How to Setup Nginx Ingress Controller On Kubernetes - Detailed Guide

Bibin Wilson
15 min read
How to Setup Nginx Ingress Controller On Kubernetes - Detailed Guide

In this comprehensive ingress guide, you will learn how to setup Nginx ingress controller on Kubernetes and configure ingress using DNS.

If you want to understand how Kubernetes ingress works, read my Kubernetes Ingress Tutorial. for beginners. I have explained all the core ingress concepts including how an ingress object works with an ingress controller.

There are two Nginx ingress controllers.

  1. Nginx ingress controller by kubernetes community
  2. Nginx ingress controller by Nginx Inc

We will be using the Kubernetes community Nginx controller.

Note: Today, you can get 25% discount on Kubernetes CKA, CKAD, CKS, KCNA certifications using code DCUBE20 at kube.promo/latest

Ingress & Nginx Ingress Controller Architecture

Here is a high-level architecture of Kubernetes ingress using the Nginx ingress controller. In this guide, we will learn to build the setup in the architecture.

(Note: Click the image to view in high resolution)

Nginx ingress controller deployment architecture
Click to view in HD

Prerequisites

  1. A Kubernetes cluster
  2. kubectl utility installed and authenticated to kubernetes cluster.
  3. Admin access to kubernetes cluster.
  4. A valid domain to point to ingress controller Load Balancer IP. (Optional)

If you are trying this setup on Google Cloud, assign admin permissions to your account to enable cluster roles.

ACCOUNT=$(gcloud info --format='value(config.account)')
kubectl create clusterrolebinding owner-cluster-admin-binding \
    --clusterrole cluster-admin \
    --user $ACCOUNT

Nginx Ingress Controller Kubernetes Manifests

All the kubernetes manifests used in this tutorial are hosted on the Github repository.

Clone it and you can deploy the YAML files directly as you follow along the guide. These manifests are taken from the official Nginx community repo.

git clone https://github.com/techiescamp/nginx-ingress-controller

First, we will understand all the associated Kubernetes objects by deploying Nginx controllers using YAML manifests. Once we have the understanding, we will deploy it using the Helm chart.

Note: If you want to understand all the Nginx ingress controllers objects and how they relate to each other, I suggest you create objects individually from the repo. Once you know how it works, you can use a single manifest or a helm chart to deploy it.

If you want to deploy all the objects on one go, open the cloned repo in termal.

cd in in to the manifest folder and execute the following command. It will deploy all the manifests explained in this blog.

kubectl apply -f .

Deploy Nginx Ingress Controller With Manifests

We need to deploy the following Kubernetes objects to have a working Nginx controller.

  1. ingress-nginx namespace
  2. Service account/Roles/ClusterRoles for Nginx admission controller
  3. Validating webhook Configuration
  4. Jobs to create/update Webhook CA bundles
  5. Service account/Roles/ClusterRoles of Nginx controller deployment
  6. Nginx controller configmap
  7. Services for nginx controller & admission controller
  8. Ingress controller deployment
Note: You can create all the manifests yourself or use the Github repo. However, I highly suggest you go through every manifest and understand what you are deploying.

Need for Admission Controller & Validating Webhook

Kubernetes Admission Controller is a small piece of code to validate or update Kubernetes objects before creating them. In this case, it's an admission controller to validate the ingress objects. The Admission Controller code is part of the Nginx controller that listens on the port 8443.

Why do need the admission controller for ingress?

Without an admission controller, you can deploy ingress object that might contain wrong configurations. A wrong configuration can break all the ingress rules associated with the ingress controller.

With the admission controller in place, if you deploy a ingress object with wrong configurations, it will throw an error. This way you can ensure that the ingress object you create has the correct configurations and doesn't break routing rules.

Here is how admission controllers work for Nginx.

nginx ingress controller validation admission controller explained.
Click to view in HD
  1. When you deploy an ingress YAML, the Validation admission intercepts the request.
  2. Kubernetes API then sends the ingress object to the validation admission controller service endpoint based on admission webhook endpoints.
  3. Service sends the request to the Nginx deployment on port 8443 for validating the ingress object.
  4. The admission controller then sends a response to the k8s API.
  5. If it is a valid response, the API will create the ingress object.

Now let's get started by creating Kubernetes objects for the ingress controller.

Note: In the following sections you dont necessarily have to copy and create the YAML files. You can use the files from the repository directly and deploy it. I have given the full YAMLs here for reference.

Create a Namespace

We will deploy all the Nginx controller objects in the ingress-nginx namespace.

