Skip to content
Kong Gateway 2.8 Increases Security and Simplifies API Management.  —Learn More →
Kong Logo | Kong Docs Logo
search
  • We're Hiring!
  • Docs
    • Kong Gateway
    • Konnect Cloud
    • Kong Mesh
    • Plugin Hub
    • decK
    • Kubernetes Ingress Controller
    • Insomnia
    • Kuma

    • Kong Konnect Platform

    • Docs contribution guidelines
  • Plugin Hub
  • Support
  • Community
  • Kong Academy
Request Demo
  • Kong Gateway
  • Konnect Cloud
  • Kong Mesh
  • Plugin Hub
  • decK
  • Kubernetes Ingress Controller
  • Insomnia
  • Kuma

  • Kong Konnect Platform

  • Docs contribution guidelines
  • 2.3.x (latest)
  • 2.2.x
  • 2.1.x
  • 2.0.x
  • 1.3.x
  • 1.2.x
  • 1.1.x
  • 1.0.x
    • FAQ
    • Changelog
    • Architecture
    • Custom Resources
    • Deployment Methods
    • Kong for Kubernetes with Kong Enterprise
    • High-Availability and Scaling
    • Resource Classes
    • Security
    • Ingress Resource API Versions
    • Kong Ingress on Minikube
    • Kong for Kubernetes
    • Kong for Kubernetes Enterprise
    • Kong for Kubernetes with Kong Enterprise
    • Kong Ingress on AKS
    • Kong Ingress on EKS
    • Kong Ingress on GKE
    • Admission Controller
    • Getting Started with KIC
    • Upgrading from previous versions
    • Getting Started using Istio
      • Using the KongPlugin Resource
      • Using the KongIngress Resource
      • Using KongConsumer and KongCredential Resources
      • Using the KongClusterPlugin Resource
      • Using the TCPIngress Resource
      • Using the UDPIngress Resource
    • Using the ACL and JWT Plugins
    • Using cert-manager with Kong
    • Configuring a Fallback Service
    • Using an External Service
    • Configuring HTTPS Redirects for Services
    • Using Redis for Rate Limiting
    • Integrate KIC with Prometheus/Grafana
    • Configuring Circuit-Breaker and Health-Checking
    • Setting up a Custom Plugin
    • Using Ingress with gRPC
    • Setting up Upstream mTLS
    • Exposing a TCP-based Service
    • Exposing a UDP-based Service
    • Using the mTLS Auth Plugin
    • Configuring Custom Entities
    • Using the OpenID Connect Plugin
    • Rewriting Hosts and Paths
    • Preserving Client IP Address
    • Using Gateway API
    • KIC Annotations
    • CLI Arguments
    • Custom Resource Definitions
    • Plugin Compatibility
    • Version Compatibility
    • Troubleshooting
    • Prometheus Metrics

github-edit-pageEdit this page

report-issueReport an issue

enterprise-switcher-iconSwitch to OSS

On this page
  • Enable the feature
  • Testing connectivity to Kong
  • Set up an echo-server
  • Add a GatewayClass and Gateway
  • Add an HTTPRoute
  • Alpha limitations
Kubernetes Ingress Controller
2.3.x (latest)
  • Open Source
  • Kubernetes Ingress Controller
  • Guides

Using Gateway API

This feature is released as a (alpha-quality) and should not be deployed in a production environment.

Gateway API is a set of resources for configuring networking in Kubernetes. It expands on Ingress to configure additional types of routes (TCP, UDP, and TLS in addition to HTTP/HTTPS), support backends other than Service, and manage the proxies that implement routes.

Gateway API and Kong’s implementation of Gateway API are both in alpha stage and under active development. Features and implementation specifics will change before their initial general availability release.

Enable the feature

The Gateway API CRDs are not yet available by default in Kubernetes. You must first install them.

The default controller configuration disables Gateway API handling. To enable it, set ingressController.env.feature_gates: Gateway=true in your Helm values.yaml, or set CONTROLLER_FEATURE_GATES=Gateway=true if not using Helm. Note that you must restart Pods with this flag set after installing the Gateway API CRDs.

If using Helm, you must use chart version 2.7 or higher. Older versions do not include the ServiceAccount permissions necessary for KIC to read Gateway API resources.

Testing connectivity to Kong

This guide assumes that the PROXY_IP environment variable is set to contain the IP address or URL pointing to Kong. Follow one of the deployment guides to configure this environment variable.

