Data Plane

What is a Data Plane?

The data plane is a layer of service proxies that manage application-level network traffic. Data plane typically operate on Layer 7 (application) traffic, although they may also operate at Layer 4 (transport) traffic as well.

For Example

Popular data plane proxies include Envoy Proxy, NGINX, and HAProxy.

Related Terms

• Control Plane
• Envoy Proxy
• Service Mesh

Learn More

• Service mesh data plane vs. control plane
• Evolution of L7, proxies, and microservices
• Getting Edgy: Control Plane vs. Data Plane