PermalinkDeployment Options
Kong Gateway can be deployed in the following main modes:
- Embedded: classic deployment with all services on one node.
- Distributed: classic deployment with distributed services.
- Hybrid: Control Plane and Data Planes are separate.
PermalinkClassic deployment
PermalinkEmbedded
In this deployment mode, you install one instance of Kong, and all of its add-ons reside on the same node. This option is normally used for testing and development.
To learn more, see the installation documentation.
PermalinkDistributed
In a production environment, we recommend that you install multiple instances of Kong on separate nodes. Each of these nodes must connect to the Kong database, which can be Postgres or Cassandra.
To set up a distributed deployment, install the Control Plane Kong instance following the embedded installation instructions for your platform, then bring up subsequent instances for the Data Planes without enabling any add-ons (e.g., Kong Manager, Developer Portal).
For further distributed setup help, contact Kong Support.
PermalinkHybrid mode
In a Hybrid mode deployment, Kong Gateway instances are divided into two roles: Control Plane (CP) and Data Plane (DP). Only the Control Plane requires a database, and it propagates Kong configuration to Data Plane nodes, which use in-memory storage. The Data Plane nodes can be installed anywhere, on-premise or in the cloud.
To learn more, see the Hybrid mode documentation.