Enabling Policy Enforcement

This task shows you how to enable Istio policy enforcement.

At install time

In the default Istio installation profile, policy enforcement is disabled. To install Istiowith policy enforcement on, use the —set values.global.disablePolicyChecks=false install option.

Alternatively, you may install Istio using the demo profile,which enables policy checks by default.

For an existing Istio mesh

  • Check the status of policy enforcement for your mesh.
  1. $ kubectl -n istio-system get cm istio -o jsonpath="{@.data.mesh}" | grep disablePolicyChecks
  2. disablePolicyChecks: true

If policy enforcement is enabled (disablePolicyChecks is false), no further action is needed.

  • Edit the istio configmap to enable policy checks.

Execute the following command from the root Istio directory:

  1. $ istioctl manifest apply --set values.global.disablePolicyChecks=false
  2. configmap "istio" replaced
  • Validate that policy enforcement is now enabled.
  1. $ kubectl -n istio-system get cm istio -o jsonpath="{@.data.mesh}" | grep disablePolicyChecks
  2. disablePolicyChecks: false

See also

App Identity and Access Adapter

Using Istio to secure multi-cloud Kubernetes applications with zero code changes.

Mixer and the SPOF Myth

Improving availability and reducing latency.

Mixer Adapter Model

Provides an overview of Mixer's plug-in architecture.

Control Headers and Routing

Shows how to modify request headers and routing using policy adapters.

Denials and White/Black Listing

Shows how to control access to a service using simple denials or white/black listing.

Enabling Rate Limits

This task shows you how to use Istio to dynamically limit the traffic to a service.