Docker Desktop

  1. To run Istio with Docker Desktop, install a version which contains a supported Kubernetes version (1.19, 1.20, 1.21, 1.22).

  2. If you want to run Istio under Docker Desktop’s built-in Kubernetes, you need to increase Docker’s memory limit under the Advanced pane of Docker Desktop’s preferences. Set the resources to 8.0 GB of memory and 4 CPUs.

    Docker Preferences

    Docker Preferences

    Minimum memory requirements vary. 8 GB is sufficent to run Istio and Bookinfo. If you don’t have enough memory allocated in Docker Desktop, the following errors could occur:

    • image pull failures
    • healthcheck timeout failures
    • kubectl failures on the host
    • general network instability of the hypervisor

    Additional Docker Desktop resources may be freed up using:

    1. $ docker system prune