Speeding up Istio - Our Journey Implementing Delta xDS

Explore the journey of implementing Delta xDS in Istio to optimize performance and efficiency in this conference talk. Dive into the challenges and solutions encountered during the implementation process, including incorrect updates, handling large resources, and slow bootstrap times. Learn about the different types of xDS, the benefits of Delta xDS, and the specific optimizations made to improve Istio's performance. Gain insights into the go-control-plane implementation, the push flow for Cluster Discovery Service (CDS), and the resulting performance improvements. Understand the intricacies of configuration distribution in Envoy and how Delta xDS aims to solve the inefficiencies of the state-of-the-world design. Discover the caveats and struggles faced during the implementation process and receive guidance for future implementers of this API.

Intro
Overview
What is Istio?
What is xDS?
Performance Optimizations
Performance Problems
Performance Ceiling
Types of XDS: SotW
Types of XDS: Delta
Request Type
Delta xDS Usage
go-control-plane Implementation
Istio Implementation
Initial prototype
Problem: incorrect updates
Solution: dry run mode
Problem: big resources
Solution: decompose types
Problem: slow bootstrap
Solution: On-demand xDS
Implementation Services
Push Flow (CDS)
Performance Results