Kubernetes Gateway API GA: Modern Ingress Standard

Introduction

The Kubernetes Gateway API reached General Availability on November 28, 2022, marking a significant milestone in Kubernetes networking. This release provides a modern, extensible standard for ingress, egress, and mesh traffic management, replacing and enhancing the traditional Ingress resource.

Networking changes tend to show up under pressure: rolling upgrades, failovers, and the ‘why can’t it connect?’ moments. This release is worth a look if you care about predictable traffic behavior and simpler troubleshooting in real clusters.

Gateway API Overview

• Gateway resources define network endpoints and capabilities for handling traffic.
• HTTPRoute resources provide sophisticated routing rules for HTTP and HTTPS traffic.
• TLSRoute enables secure routing with automatic certificate management.
• BackendRef improvements provide better service and endpoint selection.

Key Features

1. Role-oriented design separates concerns between infrastructure providers and application developers.
2. Extensibility enables custom implementations and extensions for specific use cases.
3. Portability works across different Kubernetes distributions and cloud providers.
4. Rich routing capabilities support advanced traffic management patterns.

Benefits Over Traditional Ingress

• Better separation of concerns between infrastructure and application teams.
• More expressive routing rules with header, path, and method matching.
• Cross-namespace support enables routing across namespace boundaries.
• Standardized approach reduces vendor lock-in and improves portability.

Implementation Support

• Multiple implementations including Istio, Cilium, Traefik, Contour, and others.
• Cloud provider support from AWS, GCP, and Azure.
• Community adoption demonstrates widespread support and active development.
• Migration tools help teams transition from traditional Ingress resources.

Getting Started

Create a Gateway:

apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Gateway
metadata:
  name: my-gateway
spec:
  gatewayClassName: istio
  listeners:
  - name: web
    protocol: HTTP
    port: 80

Create an HTTPRoute:

apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: HTTPRoute
metadata:
  name: my-route
spec:
  parentRefs:
  - name: my-gateway
  rules:
  - matches:
    - path:
        type: PathPrefix
        value: /api
    backendRefs:
    - name: api-service
      port: 8080

Summary

Kubernetes Gateway API GA represents the future of Kubernetes networking, providing teams with a modern, portable standard for managing ingress and traffic routing.