Let's create the namespace.

kubectl create ns ingress-nginx

Create Admission Controller Roles & Service Account

We need a Role and ClusterRole with required permissions and bind to ingress-nginx-admission service account.

Create a file named admission-service-account.yaml and copy the following contents.

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: admission-webhook
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-admission
  namespace: ingress-nginx

---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  annotations:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: admission-webhook
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-admission
  namespace: ingress-nginx
rules:
- apiGroups:
  - ""
  resources:
  - secrets
  verbs:
  - get
  - create

---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: admission-webhook
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-admission
  namespace: ingress-nginx
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: Role
  name: ingress-nginx-admission
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
  name: ingress-nginx-admission
  namespace: ingress-nginx


---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: admission-webhook
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-admission
rules:
- apiGroups:
  - admissionregistration.k8s.io
  resources:
  - validatingwebhookconfigurations
  verbs:
  - get
  - update

---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: admission-webhook
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-admission
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: ingress-nginx-admission
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
  name: ingress-nginx-admission
  namespace: ingress-nginx

Deploy the manifest.

kubectl apply -f admission-service-account.yaml

Create Validating Webhook Configuration

Create a file named validating-webhook.yaml and copy the following contents.

---
apiVersion: admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1
kind: ValidatingWebhookConfiguration
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: admission-webhook
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-admission
webhooks:
- admissionReviewVersions:
  - v1
  clientConfig:
    service:
      name: ingress-nginx-controller-admission
      namespace: ingress-nginx
      path: /networking/v1/ingresses
  failurePolicy: Fail
  matchPolicy: Equivalent
  name: validate.nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io
  rules:
  - apiGroups:
    - networking.k8s.io
    apiVersions:
    - v1
    operations:
    - CREATE
    - UPDATE
    resources:
    - ingresses
  sideEffects: None

Create the ValidatingWebhookConfiguration

kubectl apply -f validating-webhook.yaml

Deploy Jobs To Update Webhook Certificates

The ValidatingWebhookConfiguration works only over HTTPS. So it needs a CA bundle.

We use kube-webhook-certgen to generate a CA cert bundle with the first job. The generated CA certs are stored in a secret named ingress-nginx-admission

The second job patches the ValidatingWebhookConfiguration object with the CA bundle.

Create a file named jobs.yaml and copy the following contents.


---
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: Job
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-admission-create
  namespace: ingress-nginx
spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
        app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
        app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
      name: ingress-nginx-admission-create
    spec:
      containers:
      - args:
        - create
        - --host=ingress-nginx-controller-admission,ingress-nginx-controller-admission.$(POD_NAMESPACE).svc
        - --namespace=$(POD_NAMESPACE)
        - --secret-name=ingress-nginx-admission
        env:
        - name: POD_NAMESPACE
          valueFrom:
            fieldRef:
              fieldPath: metadata.namespace
        image: registry.k8s.io/ingress-nginx/kube-webhook-certgen:v20231011-8b53cabe0
        imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
        name: create
        securityContext:
          allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
      nodeSelector:
        kubernetes.io/os: linux
      restartPolicy: OnFailure
      securityContext:
        runAsNonRoot: true
        runAsUser: 2000
      serviceAccountName: ingress-nginx-admission
---
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: Job
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: admission-webhook
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-admission-patch
  namespace: ingress-nginx
spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app.kubernetes.io/component: admission-webhook
        app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
        app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
      name: ingress-nginx-admission-patch
    spec:
      containers:
      - args:
        - patch
        - --webhook-name=ingress-nginx-admission
        - --namespace=$(POD_NAMESPACE)
        - --patch-mutating=false
        - --secret-name=ingress-nginx-admission
        - --patch-failure-policy=Fail
        env:
        - name: POD_NAMESPACE
          valueFrom:
            fieldRef:
              fieldPath: metadata.namespace
        image: registry.k8s.io/ingress-nginx/kube-webhook-certgen:v20231011-8b53cabe0
        imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
        name: patch
        securityContext:
          allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
      nodeSelector:
        kubernetes.io/os: linux
      restartPolicy: OnFailure
      securityContext:
        runAsNonRoot: true
        runAsUser: 2000
      serviceAccountName: ingress-nginx-admission

Create the jobs

kubectl apply -f jobs.yaml

Verify the job completion using the following command.

kubectl get jobs -n ingress-nginx

Once the jobs are executed, you can describe the ValidatingWebhookConfigurationand, you will see the patched bundle.

kubectl describe ValidatingWebhookConfiguration ingress-nginx-admission
Click to view in HD

Create Ingress Controller Roles & Service Account

Create a file named ingress-service-account.yaml and copy the following contents.

