Data Plane reference

A Data Plane node is a single instance of Kong Gateway that acts as a proxy and serves traffic. In Konnect, Data Plane nodes are managed by Control Planes. Control Planes manage and store configurations in Konnect, and they distribute those configurations to Data Planes nodes. Data Plane nodes don’t manage their own configurations.

Konnect provides Data Plane node installation scripts for various platforms. These Data Plane nodes are configured to run in your Konnect environment. Alternatively, Konnect offers fully-managed Data Planes through Dedicated Cloud Gateways.

Konnect supports the following installation options:

The following table can help you decide which Data Plane node strategy to use based on your use case:

Konnect supports using non-transparent forward proxies to connect your Kong Gateway Data Plane with the Konnect Control Plane. See the Forward proxy connections Kong Gateway documentation for more information.

Self-managed Data Plane nodes can be upgraded to a new Kong Gateway by initializing new nodes before decommissioning old ones. This method ensures high availability, allowing the new node to start data processing prior to the removal of the old node.

Managed nodes are upgraded automatically after selecting the new version of Kong Gateway. We recommend running one major version (2.x or 3.x) of a Data Plane node per Control Plane, unless you are in the middle of version upgrades to the Data Plane. Mixing versions may cause compatibility issues.

To upgrade a Data Plane node to a new version, follow these steps:

curl -X PUT "$KONNECT_CONTROL_PLANE_URL/v2/cloud-gateways/configurations" \
     -H "Accept: application/json"\
     -H "Content-Type: application/json"\
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $KONNECT_TOKEN" \
     --json '{
       "control_plane_id": "'$CONTROL_PLANE_ID'",
       "version": 3.1,
       "control_plane_geo": "ap-northeast-1",
       "dataplane_groups": [
         {
           "provider": "aws"
         },
         {
           "region": "'$REGION'"
         },
         {
           "cloud_gateway_network_id": "'$CLOUD_GATEWAY_NETWORK_ID'"
         },
         {
           "autoscale": [
             {
               "kind": "autopilot"
             },
             {
               "base_rps": 100
             }
           ]
         }
       ]
     }'

Data Plane certificates generated by Konnect expire every ten years. If you bring your own certificates, make sure to review the expiration date and associated metadata.

Renew your certificates to prevent any interruption in communication between Konnect and any configured Data Plane nodes. The following happens if a certificate expires and isn’t replaced:

• The Data Plane node stops receiving configuration updates from the Control Plane.
• The Data Plane node stops sending analytics and usage data to the Control Plane.
• Each disconnected Data Plane node uses cached configuration to continue proxying and routing traffic.

Depending on your setup, renewing certificates might mean bringing up a new Data Plane, or generating new certificates and updating Data Plane nodes with the new files.

The following parameters are the minimum settings required for a Data Plane node:

Labels are commonly used for metadata information. Set anything that you need to identify your Data Plane nodes – deployment type, region, size, the team that the node belongs to, the purpose it serves, or any other identifiable information. For more information, review the Konnect labels documentation.

Learn how to resolve some common issues with Data Plane nodes.

Out of sync Data Plane node

Problem: Occasionally, a Kong Gateway Data Plane node might get out of sync with the Konnect Control Plane. If this happens, you will see the status Out of sync on the Data Plane Nodes page, meaning the Control Plane can’t communicate with the node.

Solution: Troubleshoot the issue using the following methods:

• Ensure the Data Plane node is running. If it’s not running, start it; if it is running, restart it. After starting it, check the sync status in the Gateway Manager.

• Check the logs of the Data Plane node that’s appearing as Out of sync. The default directory for Kong Gateway logs is /usr/local/kong/logs.

  If you find any of the following errors:

  • Data Plane node failed to connect to the Control Plane.
  • Data Plane node failed to ping the Control Plane.
  • Data Plane node failed to receive a ping response from the Control Plane.

  You may have an issue on the host network where the node resides. Diagnose and resolve the issue, then restart the node and check the sync status in the Gateway Manager.

If the logs show a license issue, or if you are unable to resolve sync issues using the above methods, contact Kong Support.

Missing functionality

Problem: If a Konnect feature isn’t working or isn’t available on your Data Plane node, the version may be out of date.

Solution: Check that your Data Plane nodes are up to date, and update them if they are not. For Dedicated Cloud Gateways, see the upgrade documentation.

If you’re running Kong Gateway in hybrid mode, check that the Data Plane node versions are up-to-date:

1. Open Gateway Manager, then open your Control Plane.

2. Select Data Plane Nodes from the side menu, then click New Data Plane Node.

3. Check the Kong Gateway version in the code block. This is the version that the Konnect Control Plane is running.

4. Return to the Data Plane nodes page.

5. Check the Data Plane node versions in the table. If you see a node running an older version of Kong Gateway, your Data Plane node may need upgrading.

If your version is up-to-date but the feature still isn’t working, contact Kong Support.

Kubernetes Data Plane node installation doesn’t work

Problem: You followed the Kubernetes installation instructions in Gateway Manager but your Data Plane node isn’t connecting.

Solution: Check your deployment logs for errors:

kubectl logs deployment/my-kong-kong -n kong

If you find any errors and need to update values.yaml, make your changes, save the file, then reapply the configuration by running the Helm upgrade command:

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