gateway-api VS ingress-nginx

It has already been a couple of years since the Kubernetes Ingress was defined as a “frozen” feature while further development will be added to the Gateway API.

Kubernetes provides two APIs to achieve this, the Ingress API and the Gateway API.

With all that said, K8s is not really meant to function as an API gateway to arbitrary services. You should look into API gateways such as NGINX, Kong or others, service meshes as others have already pointed out, or have a look at the K8s Gateway API the SIG is currently working on. The last one is in the early stages of adoption, but it could provide you with a nice way to do an API Gateway right in K8s.

Maybe there's something in the new fangled gateways.

Keep an eye on the Gateway API GAMMA Initiative as it is currently evolving with the goal of streamlining how services meshes can implement the Gateway API and reduce some overlap.

The selling point for me was ability to configure it using Kubernetes CRD's and future support of the Gateway API (under development - <https://gateway-api.sigs.k8s.io/>).

Developers can version their API now within helm charts or even yaml templates held along the code in their repositories.

-- https://gateway-api.sigs.k8s.io

While you're learning about ingresses, also look into the k8s Gateway API, which is the next generation. https://gateway-api.sigs.k8s.io/

The GatewayAPI model is quite different from the LB/ingress model, in the cluster it consists of gateway and route objects. Once the gateway is created routes connecting gateways to services are added. If you need to change how requests are distributed, the routes are updated but the gateway remains so the address and other configuration remains consistent. Gateways can be shared by multiple routes. Take a look at https://gateway-api.sigs.k8s.io/ its a bit terse but you will get the picture.

ingress-nginx

The second one is a combination of tools: External DNS, cert-manager, and NGINX ingress. Using these as a stack, you can quickly deploy an application, making it available through a DNS with a TLS without much effort via simple annotations. When I first discovered External DNS, I was amazed at its quality.

resource "helm_release" "icrelease" { name = "nginx-ingress" repository = "https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx" chart = "ingress-nginx" version = "4.9.1" namespace = kubernetes_namespace.icnamespace.metadata[0].name set { name = "controller.ingressClassResource.default" value = "true" } }

helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx helm repo update helm upgrade --install ingress-nginx ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx --namespace ingress-nginx --create-namespace -f custom/ghost/nginx.yaml

For example, if you chose Nginx Ingress, you will use some of its dozens of annotations that are not portable if you decide to switch to another Ingress implementation like Apache APISIX.

The controller is installed with helm upgrade --install ingress-nginx ingress-nginx --repo https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx --namespace ingress-nginx --create-namespace

helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx helm repo add rancher-latest https://releases.rancher.com/server-charts/latest helm repo update helm repo list

Everything in the YAML snippets below — except for ingress configuration — relates to configuring the NGINX ingress controller. This includes customizing the default configuration.

Keep Documentation Handy: Always have the official NGINX Ingress documentation accessible.