Install on Kubernetes

This page explains how to install Kong Gateway with Kubernetes Ingress Controller in DB-less mode. To install with a database, see the documentation on installing with Helm.

This page also includes the equivalent commands for OpenShift.

Note that in DB-less mode on Kubernetes, config is stored in etcd, the Kubernetes native datastore. For more information see Kubernetes Deployment Options.

The Kong Gateway software is governed by the Kong Software License Agreement. Kong Gateway (OSS) is licensed under an Apache 2.0 license.

Prerequisites

  • A Kubernetes cluster, v1.19 or later
  • kubectl v1.19 or later
  • (Enterprise only) A license.json file from Kong

Create namespace

Create the namespace for Kong Gateway with Kubernetes Ingress Controller. For example:

  1. ## on Kubernetes native
  2. kubectl create namespace kong
  1. ## on OpenShift
  2. oc new-project kong

Create license secret

  1. Save your license file temporarily with the filename license (no file extension).

  2. Run:

    1. ## on Kubernetes native
    2. kubectl create secret generic kong-enterprise-license --from-file=./license -n kong
    1. ## on OpenShift
    2. oc create secret generic kong-enterprise-license --from-file=./license -n kong

Deploy

  1. Run one of the following:

    1. ## Kong Gateway on Kubernetes native
    2. kubectl apply -f https://bit.ly/k4k8s-enterprise-install
    1. ## Kong Gateway on OpenShift
    2. oc create -f https://bit.ly/k4k8s-enterprise-install
    1. ## Kong Gateway (OSS) on Kubernetes native
    2. kubectl apply -f https://bit.ly/kong-ingress-dbless

    This might take a few minutes.

  2. Check the install status:

    1. kubectl get pods -n kong

    or:

    1. oc get pods -n kong

  3. To make HTTP requests, you need the IP address of the load balancer. Get the LoadBalancer address and store it in a local PROXY_IP environment variable:

    1. export PROXY_IP=$(kubectl get -o jsonpath="{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}" service -n kong kong-proxy)

  4. Check that the value of $PROXY_IP is the value of the external host:

    1. kubectl get service kong-proxy -n kong

    or:

    1. oc get service kong-proxy -n kong

    Note: Some cluster providers provide only a DNS name for load balancers. In this case, specify .hostname instead of .ip.

Next steps

See the Kong Ingress Controller docs for how-to guides, reference guides, and more.