Anti-Complex Kubernetes: Sidecars vs. Ambient

Sidecars, long the defining characteristic of the service mesh, are now the subject of its latest debate. While Kubernetes itself has recently added support for native sidecar containers, the question remains: is this the architecture service meshes should use? Or, in the world of ambient and eBPF, are sidecars still the best approach?

In this episode of Anti-Complex Kubernetes, we take a pragmatic and engineering-focused approach to the debate. Every engineering choice is ultimately a tradeoff, so what are the tradeoffs at play here? And are there situations where sidecars provide value versus alternatives? Situations in which they suffer by comparison? We evaluate the practical considerations for service meshes: resource consumption, operational considerations (e.g., blast radius), security considerations (e.g., threat models), and more. We attempt to paint a comprehensive and unbiased picture of the pros and cons between approaches. We hope you'll walk away with a clear framework for making the right architectural choice.