# Managing Microservices with a Service Mesh In an era when every business is a software business, or needs to become one, using microservices is one of the keys to building a distributed application that can be scaled to meet changes in demand, modified to better engage customers, or extended to pursue new market opportunities. A microservices architecture breaks up the functions of an application into a set of small, discrete, decentralized, goal-oriented processes, each of which can be independently developed, tested, deployed, replaced, and scaled. Each instance of a microservice typically resides its own container. A service mesh manages the interactions of microservices at the application layer above virtual IP addresses and ports. A service mesh delivers service discovery, forwarding, monitoring, and service-to-service authentication. [Istio](https://istio.io/) is an example of a service mesh. Istio intercepts network communications among the microservices that make up a containerized application deployed on Kubernetes to manage and help secure the microservices as they interact. Istio lets you oversee the interactions of microservices at a microscopic level. Find out more by reading the following two-page paper on [managing microservices at the application layer with Istio](https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/cloud/vmware-service-mesh-pks.pdf): {% embed url="" %} --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://tanzu-solutions.gitbook.io/cloud-native-solutions/manage-and-monitor/managing-microservices-with-a-service-mesh.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.