About Runtime Manager
The Runtime Manager is a Kong Konnect functionality module that lets you catalogue, connect to, and monitor the status of all runtime groups and instances in one place, as well as manage group configuration.
The Runtime Manager overview page displays a list of runtime groups currently owned by the organization. From here, you can add or delete runtime groups, or go into each individual group to manage runtime instances and their global configuration.
With Konnect acting as the control plane, a runtime instance doesn’t need a database to store configuration data. Instead, configuration is stored in-memory on each node, and you can easily update all runtime instances in a group with a few clicks.
The Runtime Manager, and the Kong Konnect application as a whole, does not have access or visibility into the data flowing through your runtimes, and it does not store any data except the state and connection details for each runtime instance.
Runtime groups
Konnect manages runtime configuration in runtime groups. A runtime group is a collection of API connectivity runtime instances sharing the same configuration and behavior space. Each runtime group acts as a separate control plane and can manage runtime configurations independently of any other group. You can find a list of all runtime groups in your organization on the Runtime Manager overview.
Every organization has one default runtime group. The default runtime group is the foundational group in Konnect. Every region in every organization starts with one default group. This group can’t be deleted, and its status as the default group can’t be changed.
With an Enterprise subscription, you can configure additional custom runtime groups. Use multiple groups in one Konnect organization to manage runtime instances and their configuration in any groupings you want.
Some common use cases for using multiple runtime groups include:
- Environment separation: Split environments based on their purpose, such as development, staging, and production.
- Region separation: Dedicate each runtime group to a region or group of regions. Spin up runtime instances in those regions for each runtime group.
- Team separation: Dedicate each runtime group to a different team and share resources based on team purpose.
Figure 1: Example runtime group configuration with three runtime groups: the default group, a development group, and a production group. Konnect is the SaaS-managed global management plane that controls all of the groups, while the runtime groups contain self-managed runtime instances.
Access to each runtime group is configurable on a team-by-team basis using entity-specific permissions. For more information, see Administer teams.
Runtime group dashboard
For each runtime group, you can view traffic, error rate, and Kong Gateway service analytics for instances in a runtime group. This allows you to see how much of a runtime group is used. You can also select the time frame of analytics that you want to display.
Runtime group configuration
For each runtime group, you can spin up runtime instances and configure the following Kong Gateway entities:
- Gateway services
- Routes
- Consumers
- Consumer Groups
- Plugins
- Upstreams
- Certificates
- SNIs
- Vaults
- Keys
When there are multiple runtime groups, any entity configuration only applies to the runtime group that it was created in. Consumers and their authentication mechanisms don’t carry over to other runtime groups.
Kong Gateway configuration in Konnect →
Deleting a runtime group
Warning: Deleting a group is irreversible. Make sure that you are certain that you want to delete the group, and that all entities and runtime instances in the have been accounted for.
To delete a runtime group, you can use the Runtime Manager or the Konnect Runtime Groups API.
When a runtime group is deleted, all associated entities are also deleted. This includes all entities configured in the Runtime Manager for this group. As a best practice, back up a runtime group’s configuration before deleting it to avoid losing necessary configuration.
Runtime instances that are still active when the group is deleted will not be terminated, but they will be orphaned. They will continue processing traffic using the last configuration they received until they are either connected to a new runtime group or manually shut down.
You cannot delete the default runtime group.
Runtime instances
A runtime instance is a single data plane node with a single instance of a runtime, such as Kong Gateway. Runtime instances service traffic for the runtime group. All runtime instances in one runtime group must be of the same type. Currently, only Kong Gateway runtime types are supported.
Kong does not host runtimes. You must provide your own runtime instances.
The Runtime Manager aims to simplify this process by providing a script to provision a Kong Gateway runtime in a Docker container, eliminating any confusion about initial configuration or setup.
You can also choose to manually configure runtime instances on the following:
- Linux
- Kubernetes
- AWS
- Azure
See the runtime instance installation options for more detail.
Plugins
You can extend Konnect by using plugins. Kong provides a set of standard Lua plugins that get bundled with Konnect. The set of plugins you have access to depends on your installation.
Custom plugins can also be developed by the Kong Community and are supported and maintained by the plugin creators. If they are published on the Kong Plugin Hub, they are called Community or Third-Party plugins.
See the Konnect plugin ordering documentation for more information.