mTLS

If you don’t have a Konnect account, you can get started quickly with our onboarding wizard.

1. The following Konnect items are required to complete this tutorial:
   • Personal access token (PAT): Create a new personal access token by opening the Konnect PAT page and selecting Generate Token.

2. Set the personal access token as an environment variable:

   export KONNECT_TOKEN='YOUR KONNECT TOKEN'
   

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1. Install the Gateway API CRDs before installing Kong Ingress Controller.

   kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/gateway-api/releases/download/v1.3.0/standard-install.yaml
   

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2. Create a Gateway and GatewayClass instance to use.

echo "
apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: kong
---
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: GatewayClass
metadata:
  name: kong
  annotations:
    konghq.com/gatewayclass-unmanaged: 'true'
spec:
  controllerName: konghq.com/kic-gateway-controller
---
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Gateway
metadata:
  name: kong
spec:
  gatewayClassName: kong
  listeners:
  - name: proxy
    port: 80
    protocol: HTTP
    allowedRoutes:
      namespaces:
         from: All
" | kubectl apply -n kong -f -

Use the Konnect API to create a new CLUSTER_TYPE_K8S_INGRESS_CONTROLLER Control Plane:

CONTROL_PLANE_DETAILS=$(curl -X POST "https://us.api.konghq.com/v2/control-planes" \
     --no-progress-meter --fail-with-body  \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $KONNECT_TOKEN" \
     --json '{
       "name": "My KIC CP",
       "cluster_type": "CLUSTER_TYPE_K8S_INGRESS_CONTROLLER"
     }'
)

We’ll need the id and telemetry_endpoint for the values.yaml file later. Save them as environment variables:

CONTROL_PLANE_ID=$(echo $CONTROL_PLANE_DETAILS | jq -r .id)
CONTROL_PLANE_TELEMETRY=$(echo $CONTROL_PLANE_DETAILS | jq -r '.config.telemetry_endpoint | sub("https://";"")')

Create mTLS certificates

Kong Ingress Controller talks to Konnect over a connected secured with TLS certificates.

Generate a new certificate using openssl:

openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -subj "/CN=kongdp/C=US" -keyout ./tls.key -out ./tls.crt

The certificate needs to be a single line string to send it to the Konnect API with curl. Use awk to format the certificate:

export CERT=$(awk 'NF {sub(/\r/, ""); printf "%s\\n",$0;}' tls.crt);

Next, upload the certificate to Konnect:

curl -X POST "https://us.api.konghq.com/v2/control-planes/$CONTROL_PLANE_ID/dp-client-certificates" \
     --no-progress-meter --fail-with-body  \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $KONNECT_TOKEN" \
     --json '{
       "cert": "'$CERT'"
     }'

Finally, store the certificate in a Kubernetes secret so that Kong Ingress Controller can read it:

kubectl create namespace kong -o yaml --dry-run=client | kubectl apply -f -
kubectl create secret tls konnect-client-tls -n kong --cert=./tls.crt --key=./tls.key

1. Add the Kong Helm charts:

   helm repo add kong https://charts.konghq.com
   helm repo update
   

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2. Create a values.yaml file:

   cat <<EOF > values.yaml
   controller:
     ingressController:
       image:
         tag: "3.5"
       env:
         feature_gates: "FillIDs=true"
       konnect:
         license:
           enabled: true
         enabled: true
         controlPlaneID: "$CONTROL_PLANE_ID"
         tlsClientCertSecretName: konnect-client-tls
         apiHostname: "us.kic.api.konghq.com"
   gateway:
     image:
       repository: kong/kong-gateway
       tag: "3.13"
     env:
       konnect_mode: 'on'
       vitals: "off"
       cluster_mtls: pki
       cluster_telemetry_endpoint: "$CONTROL_PLANE_TELEMETRY:443"
       cluster_telemetry_server_name: "$CONTROL_PLANE_TELEMETRY"
       cluster_cert: /etc/secrets/konnect-client-tls/tls.crt
       cluster_cert_key: /etc/secrets/konnect-client-tls/tls.key
       lua_ssl_trusted_certificate: system
       proxy_access_log: "off"
       dns_stale_ttl: "3600"
     secretVolumes:
        - konnect-client-tls
   EOF
   

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3. Install Kong Ingress Controller using Helm:

   helm install kong kong/ingress -n kong --create-namespace --values ./values.yaml
   

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4. Set $PROXY_IP as an environment variable for future commands:

   export PROXY_IP=$(kubectl get svc --namespace kong kong-gateway-proxy -o jsonpath='{range .status.loadBalancer.ingress[0]}{@.ip}{@.hostname}{end}')
   echo $PROXY_IP
   

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1. Add the Kong Helm charts:

   helm repo add kong https://charts.konghq.com
   helm repo update
   

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2. Create a file named license.json containing your Kong Gateway Enterprise license and store it in a Kubernetes secret:

   kubectl create namespace kong --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -
   kubectl create secret generic kong-enterprise-license --from-file=license=./license.json -n kong
   

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3. Create a values.yaml file:

   cat <<EOF > values.yaml
   gateway:
     image:
       repository: kong/kong-gateway
       tag: "3.13"
     env:
       LICENSE_DATA:
         valueFrom:
           secretKeyRef:
             name: kong-enterprise-license
             key: license
   EOF
   

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4. Install Kong Ingress Controller using Helm:

   helm install kong kong/ingress -n kong --create-namespace --values ./values.yaml
   

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5. Set $PROXY_IP as an environment variable for future commands:

   export PROXY_IP=$(kubectl get svc --namespace kong kong-gateway-proxy -o jsonpath='{range .status.loadBalancer.ingress[0]}{@.ip}{@.hostname}{end}')
   echo $PROXY_IP
   

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This how-to requires some Kubernetes services to be available in your cluster. These services will be used by the resources created in this how-to.

kubectl apply -f https://developer.konghq.com/manifests/kic/echo-service.yaml -n kong

This how-to also requires 1 pre-configured route:

echo "
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: HTTPRoute
metadata:
  name: echo
  namespace: kong
  annotations:
    konghq.com/strip-path: 'true'
spec:
  parentRefs:
  - name: kong
    namespace: kong
  rules:
  - matches:
    - path:
        type: PathPrefix
        value: '/echo'
    backendRefs:
    - name: echo
      kind: Service
      port: 1027
" | kubectl apply -f -

echo "
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: echo
  namespace: kong
  annotations:
    konghq.com/strip-path: 'true'
spec:
  ingressClassName: kong
  rules:
  - http:
      paths:
      - path: '/echo'
        pathType: ImplementationSpecific
        backend:
          service:
            name: echo
            port:
              number: 1027
" | kubectl apply -f -