Istio

Install Istio CLI:

curl -L https://istio.io/downloadIstio | sh -
cd istio-*/bin
export PATH=$PWD:$PATH

Install Istio with a minimal profile (to keep it light for KIND):

istioctl install --set profile=demo -y

Enable sidecar injection:

kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=default
kubectl label namespace default istio-injection=enabled

Install Gateway CRDs

kubectl get crd gateways.gateway.networking.k8s.io &> /dev/null || \
{ kubectl kustomize "github.com/kubernetes-sigs/gateway-api/config/crd?ref=v1.2.1" | kubectl apply -f -; }

Deploy sample apps (e.g., Bookinfo):

cd ..
kubectl apply -f samples/bookinfo/platform/kube/bookinfo.yaml

Expose App with Kuberneted Gateway

kubectl apply -f samples/bookinfo/gateway-api/bookinfo-gateway.yaml

Change Service to NodePort

kubectl annotate gateway bookinfo-gateway networking.istio.io/service-type=NodePort -n default --overwrite

Validate

 kubectl get gateway

Access the endpoint using port-forward as

kubectl patch svc bookinfo-gateway-istio -n default \
  -p '{"spec": {"type": "NodePort", "ports": [{"port": 80, "targetPort": 80, "nodePort": 30300, "protocol": "TCP", "name": "http"}]}}'

Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:30300/productpage to view the Bookinfo application.

Observability with Kiali, Prometheus and Grafana

Setup observability addons including Prometheus, Grafana, Jaeger

kubectl apply -f samples/addons
kubectl rollout status deployment/kiali -n istio-system

Patch the Observability services with NodePort Configs

✅ Grafana → NodePort 30500

kubectl -n istio-system patch svc grafana \
  -p '{"spec": {"type": "NodePort", "ports": [{"port": 3000, "targetPort": 3000, "nodePort": 30500}]}}'

✅ Kiali → NodePort 30600

kubectl -n istio-system patch svc kiali \
  -p '{"spec": {"type": "NodePort", "ports": [{"port": 20001, "targetPort": 20001, "nodePort": 30600}]}}'

✅ Zipkin → NodePort 30700

kubectl -n istio-system patch svc zipkin \
  -p '{"spec": {"type": "NodePort", "ports": [{"port": 9411, "targetPort": 9411, "nodePort": 30700}]}}'

✅ Loki → NodePort 30800

kubectl -n istio-system patch svc loki \
  -p '{"spec": {"type": "NodePort", "ports": [{"port": 3100, "targetPort": 3100, "nodePort": 30800}]}}'

Access the observability dashboards at

• Grafana
• Kiali
• Zipkin
• Loki

Load Test

export GATEWAY_URL=165.22.218.103:30300

for i in $(seq 1 100); do curl -s -o /dev/null "http://$GATEWAY_URL/productpage"; done

Reference

Istio Setup : Getting Started Grafana : Visualizing Metrics with Grafana Kiali: Visualizing Your Mesh