OSSMC
What OSSMC features work without Kiali installed?
When the OpenShift Service Mesh Console (OSSMC) plugin is installed but no Kiali server is connected to the plugin, the Service Mesh menu still provides Istios and Kialis pages. Those pages list every Istio and Kiali custom resource on the cluster so you can navigate multiple mesh instances from the OpenShift Console. They do not require a Kiali server.
Pages that require a connected Kiali server (Overview, Traffic Graph, Mesh, Namespaces, Applications, Services, Workloads, Istio Config) and Service Mesh tabs on OpenShift resource detail pages need a connected and reachable Kiali instance.
See Navigating Multiple Meshes and Connecting a Kiali instance to the console.
Why do I only see Kiali instances and Istio control planes in the Service Mesh menu?
No Kiali server is currently connected to the OSSMC plugin, or OSSMC cannot reach the connected Kiali server. In that case, only Istios and Kialis appear in the Service Mesh menu — which is enough to browse the mesh and Kiali inventory on the cluster. See Navigating Multiple Meshes.
To enable pages that require Kiali, install a Kiali server (if needed), then open Service Mesh → Kiali instances, select your Kiali instance, and click Connect. Alternatively, configure spec.kiali on the OSSMConsole CR. See Connecting a Kiali instance to the console.
If you recently connected a Kiali instance but those pages still do not appear, verify that the Kiali pod is running and that the OSSMConsole CR status shows a successful reconciliation, then refresh the OpenShift Console browser window.
Why is the Istio control planes or Kiali instances list empty (or missing entries) even though I know they exist?
The Istios and Kialis pages only show custom resources your OpenShift user account has permission to read. If your account has namespace-scoped access rather than cluster-wide access to istios.sailoperator.io or kialis.kiali.io, instances in namespaces you cannot access will not appear. Ask your cluster administrator to grant list/get permission on the relevant custom resource, either cluster-wide or in the specific namespaces you need to see.