# istio_agent-xds-proxy.yaml
apiVersion: release-notes/v2
kind: feature
area: networking
issue: []
releaseNotes:
- |
  **Updated** XDS connections from Envoy will be proxied through the Istio sidecar agent. Doing so allows
  for consolidation of multiple connections from a pod to Istiod into a single connection, in addition to
  other planned future improvements. This feature (and change) is transparent to users and is enabled by default.
  It can be disabled by setting the following in the Istio Operator: meshConfig.defaultConfig.proxyMetadata.PROXY_XDS_VIA_AGENT="false".