HAProxy has updated the open source HAProxy Data Plane application programing interface (API) to include service discovery capabilities alongside native support for the Consul service mesh being developed by HashiCorp.

Version 2.2 of the HAProxy Data Plane API also adds support for file handling, SSL certificates, map files and configuration files for its Stream Processing Offload Engine (SPOE).

HAProxy is best known for the open source load balancing software of the same name that is widely deployed by DevOps teams. As an extension of that platform, HAProxy Data Plane makes it possible to dynamically add and configure front ends and back ends and then route application traffic between them.

Daniel Corbett, director of product and marketing for HAProxy, said the HAProxy load balancing software coupled with the Data Plane allows IT organizations to create a gateway through which they can manage their APIs.

Corbett said the company is currently rounding out a suite of offerings, dubbed HAProxyOne, that are extensions to its load balancing software and that add a control plane and a service mesh to its portfolio. The company has already added a Kubernetes ingress controller to its portfolio.

At the same time, however, HAProxy Data Plane will make it simpler for DevOps teams to integrate other offerings, such as Consul, within the control plane being developed by HAProxy, Corbett says.

Corbett said, collectively, HAProxy will provide a suite of tools through which DevOps teams will be able to more easily manage application delivery across IT environments that span multiple platforms.

HAProxy is not the only load balancing software provider with similar ambitions. The issue that HAProxy will address is the need for a framework that can apply equally well to both monolithic applications and microservices-based applications, Corbett says.

In 2021, a major battle is brewing for control over the infrastructure that DevOps teams use to deploy applications at scale. Alongside proxy servers and load balancing software, IT organizations are starting to use API gateways, service meshes and ingress controllers as the number of APIs through which data flows rapidly increases. In effect, these technologies provide the connectivity infrastructure required to route data between the applications that make up a distributed computing environment.

It’s still early days, though, as advocates for competing open source projects make their cases for the hearts and minds of developers. However, given the profound impact these decisions are likely to have on IT operations, it’s likely many organizations will soon standardize on one suite of offerings to minimize complexity.

Whatever the result, applications environments are, in fact, becoming more complex. IT organizations will soon find themselves running monolithic applications alongside a raft of microservices-based applications, all of which need to use APIs to integrate with each other. Decisions made today about how best to integrate those APIs will have a profound impact for years to come.