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: admission-webhook
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx
  namespace: ingress-nginx

---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx
  namespace: ingress-nginx
rules:
- apiGroups:
  - ""
  resources:
  - namespaces
  verbs:
  - get
- apiGroups:
  - ""
  resources:
  - configmaps
  - pods
  - secrets
  - endpoints
  verbs:
  - get
  - list
  - watch
- apiGroups:
  - ""
  resources:
  - services
  verbs:
  - get
  - list
  - watch
- apiGroups:
  - networking.k8s.io
  resources:
  - ingresses
  verbs:
  - get
  - list
  - watch
- apiGroups:
  - networking.k8s.io
  resources:
  - ingresses/status
  verbs:
  - update
- apiGroups:
  - networking.k8s.io
  resources:
  - ingressclasses
  verbs:
  - get
  - list
  - watch
- apiGroups:
  - ""
  resourceNames:
  - ingress-controller-leader
  resources:
  - configmaps
  verbs:
  - get
  - update
- apiGroups:
  - ""
  resources:
  - configmaps
  verbs:
  - create
- apiGroups:
  - ""
  resources:
  - events
  verbs:
  - create
  - patch

---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx
  namespace: ingress-nginx
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: Role
  name: ingress-nginx
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
  name: ingress-nginx
  namespace: ingress-nginx

---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx
rules:
- apiGroups:
  - ""
  resources:
  - configmaps
  - endpoints
  - nodes
  - pods
  - secrets
  - namespaces
  verbs:
  - list
  - watch
- apiGroups:
  - ""
  resources:
  - nodes
  verbs:
  - get
- apiGroups:
  - ""
  resources:
  - services
  verbs:
  - get
  - list
  - watch
- apiGroups:
  - networking.k8s.io
  resources:
  - ingresses
  verbs:
  - get
  - list
  - watch
- apiGroups:
  - ""
  resources:
  - events
  verbs:
  - create
  - patch
- apiGroups:
  - networking.k8s.io
  resources:
  - ingresses/status
  verbs:
  - update
- apiGroups:
  - networking.k8s.io
  resources:
  - ingressclasses
  verbs:
  - get
  - list
  - watch

---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: ingress-nginx
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
  name: ingress-nginx
  namespace: ingress-nginx

Deploy the manifest.

 kubectl apply -f ingress-service-account.yaml

Create Configmap

With this configmap, you can customize the Nginx settings. For example, you can set custom headers and most of the Nginx settings.

Please refer to the official community documentation for all the supported configurations.

Create a file named configmap.yaml and copy the following contents.

---
apiVersion: v1
data:
  allow-snippet-annotations: "true"
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-controller
  namespace: ingress-nginx

Create the configmap.

kubectl apply -f configmap.yaml

Create Ingress Controller & Admission Controller Services

Create a file named services.yaml and copy the following contents.

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-controller
  namespace: ingress-nginx
spec:
  externalTrafficPolicy: Local
  ipFamilies:
  - IPv4
  ipFamilyPolicy: SingleStack
  ports:
  - appProtocol: http
    name: http
    port: 80
    protocol: TCP
    targetPort: http
  - appProtocol: https
    name: https
    port: 443
    protocol: TCP
    targetPort: https
  selector:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  type: LoadBalancer
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-controller-admission
  namespace: ingress-nginx
spec:
  ports:
  - appProtocol: https
    name: https-webhook
    port: 443
    targetPort: webhook
  selector:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  type: ClusterIP

Create the services.

kubectl apply -f services.yaml

ingress-nginx-controller service creates a Loadbalancer in the respective cloud platform you are deploying.

You can get the load balancer IP/DNS using the following command.

kubectl --namespace ingress-nginx get services -o wide -w ingress-nginx-controller
Note: For each cloud provider there are specific annotations you can use to map static IP address and other configs to the Loadbalancer. Check out GCP annotations here and AWS annoatations here.

Create IngressClass

Create a file named ingressclass.yaml and copy the following contents.

---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: IngressClass
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: admission-webhook
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: nginx
spec:
  controller: k8s.io/ingress-nginx

Deploy the ingress class.

kubectl apply -f ingressclass.yaml

It will create a ingress class named nginx. We have to use this ingress class name in Ingress objects we create.

Create Ingress Controller Deployment

Create a file named deployment.yaml and copy the following contents.

