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Installing and Configuring

Getting started

If you are getting started with Kong for Kubernetes, install it on Minikube using our Minikube setup guide.

Once you’ve installed the Kong Ingress Controller, please follow our getting started tutorial to learn about how to use the Ingress Controller.

Overview

The Kong Ingress Controller can be installed on a local, managed or any Kubernetes cluster which supports a service of type LoadBalancer.

As explained in the deployment document, there are a variety of configurations and runtimes for the Kong Ingress Controller.

Since version 2.4, Kong Ingress Controller includes support for the new Gateway APIs standard by default, but Kubernetes itself does not. You must install the Gateway API resources and restart any Kong Ingress Controller instances after to use this feature.

Although the admission webhook is not enabled by all deployment methods, it is strongly recommended for any production cluster.

The following sections detail on deployment steps for all the different runtimes:

Kong for Kubernetes

Kong for Kubernetes is an Ingress Controller based on the Open-Source Kong Gateway. It consists of two components:

• Kong: the Open-Source Gateway
• Controller: a daemon process that integrates with the Kubernetes platform and configures Kong.

Please follow this guide to deploy Kong for Kubernetes using an installation method of your choice.

Kong for Kubernetes Enterprise

Kong for Kubernetes Enterprise is an enhanced version of the Open-Source Ingress Controller. It includes all Enterprise plugins and comes with 24x7 support for worry-free production deployment. This is available to enterprise customers of Kong, Inc. only.

Please follow this guide to deploy Kong for Kubernetes Enterprise if you have purchased or are trying out Kong Gateway Enterprise.

Kong for Kubernetes with Kong Gateway Enterprise

Kong for Kubernetes can integrate with Kong Gateway Enterprise to provide a single pane of visibility across all of your services that are running in Kubernetes and non-Kubernetes environments.

This guide goes into details of the architecture and how one can set that up.

Admission Webhook

Kong Ingress Controller offers an admission webhook. This webhook validates updates to KongConsumer, credential Secret, and Kong(Cluster)Plugin resources. When the webhook is enabled, kubectl will display an error indicating why the configuration is invalid.

To enable the admission webhook, follow the admission webhook guide.