The Aspen Mesh Platform#

Definition: The Aspen Mesh Platform#

The Aspen Mesh Platform consists of the following:

  • The Aspen Mesh service mesh (Aspen Mesh)

  • Companion products that you can optionally install to extend the functionality of Aspen Mesh

When a new version of the Aspen Mesh Platform is released#

A new version of the Aspen Mesh Platform is released whenever there are changes to Aspen Mesh or any of its companion products.

Definition: Aspen Mesh Platform chart#

An Aspen Mesh Platform chart is a pseudo Helm chart that you download from the Aspen Mesh Artifact Registry and that includes the following items for a specific operating system, CPU architecture, and version of the platform:

  • An Aspen Mesh Platform manifest

  • The istioctl binary, sample applications, and tools (primarily scripts) that you’ll use (or might use) when performing clean installations, performing upgrades, and storing Helm charts and Docker container images in a private artifact registry

Note

As a pseudo Helm chart, an Aspen Mesh Platform chart does not include templates for Kubernetes objects or a values.yaml file. It includes only the items listed above. Packaging these items as a Helm chart allows you to download the items with Helm.

Definition: Aspen Mesh Platform manifest#

An Aspen Mesh Platform manifest is a YAML file for a specific version of the Aspen Mesh Platform that:

  • Serves as a bill of materials for that version of the platform (for example, 1.21.6-am1)

  • Specifies the following for the Aspen Mesh service mesh and its companion products that are included in that version of the platform:

    • The names of the Helm charts

    • The names of the Docker container images

    • The SHA256 hashes of the Docker container images (used to verify the integrity of the images)