Linkerd is a service mesh for Kubernetes. It makes running services easier and safer by giving you runtime debugging, observability, reliability, and security—all without requiring any changes to your code.
How it works
Linkerd works by installing a set of ultralight, transparent “micro-proxies” next to each service instance. These proxies automatically handle all traffic to and from the service. Because they’re transparent, these proxies act as highly instrumented out-of-process network stacks, sending telemetry to, and receiving control signals from, the control plane. This design allows Linkerd to measure and manipulate traffic to and from your service without introducing excessive latency.
Automatic mTLS
By default, Linkerd automatically enables mutually-authenticated Transport Layer Security (mTLS) for all TCP traffic between meshed pods. This means that Linkerd adds authenticated, encrypted communication to your application with no extra work on your part. (And because the Linkerd control plane also runs on the data plane, this means that communication between Linkerd’s control plane components are also automatically secured via mTLS.)
