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Istio in Docker

In this hands-on lab, we will be installing Istio into a Docker environment. We'll deploy an application and using routing rules to version it.

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Path Info

Level

Advanced

Duration

1h 0m

Last updated

Sep 02, 2025

Challenge

Install Istio and Its Dependencies for Docker, Then Deploy the bookinfo Application

Add current user to docker group:

sudo usermod -aG docker cloud_user

Install docker-compose and make it executable:

[cloud_user@host]$ sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.23.2/docker-compose-Linux-x86_64" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose  
[cloud_user@host]$ sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

We'll run docker-compose real quick, just to make sure it works before we proceed. We'll see its help output if all is well.

Now we can download Istio and unpack it:

[cloud_user@host]$ wget https://github.com/istio/istio/releases/download/1.0.6/istio-1.0.6-linux.tar.gz
[cloud_user@host]$ tar -xvf istio-1.0.6-linux.tar.gz

Pre-configure kubectl for pilot:

[cloud_user@host]$ kubectl config set-context istio --cluster=istio
[cloud_user@host]$ kubectl config set-cluster istio --server=http://localhost:8080
[cloud_user@host]$ kubectl config use-context istio

Create a DOCKER_GATEWAY environment variable:

[cloud_user@host]$ export DOCKER_GATEWAY=172.28.0.1:

Bring up Istio's control plane:

[cloud_user@host]$ docker-compose -f ./istio-1.0.6/install/consul/istio.yaml up -d

Remember that this may need to be repeated to ensure the pilot container starts.

Change bookinfo.yaml, and set port 30080 instead of port 9081:

[cloud_user@host]$ sed -i 's/9081/30080/' ./istio-1.0.6/samples/bookinfo/platform/consul/bookinfo.yaml

Bring up the application:

[cloud_user@host]$ docker-compose -f ./istio-1.0.6/samples/bookinfo/platform/consul/bookinfo.yaml up -d

Bring up the sidecars:

[cloud_user@host]$ docker-compose -f ./istio-1.0.6/samples/bookinfo/platform/consul/bookinfo.sidecars.yaml up -d

Point a browser at the public IP address of the server, on the correct port: http://<PUBLIC_SERVER_IP>:30080/productpage.

Challenge

Route Application Traffic to reviews Version 1 and Confirm that Version 1 (with No Stars) is Loading

Route traffic to version 1

kubectl apply -f ./istio-1.0.6/samples/bookinfo/platform/consul/destination-rule-all.yaml
kubectl apply -f ./istio-1.0.6/samples/bookinfo/platform/consul/virtual-service-all-v1.yaml

Challenge

Route the Traffic to Version 3 of the reviews Service (with Red Stars)
We need to modify the routing service subsets to read the labels for Version 3. Edit istio-1.0.6/samples/bookinfo/platform/consul/virtual-service-all-v1.yaml (using whatever text editor you like) and change the subset to V3 in the reviews section. Then apply the changes with:
```
[cloud_user@host]$ kubectl apply -f ./istio-1.0.6/samples/bookinfo/platform/consul/virtual-service-all-v1.yaml
```

Author

Pluralsight Skills

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