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Configure a plugin for a specific HTTPRoute

Uses: Kong Operator
Deployment Platform
Related Documentation
Operator Documentation
TL;DR

Use an ExtensionRef or the legacy konghq.com/plugins annotation.

Prerequisites

Kong Konnect

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'

Kong Operator running

  1. Add the Kong Helm charts:

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

  2. Install Kong Operator using Helm:

    helm upgrade --install kong-operator kong/kong-operator -n kong-system \
  --create-namespace \
  --set image.tag=2.3 \
  --set env.ENABLE_CONTROLLER_KONNECT=true
  kubectl -n kong-system wait --for=condition=Available=true --timeout=300s deployment/kong-operator-kong-operator-controller-manager
    helm upgrade --install kong-operator kong/kong-operator -n kong-system \
  --create-namespace \
   --set image.tag=2.3
  kubectl -n kong-system wait --for=condition=Available=true --timeout=300s deployment/kong-operator-kong-operator-controller-manager

If you want cert-manager to issue and rotate the admission and conversion webhook certificates, install cert-manager to your cluster and enable cert-manager integration by passing the following argument while installing, in the next step:

   --set global.webhooks.options.certManager.enabled=true

If you do not enable this, the chart will generate and inject self-signed certificates automatically. We recommend enabling cert-manager to manage the lifecycle of these certificates. Kong Operator needs a certificate authority to sign the certificate for mTLS communication between the control plane and the data plane. This is handled automatically by the Helm chart. If you need to provide a custom CA certificate, refer to the certificateAuthority section in the values.yaml of the Helm chart to learn how to create and reference your own CA certificate.

Apply a KongLicense. This assumes that your license is available in ./license.json

echo "
apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1alpha1
kind: KongLicense
metadata:
 name: kong-license
rawLicenseString: '$(cat ./license.json)'
" | kubectl apply -f -

Create a KonnectAPIAuthConfiguration resource

 
kubectl create namespace kong --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -
echo '
kind: KonnectAPIAuthConfiguration
apiVersion: konnect.konghq.com/v1alpha1
metadata:
  name: konnect-api-auth
  namespace: kong
spec:
  type: token
  token: "'$KONNECT_TOKEN'"
  serverURL: us.api.konghq.com
' | kubectl apply -f -

Create Gateway resources

Create the kong namespace:

kubectl create namespace kong

Create the kong namespace:

kubectl create namespace kong --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -

Create the GatewayConfiguration, GatewayClass, and Gateway resources with basic configuration:

Setting spec.konnect.authRef attaches the data plane to Konnect, which manages its configuration:

echo '
apiVersion: gateway-operator.konghq.com/v2beta1
kind: GatewayConfiguration
metadata:
  name: gateway-configuration
  namespace: kong
spec:
  konnect:
    authRef:
      name: konnect-api-auth
      namespace: kong
  dataPlaneOptions:
    deployment:
      podTemplateSpec:
        spec:
          containers:
            - image: kong/kong-gateway:3.16
              name: proxy
---
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: GatewayClass
metadata:
  name: gateway-class
spec:
  controllerName: konghq.com/gateway-operator
  parametersRef:
    group: gateway-operator.konghq.com
    kind: GatewayConfiguration
    name: gateway-configuration
    namespace: kong
---
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Gateway
metadata:
  name: kong
  namespace: kong
  annotations:
    gateway-operator.konghq.com/static-naming: "true"
spec:
  gatewayClassName: gateway-class
  listeners:
    - name: http
      port: 80
      protocol: HTTP' | kubectl apply -f -

The gateway-operator.konghq.com/static-naming: "true" annotation gives the resources Kong Operator generates for the Gateway static, predictable names: the KonnectGatewayControlPlane it creates for the Gateway is named after the Gateway, in this case kong. You can reference that control plane from other resources before it exists, and its name in Konnect is derived from the Gateway name.

echo '
apiVersion: gateway-operator.konghq.com/v2beta1
kind: GatewayConfiguration
metadata:
  name: gateway-configuration
  namespace: kong
spec:
  dataPlaneOptions:
    deployment:
      podTemplateSpec:
        spec:
          containers:
            - image: kong/kong-gateway:3.16
              name: proxy
---
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: GatewayClass
metadata:
  name: gateway-class
spec:
  controllerName: konghq.com/gateway-operator
  parametersRef:
    group: gateway-operator.konghq.com
    kind: GatewayConfiguration
    name: gateway-configuration
    namespace: kong
---
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Gateway
metadata:
  name: kong
  namespace: kong
spec:
  gatewayClassName: gateway-class
  listeners:
    - name: http
      port: 80
      protocol: HTTP' | kubectl apply -f -

Create a Service and a Route

  1. Run the following command to create a sample echo Service:

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

  2. Create an HTTPRoute resource:

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

Create a KongPlugin

Regardless of the attachment method, you first need to define the plugin configuration using the KongPlugin CRD.

echo '
apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongPlugin
metadata:
  name: rate-limit-example
  namespace: kong
plugin: rate-limiting
config:
  minute: 5
  policy: local
' | kubectl apply -f -

Apply the plugin to the HTTPRoute

The Gateway API supports extending Route rules using filters. Kong Operator supports the ExtensionRef filter type to attach plugins directly to the HTTPRoute specification. This is the preferred method for standard Gateway API deployments.

echo '
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: HTTPRoute
metadata:
  name: echo-route
  namespace: kong
spec:
  parentRefs:
    - name: kong
  rules:
    - matches:
        - path:
            type: PathPrefix
            value: /echo
      filters:
        - type: ExtensionRef
          extensionRef:
            group: configuration.konghq.com
            kind: KongPlugin
            name: rate-limit-example
      backendRefs:
        - name: echo
          port: 1027' | kubectl apply -f -

Validate

  1. Wait for the Gateway to be programmed:

    kubectl wait --for=condition=Programmed gateway/kong -n kong --timeout=5m

  2. Get the proxy IP address:

    export PROXY_IP=$(kubectl get gateway kong -n kong -o jsonpath='{.status.addresses[0].value}')

  3. Send multiple requests to the /echo endpoint:

    for _ in {1..6}; do
  curl  -i http://$PROXY_IP/echo  
  echo
done
    for _ in {1..6}; do
  curl  -i http://$PROXY_IP/echo  
  echo
done

    On the last request, you should get a 429 response with the message API rate limit exceeded.

Cleanup

Delete the resources created in this guide

Deleting the Gateway also deletes the control plane and data plane resources Kong Operator created for it. Deleting the kong-system namespace removes the operator:

kubectl delete -n kong --ignore-not-found \
  kongplugin/rate-limit-example \
  httproute/echo-route \
  service/echo \
  gateway/kong \
  gatewayconfiguration/gateway-configuration
kubectl delete --ignore-not-found gatewayclass/gateway-class
kubectl delete --ignore-not-found namespace kong
helm uninstall kong-operator -n kong-system
kubectl delete --ignore-not-found namespace kong-system
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