What is Addon Management in VKS?
In simple terms:
Addon Management provides a centralized and automated way to install and maintain common Kubernetes platform components on VKS clusters.
Instead of manually installing these components using Helm or YAML files, Addon Management automates deployment and lifecycle management of VKS Standard Packages.
Benefits include: Simplified installation, Consistent configuration, Easier upgrades of Packages and Better integration with the VKS platform
What is Istio?
Istio is a service mesh platform that helps manage communication between microservices running in Kubernetes.
Provides features such as: Traffic management, Secure service-to-service communication, Observability and monitoring, Fault injection and resiliency.
Instead of modifying application code, Istio manages traffic using sidecar proxies (Envoy) that run alongside application containers.
Prerequisites
Before deploying Istio, ensure the following requirements are met:
- Access to the Supervisor cluster and Required Namespace permissions
- Addon Management enabled in the environment
- Running VKS cluster
In this article we’re using the latest release available at the time, VKr 1.35.0, VKS 3.6.0 and VKS Standard Package v3.6.0+20260211
Step 1 — Login to the Supervisor Cluster
Step 2 — Validate Addon release for Istio package is avaialble
Step 3 — Access the VKS Cluster
If you are not aware how to deploy VKS Cluster please refer the article VKS Cluster Deployment Guide
Verify VKS Cluster Nodes are Ready and Running fine to deplpoy Istio workloads.
Step 4 — Verify Package Repository is Reconciled succeessfully for VKS Cluster
Step 5 — Prepare YAML template of Istio AddonInstall and AddonConfig Object
Replace the values in the following YAML according to your infrastructure and save the file as istio-addon.yaml.
Step 6 — Configure Istio AddonInstall on Supervisor Namespace where VKS Cluster is deployed
Please refer the attached istio-addon.yaml which is prepared to deploy the istio packages in this article.
Step 7 — Verify Istio Standard Package and System Pods are running fine
Step 8 - Deploy and Verify the Istio Demo App
we can install the bookinfo sample app from Istio, please refer the attached istio-workload.yaml
Verify bookstore app pods are running:
Check the bookstore app is running:
Summary
Addon Management simplifies the deployment and lifecycle management of Kubernetes platform components in VKS environments.
By providing centralized control, automatic compatibility checks, and simplified upgrades, it allows platform teams to manage add-ons across clusters more efficiently while reducing operational complexity.
Disclaimer:
This blog is for informational and educational purposes only. The configurations, examples, and architectural guidance provided are based on general best practices and publicly available references.
Always validate configurations in a non-production environment before applying them to live systems. Features and integrations may vary depending on the versions of VKS, VKr, Supervisor and vCenter Server being used. The author is not responsible for any unintended impact caused by the use of this information in production environments.