How to Configure Envoy Proxy for Microservices

How to Configure Envoy Proxy for Microservices

Envoy is a high-performance proxy designed for microservice architectures. It provides advanced load balancing, observability, and service mesh capabilities for applications running on your Breeze server.

Deploying Envoy with Docker

docker run -d --name envoy \
  -p 8080:8080 -p 9901:9901 \
  -v $(pwd)/envoy.yaml:/etc/envoy/envoy.yaml \
  envoyproxy/envoy:v1.31-latest

Basic Envoy Configuration

Create envoy.yaml with front proxy routing:

static_resources:
  listeners:
    - name: main_listener
      address:
        socket_address:
          address: 0.0.0.0
          port_value: 8080
      filter_chains:
        - filters:
            - name: envoy.filters.network.http_connection_manager
              typed_config:
                "@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.network.http_connection_manager.v3.HttpConnectionManager
                stat_prefix: ingress
                route_config:
                  virtual_hosts:
                    - name: services
                      domains: ["*"]
                      routes:
                        - match: { prefix: "/api/users" }
                          route: { cluster: user_service }
                        - match: { prefix: "/api/orders" }
                          route: { cluster: order_service }
                http_filters:
                  - name: envoy.filters.http.router
                    typed_config:
                      "@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.http.router.v3.Router

  clusters:
    - name: user_service
      connect_timeout: 5s
      type: STRICT_DNS
      load_assignment:
        cluster_name: user_service
        endpoints:
          - lb_endpoints:
              - endpoint:
                  address:
                    socket_address:
                      address: user-svc
                      port_value: 3000

    - name: order_service
      connect_timeout: 5s
      type: STRICT_DNS
      load_assignment:
        cluster_name: order_service
        endpoints:
          - lb_endpoints:
              - endpoint:
                  address:
                    socket_address:
                      address: order-svc
                      port_value: 3001

admin:
  address:
    socket_address:
      address: 0.0.0.0
      port_value: 9901

Key Envoy Features

• Circuit breaking — prevents cascading failures between services
• Retries and timeouts — configurable per-route retry policies
• Observability — built-in stats, tracing, and access logging
• Health checking — active and passive health checks for upstream clusters
• Rate limiting — local and global rate limit support

Access the admin dashboard at http://your-breeze-ip:9901 to view real-time statistics and cluster health.