Glossary
Service mesh
Definition
A service mesh is an infrastructure layer that manages communication between services, adding encryption, traffic control and telemetry without changing application code.
Why it matters when you’re buying
It helps with encrypting traffic between services, gradual rollouts and consistent metrics across many microservices. It also adds moving parts and resource overhead, so it pays off mainly in larger estates.
How it relates to other terms
Meshes usually run on Kubernetes, enforce microsegmentation between services, and produce the telemetry that distributed tracing uses.
Where to go next
- Containers & Kubernetes: news, companies and community questions
- How to evaluate Containers & Kubernetes vendors: criteria, questions to ask and red flags
- Kubernetes: the latest stories and threads on this topic
Written by Techarda editors · Updated . Think a definition is wrong or missing something? Email engage@techarda.com. All terms.