How to configure Ingress controllers?

· Category: Kubernetes

Short answer

An Ingress controller is a pod that watches Ingress resources and configures a reverse proxy accordingly. Install one using Helm or raw manifests, then deploy Ingress resources to route traffic.

Steps

  1. Install an Ingress controller such as ingress-nginx.
  2. Verify the controller pods are running.
  3. Create Ingress resources.
  4. Point DNS to the controller's external IP or load balancer.

Example

Install NGINX Ingress Controller:

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

Create an Ingress:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /
spec:
  ingressClassName: nginx
  rules:
  - host: app.local
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: web
            port:
              number: 80

Tips

  • Use IngressClass to manage multiple controllers.
  • Enable SSL with cert-manager for automatic Let's Encrypt certificates.
  • Monitor controller metrics for latency and error rates.

Common issues

  • The controller must be installed before Ingress resources take effect.
  • Annotations vary between controllers.
  • Load balancer provisioning may take several minutes in cloud environments.