Cross-Cluster Gateway Mapping for Sidecar-Free Service Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current solutions for cross-cluster service access in Kubernetes (K8s) are manual and complex, leading to high management costs and errors, and existing open-source projects like the service grid require resource-intensive sidecar containers.
Innovation Solution
A method for automatic cross-cluster service access is provided, involving a cloud management platform that creates a cluster group, configures a gateway, and maps service names and addresses, enabling direct service access between clusters without sidecars.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual configuration is used for cross-cluster service access, then service access between clusters can be established, but the configuration is highly complex and management costs are high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a service grid control plane as an intermediary component that manages cross-cluster service access. This control plane includes a service registry that automatically discovers and registers services across clusters, and a service routing component that handles request forwarding. By using this intermediary layer, the system eliminates the need for manual configuration while maintaining reliable service access, thus resolving the contradiction between service access capability and configuration complexity.
2Reliability
If sidecar containers are deployed in each pod for cross-cluster access, then service access between clusters is enabled, but resource usage and management costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cross-cluster access functionality from individual pod-level sidecar containers and consolidates it into a centralized service grid control plane. Instead of deploying resource-intensive sidecar containers in every pod, the system uses a lightweight control plane that manages service registration, discovery, and routing at the cluster level. This extraction eliminates the need for numerous sidecar containers, significantly reducing resource usage while maintaining cross-cluster service access capability.
3Reliability
If sidecar containers are used for service governance, then cross-cluster service access is achieved, but management costs are high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the service governance functions that were previously distributed across multiple sidecar containers into a unified service grid control plane. The control plane integrates service registration, discovery, routing, and governance capabilities into a single centralized system. This consolidation improves management efficiency by providing unified control and monitoring, reducing the complexity of managing numerous sidecar containers across clusters, while maintaining comprehensive service governance capability.
Data Source
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AI summary
This application provides a method for cross-cluster service access and a computing apparatus. A tenant configures a created cluster group, and a gateway may send third configuration information to each application gateway, so that when receiving a service access request of a client in a first cluster, a first application gateway may directly forward, based on the obtained third configuration information, the service access request to an application gateway corresponding to another cluster. In this way, it is ensured that the tenant can access a service in the another cluster, to implement automatic access between services in a plurality of clusters, thereby facilitating management and reducing management costs.