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Deploy Envoy on Google Axion C4A Arm virtual machine
Signed-off-by: odidev <[email protected]>
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‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/envoy-gcp/_index.md‎

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---
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title: Deploy Envoy on Google Axion processors
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minutes_to_complete: 30
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who_is_this_for: This introductory topic is for software developers interested in migrating their Envoy workloads from x86_64 platforms to Arm-based platforms, specifically on Google Axion–based C4A virtual machines.
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learning_objectives:
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- Start an Arm virtual machine on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using the C4A Google Axion instance family with RHEL 9 as the base image
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- Install and configure Envoy on Arm-based GCP C4A instances
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- Validate Envoy functionality through baseline testing
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- Benchmark Envoy performance on Arm
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prerequisites:
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- A [Google Cloud Platform (GCP)](https://cloud.google.com/free?utm_source=google&hl=en) account with billing enabled
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- Familiarity with networking concepts and the [Envoy architecture](https://www.envoyproxy.io/docs/envoy/latest/).
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author: Pareena Verma
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##### Tags
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skilllevels: Advanced
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subjects: Web
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cloud_service_providers: Google Cloud
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armips:
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- Neoverse
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tools_software_languages:
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- Envoy
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- Siege
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operatingsystems:
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- Linux
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# ================================================================================
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# FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
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# ================================================================================
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further_reading:
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- resource:
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title: Google Cloud official documentation
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link: https://cloud.google.com/docs
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type: documentation
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- resource:
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title: Envoy documentation
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link: https://www.envoyproxy.io/docs/envoy/latest/about_docs
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type: documentation
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- resource:
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title: The official documentation for Siege
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link: https://www.joedog.org/siege-manual/
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type: documentation
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weight: 1 # _index.md always has weight of 1 to order correctly
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layout: "learningpathall" # All files under learning paths have this same wrapper
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learning_path_main_page: "yes" # Indicates this should be surfaced when looking for related content. Only set for _index.md of learning path content.
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---

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/envoy-gcp/_next-steps.md‎

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# ================================================================================
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# FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE
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# ================================================================================
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weight: 21 # Set to always be larger than the content in this path to be at the end of the navigation.
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title: "Next Steps" # Always the same, html page title.
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layout: "learningpathall" # All files under learning paths have this same wrapper for Hugo processing.
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---

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/envoy-gcp/background.md‎

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---
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title: Getting started with Envoy on Google Axion C4A (Arm Neoverse-V2)
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weight: 2
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layout: "learningpathall"
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---
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## Google Axion C4A Arm instances in Google Cloud
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Google Axion C4A is a family of Arm-based virtual machines built on Google’s custom Axion CPU, which is based on Arm Neoverse-V2 cores. Designed for high-performance and energy-efficient computing, these virtual machines offer strong performance for modern cloud workloads such as CI/CD pipelines, microservices, media processing, and general-purpose applications.
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The C4A series provides a cost-effective alternative to x86 virtual machines while leveraging the scalability and performance benefits of the Arm architecture in Google Cloud.
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To learn more about Google Axion, refer to the [Introducing Google Axion Processors, our new Arm-based CPUs](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/compute/introducing-googles-new-arm-based-cpu) blog.
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## Envoy for service proxying and traffic management on Arm
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Envoy is an open-source, high-performance edge and service proxy designed for cloud-native applications.
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It handles service-to-service communication, traffic routing, load balancing, and observability, making microservices more reliable and secure.
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Envoy is widely used in service meshes, API gateways, and modern cloud environments. Learn more from the [Envoy official website](https://www.envoyproxy.io/) and its [official documentation](https://www.envoyproxy.io/docs/envoy/latest/).

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/envoy-gcp/baseline-testing.md‎

