How does Envoy support dynamic traffic routing?

Dynamic traffic routing in Envoy is primarily facilitated by defining rules based on request attributes. Envoy's powerful routing capabilities allow you to control how traffic is directed within your service mesh or application architecture. This is accomplished through the configuration of routing rules that can take into account various attributes of incoming requests, such as headers, paths, and query parameters.

When you define routing rules based on these attributes, you can create flexible and granular traffic management strategies. This includes capabilities such as canary releases, A/B testing, or routing based on user segments. By adjusting these rules dynamically, you can respond to changing conditions in real-time, such as service availability or performance metrics, without needing to restart services or deploy new versions of applications.

In contrast, enforcing rate limits focuses on managing the number of requests allowed over a certain time period rather than determining how traffic is routed. Requiring client-side modifications would not align with Envoy's role as a proxy, which is to operate transparently in the networking layer. Preloading routing tables would not provide the adaptability needed for dynamic traffic management, as it implies static configurations rather than real-time, rules-based decision-making.