Additional Steps for Installing Istio on an RKE2 Cluster

When installing or upgrading the Istio Helm chart through Apps & Marketplace (Rancher before v2.6.5) or Apps (Rancher v2.6.5+),

1. If you are installing the chart, click Customize Helm options before install and click Next.

2. You will see options for configuring the Istio Helm chart. On the Components tab, check the box next to Enabled CNI.

3. Add a custom overlay file specifying cniBinDir and cniConfDir. For more information on these options, refer to the Istio documentation. An example is below:

   apiVersion: install.istio.io/v1alpha1
   kind: IstioOperator
   spec:
     components:
       cni:
         enabled: true
         k8s:
           overlays:
           - apiVersion: "apps/v1"
             kind: "DaemonSet"
             name: "istio-cni-node"
             patches:
             - path: spec.template.spec.containers.[name:install-cni].securityContext.privileged
               value: true
     values:
       cni:
         image: rancher/mirrored-istio-install-cni:1.9.3
         excludeNamespaces:
           - istio-system
           - kube-system
         logLevel: info
         cniBinDir: /opt/cni/bin
         cniConfDir: /etc/cni/net.d

Result: Now you should be able to utilize Istio as desired, including sidecar injection and monitoring via Kiali.