Frequently-Asked Questions

General FAQs

1. What is Tetrate Istio Distro?

   Tetrate Istio Distro provides a set of Istio builds (Tetrate Istio distributions) that are supported and maintained beyond upstream Istio. We endeavour to provide security updates for 14 months, for each Istio version.

   Tetrate Istio Distribution is built entirely on open source, and support is provided by Tetrate Community Slack channels and the Istio community.

   For product documentation, visit the Tetrate Istio Distro docs site.

2. What is Tetrate Istio Subscription?

   Tetrate Istio Subscription provides commercial support for Tetrate Istio Distro, and a growing set of supported Add-Ons for Enterprise use cases. Tetrate Istio Subscription also includes FIPS-validated builds for FedRamp and other compliance-sensitive use cases.

   Support is provided by Tetrate Enterprise Support, and includes proactive notification of critical security updates.

   For product documentation, visit the Tetrate Istio Subscription docs site.

3. What is a Tetrate Istio distribution?

   A Tetrate Istio distribution is a Tetrate-build of the corresponding Istio version. The build includes the Istio software, and the base images (distro-based or distroless) needed to run the software.

   Tetrate endeavour to support each Tetrate Istio distribution for 14 months from first release.

4. Why should I use Tetrate Istio Distro?

   You should use Tetrate Istio Distro if need an Istio distro tested for use in AWS, Azure, or GCP and an easy way to install, manage, and update Istio in those environments.

5. Is it free?

   Yes, Tetrate Istio Distro is free, and the community can be found on Tetrate Community Slack channels and the Istio community.

6. What are the supported versions of Tetrate Istio Distro?

   Refer to the table Support.

7. I am currently using the default distros of Istio. How do I switch to using Tetrate Istio Distro?

   Tetrate Istio Distro offers Tetrate Istio distributions of upstream Istio in multiple flavors that may be installed using your existing tooling - helm or istioctl.

8. I am new to Istio. Where should I start?

   The Istio self-paced guide is a good start to introduce you to the fundamentals of installing and configuring Istio.

   To get up to speed on Istio quickly, we offer free training at Tetrate Academy.

9. How can I be alerted to vulnerabilities in my Istio deployments?

   Join the Tetrate Istio Distro community for updates on CVEs and zero-day vulnerabilities.

Project FAQ

1. Are you creating a fork of the Istio project?

   No. We provide distributions of upstream tested for specific environments. Any enhancements we make to Istio are applied to upstream.

2. Do Tetrate Istio Distro builds have a performance impact?

   No. As an upstream distribution, Tetrate Istio Distro has no performance impact on Istio.

3. How often is Tetrate Istio Distro updated?

   We aim to release Tetrate Istio Distro versions within two weeks of an upstream release. This is because it takes time to create the extra build types (such as FIPS, arm64 etc) that Tetrate Istio Distro provides and to complete testing. Where a release contains critical security fixes we apply our best effort to ship the release as soon as possible, starting with the most recent version of Istio.

4. What is the CMVP number for the FIPS version of Tetrate Istio Distro?

   The FIPS version of Tetrate Istio Distro embeds BoringCrypto, certificate number 3678.

5. How is the FIPS build of Tetrate Istio Distro validated?

   The FIPS version of Tetrate Istio Distro was tested by a third party NVLAP accredited lab and shown to faithfully implement its cryptographic and signing functions using the above library. A letter from the lab is available to customers with a valid support contract, please contact sales for more details.