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Migrating to Styra Load from OPA

Users of OPA with data-heavy use cases may wish to use Styra Load instead of OPA. Styra Load and OPA work in much the same way, making the migration relatively straightforward. However, there are some changes operators need to bear in mind, which are outlined below.

Bundle Format​

Styra Load uses a different bundle format based on binary JSON. Styra Load requires formatted bundles to achieve the quoted performance gains. When running Styra Load, bundles loaded from the filesystem or over the Bundle Service API should be in the Styra Load format.

The following actions are used to support bundle format:

  • Update the process that builds bundles to use the Styra Load bundle format.
  • Configure Styra Load instances to use these new bundles rather than the OPA bundles. If these new bundles have the same name, and are available the same URL or filesystem path then no configuration changes are needed.
  • If you are using OPA's Discovery Bundle feature, Discovery Bundles should not be updated to the Styra Load format. Styra Load formatted bundles are not supported for use as Discovery Bundles.

Interface Binding​

By default, Styra Load only binds to the loopback interface (localhost:8181). This is different from OPA which binds to all interfaces (:8181). This is a secure default which has been introduced for Styra Load and can help avoid the Styra Load instance being exposed to the pubic internet or other untrusted networks unintentionally.

If you understand the risks and are in an environment where you need to bind to all interfaces, you can do so by starting Styra Load with the flag --addr=":8181".

To bind to all interfaces in your environment start Styra Load with the correct --addr flag.

License Requirement​

Wherever a Load binary is invoked, a license is required. Licensing details configuration requirements.

note

Ensure that the license is present in each location where Styra Load is to be run. This might include CI/CD pipelines which build bundles as well as Styra Load server instances.