Service mesh tools emerged out of a need to unify security controls and observability when working with container-based applications and microservices in complex multicloud environments. These applications and environments consist of numerous, ever-evolving components and services with huge security implications.

Service mesh tools make it much easier to implement and enforce security and compliance policies across microservices, containers, and virtual machines. The service mesh works on two separate planes, control and data. The control level facilitates actions and behaviors of network proxies while the data plane monitors communication between cloud services. Administrators then use APIs to change the service mesh policies or retrieve data gathered by the tool.