Install on OpenShift with Helm

This page explains how to install Kong Gateway with Kubernetes Ingress Controller with a database. To install in DB-less mode, see the documentation on installing with a flat Kubernetes manifest.

The Kong Gateway software is governed by the Kong Software License Agreement. Kong Gateway (OSS) is licensed under an Apache 2.0 license.

Prerequisites

• A Kubernetes cluster, v1.19 or later
• kubectl v1.19 or later
• (Enterprise only) A license.json file from Kong
• Helm 3

Create namespace

Create the namespace for Kong Gateway with Kubernetes Ingress Controller. For example:

oc new-project kong

Create license secret

1. Save your license file temporarily with the filename license (no file extension).

2. Run:

   oc create secret generic kong-enterprise-license -n kong --from-file=./license
   

Set up Helm

1. Add the Kong charts repository:

   helm repo add kong https://charts.konghq.com
   

2. Update Helm:

   helm repo update
   

Create secret for RBAC superuser (recommended)

If you plan to use RBAC, you must create the superuser account at this step in installation. You cannot create it later.

1. Create the RBAC account.

2. Create the secret:

   oc create secret generic kong-enterprise-superuser-password \
   -n kong \
   --from-literal=password={your-password}
   

Create secret for Session plugin

If you create an RBAC superuser and plan to work with Kong Manager or Dev Portal, you must also configure the Session plugin and store its config in a Kubernetes secret:

1. Create a session config file for Kong Manager:

   $ echo '{"cookie_name":"admin_session","cookie_samesite":"off","secret":"<your-password>","cookie_secure":false,"storage":"kong"}' > admin_gui_session_conf
   

2. Create a session config file for Kong Dev Portal:

   $ echo '{"cookie_name":"portal_session","cookie_samesite":"off","secret":"<your-password>","cookie_secure":false,"storage":"kong"}' > portal_session_conf
   

   Or, if you have different subdomains for the portal_api_url and portal_gui_host, set the cookie_domain and cookie_samesite properties as follows:

   $ echo '{"cookie_name":"portal_session","cookie_samesite":"off","cookie_domain":"<.your_subdomain.com">,"secret":"<your-password>","cookie_secure":false,"storage":"kong"}' > portal_session_conf
   

3. Create the secret:

   For Kong Manager only:

   oc create secret generic kong-session-config \
   -n kong \
   --from-file=admin_gui_session_conf
   

   For Kong Manager and Dev Portal:

   oc create secret generic kong-session-config \
   -n kong \
   --from-file=admin_gui_session_conf \
   --from-file=portal_session_conf
   

Create values.yaml file

Create a values.yaml file to provide required values such as password secrets or optional email addresses for notifications. Work from the Enterprise example file. The example file includes comments to explain which values you must set. The readme in the charts repository includes an exhaustive list of all possible configuration properties.

Note that this deployment includes a Postgres sub-chart provided by Bitnami. You might need to delete the PersistentVolume objects for Postgres in your Kubernetes cluster to connect to the database after install.

Deploy Kong Gateway with Kubernetes Ingress Controller

1. Run:

   helm install my-kong kong/kong -n kong --values ./values.yaml
   

   This might take some time.

2. Check pod status, and make sure the my-kong-kong-<ID> pod is running:

   oc get pods -n kong
   

Finalize configuration and verify installation

1. Run:

   oc get svc my-kong-kong-admin \
   -n kong \
   --output=jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}'
   

2. Copy the IP address from the output, then add the following to the .env section of your values.yaml file:

   admin_api_uri: <your-DNS-or-IP>
   

   Note: If you configure RBAC, you must specify a DNS hostname instead of an IP address.

3. Clean up:

   oc delete jobs -n kong --all
   

4. Update with changed values.yaml:

   helm upgrade my-kong kong/kong -n kong --values ./values.yaml
   

5. After the upgrade finishes, run:

   oc get svc -n kong
   

   The output includes EXTERNAL-IP values for Kong Manager and Dev Portal. For example:

   NAME                          TYPE           CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP     PORT(S)                            AGE
   my-kong-kong-manager          LoadBalancer   10.96.61.116     10.96.61.116    8002:31308/TCP,8445:32420/TCP      24m
   my-kong-kong-portal           LoadBalancer   10.101.251.123   10.101.251.123  8003:31609/TCP,8446:32002/TCP      24m
   

Next steps

See the Kong Ingress Controller docs for how-to guides, reference guides, and more.