The reach of the Linux Foundation-backed Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) has been expanded with the addition of Linkerd. The open source project will help the non-profit foundation to build scalable observability systems for its existing cloud offerings and add a service mesh to container-centric applications.
The arrival of the service mesh through Linkerd will empower CNCF projects with more scalability and reliability. A part of Linkerd project, Finagle microservice library, which has so far been used on Twitter, SoundCloud and Pinterest, has already proven the success.
“I am thrilled to have Linkerd as a CNCF inception project and for them to share their knowledge of building a cloud native service mesh with scalable observability systems to the wider CNCF community,” said Chris Aniszczyk, COO of Cloud Native Computing Foundation, in a statement.
The main objective of Linkerd project is to build uniform and consistent layer of instrumentation and control access services. The project works like an abstraction layer on container’s host instance. It decouples communication from application code to gain more control over services. Furthermore, you can leverage its presence to optimise disparate sets of services without modifying any part of application code.
Incubated back in 2015 by Buoyant, Linkerd is based on real-world developer experience in solving problems found in large internet companies like Google and Twitter. The project enables operators to use microservice applications and communicate at scale.
‘Important building block for wider cloud native community’
Analysts believe that the addition of Linkerd to CNCF brings an “important building block for the wider cloud native community” and brings the service mesh concept to the masses.
“As companies continue the move to cloud native deployment models, they are grappling with a new set of challenges running large-scale production environments with complex service interactions,” said Fintan Ryan, industry analyst at Redmonk.
“The service mesh concept in Linkerd provided a consistent abstraction layer for these challenges, allowing developers to deliver on the promise of microservices and cloud native applications at scale.”
Linkerd has brought 29 releases to date that attracted 28 contributors and 400 Slack members. Moreover, the project received over 1,300 stars on its GitHub repository.
Aside Linkerd, CNCF handles projects including Kubernetes, Prometheus, OpenTracing and Fluentd. All these projects are aimed to bring containerisation to the mainstream and enhance the current model of cloud computing.