---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
    app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  name: ingress-nginx-controller
  namespace: ingress-nginx
spec:
  minReadySeconds: 0
  revisionHistoryLimit: 10
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
      app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
      app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
        app.kubernetes.io/instance: ingress-nginx
        app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
    spec:
      containers:
      - args:
        - /nginx-ingress-controller
        - --publish-service=$(POD_NAMESPACE)/ingress-nginx-controller
        - --election-id=ingress-controller-leader
        - --controller-class=k8s.io/ingress-nginx
        - --configmap=$(POD_NAMESPACE)/ingress-nginx-controller
        - --validating-webhook=:8443
        - --validating-webhook-certificate=/usr/local/certificates/cert
        - --validating-webhook-key=/usr/local/certificates/key
        env:
        - name: POD_NAME
          valueFrom:
            fieldRef:
              fieldPath: metadata.name
        - name: POD_NAMESPACE
          valueFrom:
            fieldRef:
              fieldPath: metadata.namespace
        - name: LD_PRELOAD
          value: /usr/local/lib/libmimalloc.so
        image: registry.k8s.io/ingress-nginx/controller:v1.9.5
        imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
        lifecycle:
          preStop:
            exec:
              command:
              - /wait-shutdown
        livenessProbe:
          failureThreshold: 5
          httpGet:
            path: /healthz
            port: 10254
            scheme: HTTP
          initialDelaySeconds: 10
          periodSeconds: 10
          successThreshold: 1
          timeoutSeconds: 1
        name: controller
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
          name: http
          protocol: TCP
        - containerPort: 443
          name: https
          protocol: TCP
        - containerPort: 8443
          name: webhook
          protocol: TCP
        readinessProbe:
          failureThreshold: 3
          httpGet:
            path: /healthz
            port: 10254
            scheme: HTTP
          initialDelaySeconds: 10
          periodSeconds: 10
          successThreshold: 1
          timeoutSeconds: 1
        resources:
          requests:
            cpu: 100m
            memory: 90Mi
        securityContext:
          allowPrivilegeEscalation: true
          capabilities:
            add:
            - NET_BIND_SERVICE
            drop:
            - ALL
          runAsUser: 101
        volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: /usr/local/certificates/
          name: webhook-cert
          readOnly: true
      dnsPolicy: ClusterFirst
      nodeSelector:
        kubernetes.io/os: linux
      serviceAccountName: ingress-nginx
      terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 300
      volumes:
      - name: webhook-cert
        secret:
          secretName: ingress-nginx-admission

Create the deployment.

kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml

To ensure that deployment is working, check the pod status.

kubectl get pods -n ingress-nginx

Validate Ingress Controller Deployment

You can validate the ingress controller deployment using the LoadBlancer endpoint created by the service.

Nginx Ingress controller has a default backend. All the requests that doesn't have a entry in the ingress goes to this default backend.

We will validate out controller using the default backend.

Get your Loadbalancer endpoint the try to acess it. You should get a 404 error as shown below.

Now try to access the /heathz url using curl as given below. You should get a 200 response. Replace <LOAD-BALANCER-ENDPOINT> with your Loadbalancer endpoint.

curl http://<LOAD-BALANCER-ENDPOINT>/healthz

Nginx Ingress Controller Helm Deployment

If you are a Helm user, you can deploy the ingress controller using the community helm chart. ValidatingWebhookConfiguration is disabled by default in values.yaml.

Deploy the helm chart. It will create the namespace ingress-nginx if not present.

helm upgrade --install ingress-nginx ingress-nginx \
  --repo https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx \
  --namespace ingress-nginx --create-namespace

Verify the helm release.

helm list -n ingress-nginx

To clean up the resources, uninstall the release.

 helm uninstall ingress-nginx -n ingress-nginx

Map a Domain Name To Nginx Ingress Loadbalancer IP

The primary goal of Ingress is to receive external traffic to services running on Kubernetes. Ideally in projects, a DNS would be mapped to the ingress controller Loadbalancer IP.

This can be done via the respective DNS provider with the domain name you own.

Info: For internet-facing apps, it will be public DNS pointing to the public IP of the load balancer. If it's an internal app, it will be an organization's private DNS mapped to a private load balancer IP.

Single DNS Mapping

You can map a single domain directly as an A record to the load balancer IP. Using this you can have only one domain for the ingress controller and multiple path-based traffic routing.

For example,

www.example.com --> Loadbalancer IP

You can also have path-based routing using this model.

Few examples,

http://www.example.com/app1
http://www.example.com/app2
http://www.example.com/app1/api
http://www.example.com/app2/api

Wildcard DNS Mapping

If you map a wildcard DNS to the load balancer, you can have dynamic DNS endpoints through ingress.

