Ingress

Traefik Ingress Controller

Kubernetes Ingress resources expose HTTP and HTTPS routes from outside the cluster to services within the cluster. In Kommander, the Traefik Ingress controller is installed by default and provides access to the Kommander dashboard.

An Ingress performs the following:

  • Gives Services externally-reachable URLs
  • Load balances traffic
  • Terminates SSL/TLS sessions
  • Offers name-based virtual hosting

An Ingress controller fulfills the Ingress with a load balancer.

A cluster can have multiple Ingress controllers. D2iQ recommends adding your own Ingress controllers for your applications. The Traefik Ingress controller that Kommander installs for access to the Kommander dashboard can be replaced later if a different solution is a better fit. Using your own Ingress controller in parallel for your own business requirements ensures that you are are not limited by any future changes in Kommander.

Traefik v2.4

Traefik is a modern HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that deploys microservices with ease. Kommander currently installs Traefik v2.4 by default on every cluster. Traefik creates a service of type LoadBalancer. In the cloud, the cloud provider creates the appropriate load balancer. In an on-premises deployment, by default, it uses MetalLB.

Traefik listens to the Kubernetes API and automatically generates and updates the routes without any further configuration or intervention so that the Services selected by the Ingress resources are connected to the outside world. Further, Traefik supports a rich set of functionality such as Name-based routing, Path-based routing, Traffic splitting, etc.

Major features highlighted in the Traefik documentation:

  • Continuously updates its configuration (No restarts!)
  • Supports multiple load balancing algorithms
  • Provides HTTPS to your microservices
  • Circuit breakers, retry
  • A clean web UI
  • Websocket, HTTP/2, GRPC ready
  • Provides metrics (Rest, Prometheus, Datadog, StatsD, InfluxDB)
  • Keeps access logs (JSON, CLF)
  • Exposes a Rest API
  • Packaged as a single binary file (made with go) and available as a docker image

For information on related topics or procedures, refer to the following: