcast nodes can communicate with each other, you need to disable Envoy’s automatic protocol detection and use TCP instead.

apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1alpha3
kind: DestinationRule
metadata:
  name: hazelcast
spec:
  host: hazelcast.default.svc.cluster.local
  trafficPolicy:
    tls:
      mode: DISABLE

Discovery

Hazelcast’s Kubernetes plugin uses Kubernetes APIs for the discovery of Hazelcast nodes. However, when Istio is enabled, the Envoy proxy intercepts all outbound traffic, which can disrupt this discovery process. To resolve this, you need to create a ServiceEntry to allow outbound traffic to the Kubernetes API server.

apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1alpha3
kind: ServiceEntry
metadata:
  name: api-server
spec:
  hosts:
  - kubernetes.default.svc.cluster.local
  ports:
  - number: 443
    name: https
    protocol: HTTPS
  resolution: DNS

Conclusion

While Istio does support Hazelcast-Kubernetes, it requires some additional configuration to ensure that Hazelcast nodes can communicate with each other and discover other nodes in the cluster. By carefully configuring your Istio service mesh, you can leverage the benefits of both Istio and Hazelcast-Kubernetes in your data science applications.

Remember, the world of Kubernetes and service meshes is complex and ever-evolving. Always keep an eye on the official documentation and community resources to stay up-to-date with the latest best practices and developments.

References

  1. Istio Documentation
  2. Hazelcast Kubernetes Plugin
  3. Istio and Hazelcast Integration Guide

Keywords: Istio, Hazelcast, Kubernetes, Data Science, Service Mesh, Microservices, Hazelcast-Kubernetes, Networking, Discovery, Configuration, Distributed Systems, In-Memory Data Grid, IMDG, Hazelcast Jet, Envoy Proxy, Kubernetes API, ServiceEntry, DestinationRule

Meta Description: This blog post explores whether Istio supports Hazelcast-Kubernetes, detailing the necessary configurations for successful integration. Ideal for data scientists working with distributed systems.

About Saturn Cloud

Saturn Cloud is your all-in-one solution for data science & ML development, deployment, and data pipelines in the cloud. Spin up a notebook with 4TB of RAM, add a GPU, connect to a distributed cluster of workers, and more. Join today and get 150 hours of free compute per month.

Try Saturn Cloud Now