Open Service Mesh 1.0: Microsoft's Lightweight Service Mesh
Table of Contents
Introduction
Service meshes can deliver real value — mTLS by default, traffic splitting, and policy — but they can also add operational overhead fast. For many teams, the hard part isn’t “can we run Envoy?” but “can we run a mesh without turning it into a second platform?”
On August 5, 2020, Microsoft introduced Open Service Mesh (OSM) 1.0 with a clear positioning: keep the footprint small and focus on Kubernetes-native ergonomics. OSM was created as a reference implementation of the Service Mesh Interface (SMI) specification, aiming to offer a straightforward path to standardized traffic and access controls.
Where OSM fits
- Great for mesh newcomers: when you want core mesh capabilities without adopting every advanced feature on day one.
- Standards-driven environments: SMI can reduce lock-in and make policies more portable across implementations.
- Incremental rollout: adopt it per namespace and prove value (security + observability) before broadening the blast radius.
SMI-Compliant Service Mesh
- SMI specification compliance ensures interoperability with other SMI-compatible tools.
- Lightweight design provides minimal resource overhead compared to other service meshes.
- Envoy-based data plane leverages Envoy proxy for robust traffic management.
- Kubernetes-native integration works seamlessly with Kubernetes APIs and resources.
Key Features
- Traffic management enables fine-grained control over service-to-service communication with traffic splitting and routing.
- Access control provides policy-based access control for securing microservices.
- Observability offers built-in metrics, logs, and traces for monitoring service mesh behavior.
- Automatic mTLS provides secure communication between services without manual configuration.
- Easy deployment simplifies installation and management with minimal configuration requirements.
Architecture
- Control plane manages service mesh configuration and policies.
- Data plane uses Envoy proxies injected into pods for traffic management.
- SMI APIs provide standard interfaces for traffic, access, and split policies.
- Kubernetes integration leverages Kubernetes resources for service discovery and configuration.
Getting Started
osm install
osm namespace add default
Enable automatic sidecar injection:
kubectl label namespace default openservicemesh.io/monitored-by=osm
Summary
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Release Date | August 5, 2020 |
| Headline Features | SMI-compliant, lightweight, Envoy-based, easy deployment |
| Why it Matters | Provides a simple, standards-based service mesh option for Kubernetes |
Open Service Mesh 1.0 offers organizations a straightforward path to implementing service mesh patterns in Kubernetes, with a focus on simplicity and standards compliance.