Linkerd

Linkerd is a lightweight Service Mesh. It focuses on simplicity and performance (Rust-based proxies). v2.15 (2025) enables Mesh Expansion to VMs.

When to Use

• Low Overhead: You want mTLS and Metrics but can't afford Istio's CPU tax.
• Simplicity: "It just works". No complex configuration for basic features.
• Security: Default-on mTLS and authorization policies.

Core Concepts

Micro-Proxy

Linkerd uses a specialized Rust proxy (not Envoy) that is tiny and fast.

Viz Extension

A dashboard and Prometheus instance pre-configured to show mesh metrics (Success Rate, Latency).