Once you add the wildcard entry in the DNS records, you need to mention the required DNS in the ingress object and the Nginx ingress controller will take care of routing it to the required service endpoint.

For example, check the following two mappings.

*.example.com --> Loadbalancer IP
*.apps.example.com --> Loadbalancer IP

This way you can have multiple dynamic subdomains through a single ingress controller and each DNS can have its own path-based routing.

Few examples,

#URL one

http://demo1.example.com/api
http://demo1.example.com/api/v1
http://demo1.example.com/api/v2

#app specific urls

http://grafana.apps.example.com
http://prometheus.apps.example.com

#URL two

http://demo2.apps.example.com/api
http://demo2.apps.example.com/api/v1
http://demo2.apps.example.com/api/v2

For demo purposes, I have mapped a wildcard DNS to the LoadBalancer IP. Based on your DNS provider, you can add the DNS record.

The following image shows the DNS records I used for this blog demo. I used EKS so instead of Loadnbalacer IP, I have a DNS of network load balancer endpoint which will be a CNAME. In the case of GKE, you will get an IP and in that case, you need to create an A record.

nginx ingress controller DNS mapping

Deploy a Demo Application

For testing ingress, we will deploy a demo application and add a ClusterIp service to it. This application will be accessible only within the cluster without ingress.

Step 1: Create a namespace named dev

kubectl create namespace dev

Step 2: create a file named hello-app.yaml and copy the following contents.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: hello-app
  namespace: dev
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: hello
  replicas: 2
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: hello
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: hello
        image: "gcr.io/google-samples/hello-app:2.0"

Step 3: Create the deployment using kubectl

kubectl create -f hello-app.yaml

Check the deployment status.

kubectl get deployments -n dev

Step 5: Create a file named hello-app-service.yaml and copy the following contents and save the file.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: hello-service
  namespace: dev
  labels:
    app: hello
spec:
  type: ClusterIP
  selector:
    app: hello
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 8080
    protocol: TCP

Step 6: Create the service using kubectl.

kubectl create -f hello-app-service.yaml

Create Ingress Object for Application

Now let’s create an ingress object to access our hello app using a DNS. An ingress object is nothing but a set of routing rules.

If you are wondering how the ingress object is connected to the Nginx controller, the ingress controller pod connects to the Ingress API to check for rules and it updates its nginx.conf accordingly.

Since I have wildcard DNS mapped (*.apps.mlopshub.com) with the DNS provider, I will use demo.apps.mlopshub.com to point to the hello app service.

Step 1: Create a file named ingress.yaml

Step 2: Copy the following contents and save the file.

Replace demo.apps.mlopshub.com with your domain name. Also, we are creating this ingress object in the dev namespace becuase the hello app is running in the dev namespace.

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: test-ingress
  namespace: dev
spec:
  ingressClassName: nginx
  rules:
  - host: "demo.apps.mlopshub.com"
    http:
      paths:
        - pathType: Prefix
          path: "/"
          backend:
            service:
              name: hello-service
              port:
                number: 80

Step 3: Describe created ingress object created to check the configurations.

kubectl describe ingress  -n dev

Now if I try to access demo.apps.mlopshub.com domain, I will be able to access the hello app as shown below. (You should replace it with your domain name)

You might face https error in the browser. in that case you can use a curl command to verify ingress endpoint.

curl demo.apps.mlopshub.com

TLS With Nginx Ingress

You can configure TLS certificates with each ingress object. The TLS gets terminated at the ingress controller level.

The following image shows the ingress TLS config. The TLS certificate needs to be added as a secret object.

Nginx controller SSL/TLS certificates

I have written a detailed article on Ingress TLS configuration.

👉 Take a look at the guide to configure ingress TLS on Kubernetes.

Conclusion

In this article, we have learned how to set up the Nginx ingress controller.

It is very easy to get started. However, for project implementation ensure that you go through all Nginx configurations and tune them according to the requirements.

With the Nginx controller configmap, you can configure all the Nginx settings without redeploying the controller.

I hope you enjoyed this guide on Nginx ingress controller.

Let me know your thoughts and queries in the comment section.

Also, if you are learning Kubernetes, check out my comprehensive Kubernetes tutorials.

Kubernetes HOW TO GUIDES ingress
About the author
Bibin Wilson

Bibin Wilson

Bibin Wilson (authored over 300 tech tutorials) is a cloud and DevOps consultant with over 12+ years of IT experience. He has extensive hands-on experience with public cloud platforms and Kubernetes.

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