AWS App Mesh
Managed service mesh that simplifies monitoring and controlling inter-service communication in microservices
Nacos
Dynamic service discovery, configuration, and DNS for cloud-native apps
Nacos provides unified service discovery, health checks, dynamic configuration, and DNS routing, enabling developers to build and manage cloud-native microservices without redeployment.
Overview
Overview
Nacos is a platform that centralizes service discovery, health monitoring, configuration management, and DNS routing. It supports a wide range of service types—including Dubbo, gRPC, Spring Cloud RESTful, and Kubernetes—allowing teams to register services and discover peers via DNS or HTTP interfaces. Real‑time health checks prevent traffic from reaching unhealthy instances, while dynamic configuration lets you modify settings across environments without restarting applications.
Deployment
Getting started is straightforward: download the binary package, unzip, and run the startup script in standalone mode on Linux, macOS, or Windows. For production, Nacos can be deployed on cloud environments or integrated with Alibaba Cloud's microservice engine. An intuitive dashboard provides visibility into service metadata, health status, and routing policies, making operational management simple for cloud‑native developers.
Highlights
Unified service discovery with DNS/HTTP interfaces and health checks
Centralized dynamic configuration that updates without redeployment
Weighted DNS routing for flexible load balancing and canary releases
Dashboard for service metadata, health metrics, and DNS management
Pros
- All‑in‑one platform reduces the need for multiple tools
- Supports many service frameworks (Dubbo, gRPC, Spring Cloud, Kubernetes)
- Real‑time health monitoring improves reliability
- Simple standalone deployment for quick start
Considerations
- Requires a Java runtime environment
- High‑availability setup adds operational complexity
- Advanced routing features have a learning curve
- Community support may vary for niche integrations
Managed products teams compare with
When teams consider Nacos, these hosted platforms usually appear on the same shortlist.
Looking for a hosted option? These are the services engineering teams benchmark against before choosing open source.
Fit guide
Great for
- Teams building microservice architectures
- Enterprises needing centralized configuration management
- Java‑centric cloud‑native applications
- Organizations that prefer DNS‑based service discovery
Not ideal when
- Monolithic applications with no service separation
- Environments without Java support
- Ultra‑low latency workloads where extra hops matter
- Teams already committed to alternative service meshes
How teams use it
Microservice registration and discovery
Services automatically register and discover each other via DNS/HTTP, with health checks preventing routing to unhealthy instances.
Dynamic configuration rollout
Update configuration centrally; all services receive changes instantly without needing a restart.
Weighted DNS routing for canary releases
Direct a percentage of traffic to new service versions, enabling safe, gradual rollouts.
Kubernetes service integration
Use Nacos as a DNS provider within Kubernetes clusters, decoupling from vendor‑specific APIs.
Tech snapshot
Java99%
SCSS1%
JavaScript1%
Shell1%
Batchfile1%
TypeScript1%
Frequently asked questions
How does Nacos handle service health checks?
Nacos continuously probes registered instances and marks them unhealthy if they fail, preventing traffic from being sent to them.
Can I use Nacos without Java?
Nacos itself runs on the Java Virtual Machine, so a Java runtime is required for the server component.
Is there a cloud‑hosted version of Nacos?
Yes, Nacos can be deployed on cloud platforms, and Alibaba Cloud offers an enterprise service with additional support.
What protocols are supported for service registration?
Nacos supports Dubbo, gRPC, Spring Cloud RESTful, and native Kubernetes services, among others.
How do I update configurations without restarting services?
Update the configuration in Nacos; client libraries pull changes dynamically at runtime.
Project at a glance
Active- Stars
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LicenseApache-2.0
Repo age7 years old
Last commityesterday
Primary languageJava
Last synced yesterday