Terminators
Terminators are the mechanism that tells the overlay network the final component where a service can be reached.
As a core data-plane concept, a terminator marks the last path component of the overlay mesh (the OpenZiti session) before traffic is delivered to the destination.
Essentially, a terminator associates a service with a specific router (or set of routers) where the hosting identity is connected. When traffic arrives at the selected router, the terminator directs it to the specific hosting identity responsible for that service in one of two ways:
- The router identity: If the router is tunneler-enabled, it acts as the hosting identity itself and handles the traffic by offloading it onto the underlay network to reach the destination.
- A connected identity: If the host is a separate client (like an SDK-enabled app), the router forwards the data to that specific connected identity.
Functionality
The controller uses terminators to identify which routers are available as the final router in the path for a dialed service.
- When an identity (client application) wants to access a service, the network control plane looks up all available terminators for that service.
- The control plane then uses that list to calculate a secure, performant, and available path through the overlay network, instructing the routers on how to establish the circuit.
Terminators are created and destroyed automatically when you create or delete a service router policy that authorizes a router to host a service.
Console reference
Terminators table
The Terminators tab shows a real-time, live view of your data plane, detailing every service with an active terminator and what router that terminator is bound to.
| Column | Concept | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Address | Service endpoint | The IP address or hostname that the Router Name uses to access the service on its local network. |
| Router Name | Hosting router | The human-readable name of the router that's actively hosting the service. |
| Router ID | Router ID | The unique, machine-readable identifier for the hosting router. |
| Service Name | Hosted service | The name of the service (the resource) being made available through the router. |
| Service ID | Service ID | The unique, machine-readable identifier for the hosted service. |
| Created At | Timestamp | The time and date when this specific terminator (this service/router pairing) was established. |
| ID | Terminator ID | The unique, machine-readable identifier for this specific terminator (the service/router connection instance). |