Sidecar Deployment
Run the Spice Runtime in a separate container or process on the same machine as the main application. For example, in Kubernetes as a Sidecar Container. This approach minimizes communication overhead as requests to the Spice Runtime are transported over local loopback.
Benefits
- Low-latency communication between the application and the Spice Runtime.
- Simplified lifecycle management (same pod).
- Isolated environment without needing a separate microservice.
- Helps ensure resiliency and redundancy by replicating data across sidecars.
Considerations
- Each application pod includes a copy of the Spice Runtime, increasing resource usage.
- Updating the Spice Runtime independently requires updating each pod.
- Accelerated data is replicated to each sidecar, adding resiliency and redundancy but increasing resource usage and requests to data sources.
- May increase overall cost due to resource duplication.
Use This Approach When
- Fast, low-latency interactions between the application and the Spice Runtime are needed (e.g., real-time decision-making).
- Scaling needs are small or moderate, making duplication of the Spice Runtime in each pod acceptable.
- Keeping the architecture simple without additional services or load balancers is preferred.
- Performance and latency are prioritized over cost and complexity.
Example Use Case A real-time trading bot or a data-intensive application that relies on immediate feedback, where minimal latency is critical. Both containers in the same pod ensure very fast data exchange.
Cookbook
The Sidecar Deployment Architecture cookbook recipe includes example Spicepod configurations and operational considerations for this pattern.
