Ambassador Edge Stack 3.0: Modern API Management and Gateway API

Introduction

Ambassador Edge Stack 3.0 — Modern API Management and Gateway API — was released on May 18, 2021.

Edge and east-west traffic paths tend to be where reliability and security issues show up first — so small gateway and proxy changes can have outsized impact.

In this release: Ambassador Edge Stack 3.0 introduces Gateway API support, improved performance, and enhanced observability for modern API gateway deployments.

Gateway API Support

• Gateway API implementation provides early support for the Kubernetes Gateway API standard.
• HTTPRoute support enables modern routing configuration using Gateway API resources.
• TLSRoute capabilities enable secure routing with Gateway API.
• Migration path enables gradual migration from Mappings to Gateway API resources.

Performance Improvements

1. Envoy integration updates leverage latest Envoy performance improvements.
2. Configuration processing optimizations reduce latency for configuration updates.
3. Resource usage improvements reduce CPU and memory footprint.
4. Connection handling enhancements improve throughput for high-traffic scenarios.

Enhanced Observability

• Metrics expansion exposes detailed gateway metrics for Prometheus integration.
• Distributed tracing improvements provide better correlation of requests across services.
• Access logs enhancements enable more detailed request/response information.
• Grafana integration enables comprehensive monitoring dashboards.

Getting Started

kubectl apply -f https://app.getambassador.io/yaml/edge-stack/3.0/aes-crds.yaml
kubectl wait --for condition=established --timeout=90s crd -lproduct=aes
kubectl apply -f https://app.getambassador.io/yaml/edge-stack/3.0/aes.yaml

Create a Gateway using Gateway API:

apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1alpha2
kind: Gateway
metadata:
  name: ambassador-gateway
spec:
  gatewayClassName: ambassador
  listeners:
  - name: http
    protocol: HTTP
    port: 80

Summary

Ambassador Edge Stack 3.0 provides teams with modern API gateway capabilities including Gateway API support and enhanced observability.