title=Ambient data-body='<p>Ambient mode refers to a <a href="/docs/reference/glossary/#data-plane-mode">data plane mode</a> consisting of a per-node and optionally a per-namespace component. The mesh created when Istio is installed in ambient <em>mode</em> can be referred to as an ambient <em>mesh</em>.
Ambient mode is an alternative to a <a href="/docs/reference/glossary/#sidecar">sidecar mode</a> deployment.</p>
'>ambient mode</span>. You&rsquo;ll need a Kubernetes cluster to proceed. If you don&rsquo;t 