If everything is set up correctly, making a request to Kong should return HTTP 404 Not Found.

Note: If you are running the example using Minikube on MacOS, you may need to run minikube tunnel in a separate terminal window. This exposes LoadBalancer services externally, which is not enabled by default.

$ curl -i $PROXY_IP
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 48
Server: kong/1.2.1

{"message":"no Route matched with those values"}

This is expected, as Kong does not yet know how to proxy the request.

Set up an echo-server

Set up an echo-server application to demonstrate how to use the Kubernetes Ingress Controller:

$ kubectl apply -f https://bit.ly/echo-service

Add a GatewayClass and Gateway

The Gateway resource represents the proxy instance that handles traffic for a set of Gateway API routes, and a GatewayClass describes characteristics shared by all Gateways of a given type.

Add a GatewayClass:

$ echo "apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1alpha2
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1alpha2
kind: GatewayClass
metadata:
  name: kong
spec:
  controllerName: konghq.com/kic-gateway-controller
" | kubectl apply -f -
gatewayclass.gateway.networking.k8s.io/kong created

Add a Gateway:

$ echo "apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1alpha2
kind: Gateway
metadata:
  annotations:
    konghq.com/gateway-unmanaged: kong/kong-proxy
  name: kong
spec:
  gatewayClassName: kong
  listeners:
  - name: proxy
    port: 80
    protocol: HTTP
  - name: proxy-ssl
    port: 443
    protocol: HTTPS
" | kubectl apply -f -
gateway.gateway.networking.k8s.io/kong created

Because KIC and Kong instances are installed independent of their Gateway resource, we set the konghq.com/gateway-unmanaged annotation to the <namespace>/<name> of the Kong proxy Service. This instructs KIC to populate that Gateway resource with listener and status information. You can check to confirm if KIC has updated the bound Gateway by inspecting the list of associated addresses:

$ kubectl get gateway kong -o=jsonpath='{.status.addresses}' | jq
[
  {
    "type": "IPAddress",
    "value": "10.96.179.122"
  },
  {
    "type": "IPAddress",
    "value": "10.96.179.122"
  },
  {
    "type": "IPAddress",
    "value": "172.18.0.240"
  }
]

Add an HTTPRoute

HTTPRoute resources are similar to Ingress resources: they contain a set of matching criteria for HTTP requests and upstream Services to route those requests to.

$ echo "apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1alpha2
kind: HTTPRoute
metadata:
  name: echo
spec:
  parentRefs:
  - group: gateway.networking.k8s.io
    kind: Gateway
    name: kong
  rules:
  - backendRefs:
    - group: ""
      kind: Service
      name: echo
      port: 80
      weight: 1
    matches:
    - path:
        type: PathPrefix
        value: /echo
" | kubectl apply -f -

After creating an HTTPRoute, accessing /echo forwards a request to the echo service:

$ curl -i $PROXY_IP/echo
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Connection: keep-alive
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2019 18:09:02 GMT
Server: echoserver
X-Kong-Upstream-Latency: 1
X-Kong-Proxy-Latency: 1
Via: kong/1.1.2



Hostname: echo-758859bbfb-cnfmx
...

Alpha limitations

The KIC Gateway API alpha is a work in progress, and not all features of Gateway APIs are supported. In particular:

  • HTTPRoute is the only supported route type. TCPRoute, UDPRoute, and TLSRoute are not yet implemented.
  • HTTPRoute does not yet support multiple backendRefs. You cannot distribute requests across multiple Services.
  • queryParam matches matches are not supported.
Thank you for your feedback.
Was this page useful?
  • Kong
    THE CLOUD CONNECTIVITY COMPANY

    Kong powers reliable digital connections across APIs, hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

    • Company
    • Customers
    • Events
    • Investors
    • Careers Hiring!
    • Partners
    • Press
    • Contact
  • Products
    • Kong Konnect
    • Kong Gateway
    • Kong Mesh
    • Get Started
    • Pricing
  • Resources
    • eBooks
    • Webinars
    • Briefs
    • Blog
    • API Gateway
    • Microservices
  • Open Source
    • Install Kong Gateway
    • Kong Community
    • Kubernetes Ingress
    • Kuma
    • Insomnia
  • Solutions
    • Decentralize
    • Secure & Govern
    • Create a Dev Platform
    • API Gateway
    • Kubernetes
    • Service Mesh
Star
  • Terms•Privacy
© Kong Inc. 2022