Using Mesh with VMs, mainframes, and more

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Use IBM® Hybrid Cloud Mesh (Mesh) to connect your Kubernetes and non-Kubernetes client applications and services over the Mesh network segment. The non-Kubernetes applications and services can run on infrastructure such as VMs, mainframes, load balancers, and bare metal servers.

The following table provides terms and definitions for Mesh concepts that apply to non-Kubernetes workloads:
Term Definition
External application An application that operates outside of a Kubernetes cluster but can connect with applications and services within a Mesh network segment. An external application can act as an external service by providing a service, as an external client by connecting to services within a Mesh network segment, or as both.
External client A client application that operates outside of a Kubernetes cluster but can connect to services within a Mesh network segment.
External service A service that operates outside of a Kubernetes cluster but can be accessed by applications within a Mesh network segment.
Service entry point An IP address and port on the local network that external clients use to connect to a service.

Mesh enables seamless connectivity between your Kubernetes and non-Kubernetes workloads, regardless of their deployment environment. You don’t need to migrate your existing non-Kubernetes workloads to Kubernetes to enable them to connect over the Mesh network segment. For example, Mesh enables a front-end application that runs on a VM in an on-premises environment to communicate with a backend service on a cloud-based Kubernetes cluster.

Mesh also supports the migration of external clients and services into Kubernetes, reducing application downtime and helping to ensure a smooth transition.

Using Mesh with VMs

Connect your applications and services that run on VMs to your Mesh network by completing the following steps:
  1. Install a Kubernetes cluster in each VPC that contains the VMs that you want to connect.
  2. Install an Open Horizon agent in a namespace on each cluster.
  3. Deploy a gateway in a namespace on each cluster. Configure external client access on each gateway that provides connectivity for VM-based client workloads.
  4. For each service provided by a VM, register your external service by specifying the application that provides the service and the service endpoints.
  5. Create a connection policy to expose the service to other applications in the Mesh network segment.
Tip:

You can use the palmctl install gateway command to complete steps 1–3.

To view usage details, run palmctl install gateway --help.

For more information about the command, see Installing gateways automatically on the VM.