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---
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title: Envoy baseline testing on Google Axion C4A Arm Virtual machine
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weight: 5
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### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
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layout: learningpathall
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---
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Since Envoy is installed successfully on your GCP C4A Arm virtual machine, follow these steps to validate that the Envoy is running.
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## Validate Envoy installation with a baseline test
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In this section, we covered how to create a minimal Envoy config, start Envoy with it, and verify functionality using `curl`.
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The test confirmed that Envoy listens on port **10000**, forwards requests to `httpbin.org`, and returns a successful **200 OK** response.
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### Create a Minimal Configuration File
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Using a file editor of your choice, create a file named `envoy_config.yaml`, and add the below content to it. This file configures Envoy to listen on port **10000** and forward all traffic to `http://httpbin.org`. The host_rewrite_literal is essential to prevent 404 Not Found errors from the upstream server.
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```YAML
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static_resources:
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listeners:
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- name: listener_0
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address:
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socket_address:
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protocol: TCP
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address: 0.0.0.0
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port_value: 10000
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filter_chains:
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- filters:
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- name: envoy.filters.network.http_connection_manager
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typed_config:
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"@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.network.http_connection_manager.v3.HttpConnectionManager
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stat_prefix: ingress_http
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route_config:
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name: local_route
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virtual_hosts:
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- name: backend
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domains: ["*"]
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routes:
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- match:
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prefix: "/"
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route:
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cluster: service_httpbin
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host_rewrite_literal: httpbin.org
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http_filters:
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- name: envoy.filters.http.router
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typed_config:
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"@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.http.router.v3.Router
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clusters:
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- name: service_httpbin
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connect_timeout: 0.5s
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type: LOGICAL_DNS
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dns_lookup_family: V4_ONLY
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lb_policy: ROUND_ROBIN
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load_assignment:
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cluster_name: service_httpbin
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endpoints:
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- lb_endpoints:
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- endpoint:
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address:
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socket_address:
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address: httpbin.org
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port_value: 80
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```
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- **Listeners:** Envoy is configured to accept incoming HTTP requests on port **10000** of your VM.
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- **HTTP Connection Manager:** A filter processes the incoming requests, directing them to the appropriate backend.
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- **Routing:** All traffic is routed to the `service_httpbin` cluster, with the `Host` header rewritten to `httpbin.org`.
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- **Clusters:** The `service_httpbin` cluster defines the upstream service as `httpbin.org` on port **80**, which is where requests are ultimately forwarded.
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### Run and Test Envoy
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This is the final phase of functional validation, confirming that the proxy is operational.
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Start the Envoy proxy using your configuration file. This command will keep the terminal occupied, so you will need a new terminal for the next step.
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```console
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envoy -c envoy_config.yaml --base-id 1
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```
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The output should look similar to:
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```output
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[2025-08-21 11:53:51.597][67137][info][config] [source/server/configuration_impl.cc:138] loading 1 listener(s)
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[2025-08-21 11:53:51.597][67137][info][config] [source/server/configuration_impl.cc:154] loading stats configuration
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[2025-08-21 11:53:51.598][67137][warning][main] [source/server/server.cc:928] There is no configured limit to the number of allowed active downstream connections. Configure a limit in `envoy.resource_monitors.downstream_connections` resource monitor.
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[2025-08-21 11:53:51.598][67137][info][main] [source/server/server.cc:969] starting main dispatch loop
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[2025-08-21 11:53:51.599][67137][info][runtime] [source/common/runtime/runtime_impl.cc:614] RTDS has finished initialization
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[2025-08-21 11:53:51.599][67137][info][upstream] [source/common/upstream/cluster_manager_impl.cc:240] cm init: all clusters initialized
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[2025-08-21 11:53:51.599][67137][info][main] [source/server/server.cc:950] all clusters initialized. initializing init manager
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[2025-08-21 11:53:51.599][67137][info][config] [source/common/listener_manager/listener_manager_impl.cc:930] all dependencies initialized. starting workers
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```
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Now, **Send a test request** from another terminal window to the Envoy listener using `curl`.
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```console
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curl -v http://localhost:10000/get
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```
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The `-v` flag provides verbose output, showing the full request and response headers. A successful test will show a **HTTP/1.1 200 OK** response with a JSON body from httpbin.org.
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The output should look similar to:
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```output
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* Trying 127.0.0.1:10000...
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* Connected to 127.0.0.1 (127.0.0.1) port 10000 (#0)
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> GET /get HTTP/1.1
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> Host: 127.0.0.1:10000
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> User-Agent: curl/7.76.1
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> Accept: */*
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>
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* Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
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< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
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< date: Fri, 22 Aug 2025 11:20:35 GMT
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< content-type: application/json
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< content-length: 301
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< server: envoy
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< access-control-allow-origin: *
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< access-control-allow-credentials: true
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< x-envoy-upstream-service-time: 1042
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<
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{
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"args": {},
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"headers": {
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"Accept": "*/*",
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"Host": "httpbin.org",
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"User-Agent": "curl/7.76.1",
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"X-Amzn-Trace-Id": "Root=1-68a85282-10af9cfe0385774600509ddd",
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"X-Envoy-Expected-Rq-Timeout-Ms": "15000"
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},
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"origin": "34.63.220.63",
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"url": "http://httpbin.org/get"
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}
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* Connection #0 to host 127.0.0.1 left intact
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```
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#### Summary of the curl Output
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- **Successful Connection:** The **curl** command successfully connected to the Envoy proxy on **localhost:10000**.
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- **Correct Status Code:** Envoy successfully forwarded the request and received a healthy **200 OK** response from the upstream server.
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- **Host Header Rewrite:** The **Host** header was correctly rewritten from **localhost:10000** to **httpbin.org** as defined in the configuration.
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- **End-to-End Success:** The proxy is fully operational, proving that requests are correctly received, processed, and forwarded to the intended backend.
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This confirms the end-to-end flow is working correctly.

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