ServiceMeshCon Europe 2021

The majority of existing multi-cluster service mesh architectures require the distribution of Kubernetes API credentials (kubeconfigs) across clusters, typically by provisioning a service account in the local cluster and copying its access token to a process running in a remote cluster. This architecture requires that credentials for the Kubernetes API be shared with entities outside the cluster, exposing it to attack. Furthermore, scalability limits of the Kubernetes API Server make it less than ideal to serve an unbounded number of potential remote clients managing configuration and sharing access to a cluster. This talk will explore the downside of existing approaches in this model and propose a new approach based on a client-server management architecture inspired by Envoy which does not require sharing sensitive Kubernetes credentials with remote clusters.