From 589f77b2ab4099024e7b96e108691b99e5c71368 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jack Pearkes Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2019 14:25:24 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] website: update the vs. envoy and proxies page (#6326) * website: update the vs. envoy and proxies page This is the second result on Google for "consul envoy" and it seemed like it needed a bit of an upgrade to help clarify the current state. * Update website/source/intro/vs/proxies.html.md Co-Authored-By: Judith Malnick * Update website/source/intro/vs/proxies.html.md Co-Authored-By: Judith Malnick * Update website/source/intro/vs/proxies.html.md Co-Authored-By: Judith Malnick * Update website/source/intro/vs/proxies.html.md Co-Authored-By: Judith Malnick * Apply suggestions from code review Co-Authored-By: Judith Malnick --- website/source/intro/vs/proxies.html.md | 30 ++++++++++++------------- 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-) diff --git a/website/source/intro/vs/proxies.html.md b/website/source/intro/vs/proxies.html.md index 9b99717109..16648af840 100644 --- a/website/source/intro/vs/proxies.html.md +++ b/website/source/intro/vs/proxies.html.md @@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ description: |- Modern service proxies provide high-level service routing, authentication, telemetry, and more for microservice and cloud environments. Envoy is -a popular and feature rich proxy. +a popular and feature-rich proxy that is often +used on its own. Consul [integrates with Envoy](https://www.consul.io/docs/connect/proxies/envoy.html) to simplify its configuration. Proxies require a rich set of configuration to operate since backend addresses, frontend listeners, routes, filters, telemetry shipping, and @@ -33,23 +34,20 @@ access graph, but still requires a proxy to exist in the data path. As a control plane, Consul integrates with many data plane solutions including Envoy, HAProxy, Nginx, and more. -Consul provides a built-in proxy written in Go. This trades performance -for ease of use: by being built-in to Consul, users of Consul can get -started with solutions such as Connect without needing to install other -software. But the built-in proxy isn't meant to compete on features or -performance with dedicated proxy solutions such as Envoy. Consul enables +The [Consul Envoy integration](https://www.consul.io/docs/connect/proxies/envoy.html) +is currently the primary way to utilize advanced layer 7 features provided +by Consul. In addition to Envoy, Consul enables third party proxies to integrate with Connect and provide the data plane with Consul operating as the control plane. -The Connect feature of Consul operates at layer 4 by authorizing a TLS -connection to succeed or fail. Proxies provide excellent solutions to -layer 7 concerns such as path-based routing, tracing and telemetry, and -more. Consul encourages using any proxy that provides the featureset required -by the user. +Proxies provide excellent solutions to layer 7 concerns such as path-based +routing, tracing and telemetry, and more. By supporting a pluggable data plane model, the right proxy can be +deployed as needed. +For performance-critical applications or those +that utilize layey 7 functionality, Envoy can be used. For non-performance critical layer 4 applications, you can use Consul's [built-in proxy](https://www.consul.io/docs/connect/proxies/built-in.html) for convenience. -Further, by supporting a pluggable data plane model, the right proxy can be -deployed as needed. For non-performance critical applications, the built-in -proxy can be used. For performance critical applications, Envoy can be used. For some applications that may require hardware, a hardware load balancer -such an F5 appliance may be deployed. Consul provides an API for all of these -solutions to be integrated. +such an F5 appliance may be deployed. Consul encourages this use of the right +proxy for the scenario and treats hardware load balancers as swappable components that can be run +alongside other proxies, assuming they integrate with the [necessary APIs](https://www.consul.io/docs/connect/proxies/integrate.html) +for Connect.