What type of communication does a service mesh manage in microservices architecture?

A service mesh primarily manages the communication between microservices within a microservices architecture. It acts as a dedicated infrastructure layer that facilitates service-to-service communication, handling tasks such as service discovery, load balancing, failure recovery, metrics, and monitoring, as well as ensuring secure connections between services through authentication and authorization.

The core purpose of a service mesh is to streamline and enhance these interactions among microservices. By abstracting this communication layer, a service mesh allows developers to focus on building their applications without having to manage the complexities of inter-service communication directly. This holistic approach ensures reliability, observability, and security across services, which is vital in a decentralized microservices environment.

In contrast, while communication between human users, infrastructure communication, and database communication are important in overall system design, they are outside the primary focus of a service mesh. The service mesh specifically emphasizes managing interactions between distinct microservices, making it a critical component in microservices architecture.