Performance Implications and Special Considerations

A service mesh moves network behaviour out of your services. That move has costs. This lesson states the costs plainly. It then says what reduces each one.

Two Extra Hops on Every Call

Before the mesh, a request went from the caller to the callee. Now it passes through two proxies. It leaves the caller and enters the caller's proxy. It crosses the network, enters the callee's proxy, and reaches the callee.

Each proxy adds a small amount of time. In practice that is a fraction of a millisecond to a few milliseconds per proxy