Istio gRPC with Minikube (Golang)

This project demonstrates a simple implementation of gRPC with Istio Service Mesh on a local Minikube Kubernetes cluster. Applications are containerized using Docker, and Istio is used as a gateway and load balancer.

---

✅ Prerequisites

• Go compiler installed
• Operating System: Windows 10 (with WSL2)
• Minikube version: v1.19.0
• Docker Desktop version: 3.3.2 (Engine: v20.10.5)
• Istio version: 1.9.4

---

🚀 Setup Guide (10 Steps)

Step 1: Enable WSL2

Install and enable Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2):
🔗 WSL2 Setup Guide

Step 2: Install Docker Desktop for Windows

• Open Docker Dashboard → Settings → Enable WSL2 integration
• Ensure Ubuntu is selected/enabled

Step 3: Set Up Ubuntu

• Install Ubuntu from Microsoft Store
• Launch Ubuntu and complete initial setup

Step 4: Clone the Repository

• Clone or download this repository
• Navigate to the project folder in WSL terminal via VSCode or command line:

cd /path/to/project
wsl

Step 5: Install Minikube

Run these commands in the WSL terminal:

curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/latest/minikube-linux-amd64
sudo install minikube-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/minikube

Set the driver to Docker:

minikube config set driver docker

Start the Kubernetes cluster:

minikube start --memory=4096 --cpus=4

Step 6: Install Istio (Demo Profile)

Follow steps 1–5 here:
🔗 Istio Getting Started Guide

Add a namespace label for automatic Envoy sidecar injection:

kubectl label namespace default istio-injection=enabled

Step 7: Copy Istio YAML Files

• Copy the istio-yaml/ folder from this repo into the istio-1.9.4 directory (or your version)

Step 8: Deploy Application to Cluster

Run from within the istio-1.9.4 directory:

kubectl apply -f istio-yaml/grpc.yaml

Check pod status:

kubectl get pods

Step 9: Start Minikube Tunnel

Run this in a new terminal (keep it running):

minikube tunnel

Step 10: Run the gRPC Client

In a new terminal, run:

go run client.go

---

🎉 Result

You’ve successfully set up Istio Service Mesh with gRPC and Minikube on your local Windows machine!

---

📁 Project Structure

├── client.go
├── server.go
├── proto/
├── Dockerfile
├── istio-yaml/
└── README.md

---

📌 Notes

• Replace version numbers according to your installed versions
• Ensure Docker and Minikube are correctly communicating
• Minikube tunnel must remain running for the service to be accessible

---

📬 Questions?

Feel free to open an issue or PR for improvements!