Configuring NGINX Ingress Controller in Bare Metal Kubernetes using MetalLB

Configuring NGINX Ingress Controller in Bare Metal Kubernetes using MetalLB

Configuring NGINX Ingress Controller in Bare Metal Kubernetes using MetalLB

In this guide, we'll walk through the process of setting up the NGINX Ingress Controller in a bare metal Kubernetes cluster using MetalLB. MetalLB provides a load-balancer implementation for environments that do not natively support one, such as bare metal clusters.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

  • A Kubernetes cluster up and running on bare metal nodes. kubectl configured to interact with your cluster. Helm (package manager for Kubernetes) installed.

Step 1: Install MetalLB MetalLB is a load balancer implementation for bare metal Kubernetes clusters. We'll start by installing MetalLB.

root@master:~# kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metallb/metallb/v0.12.1/manifests/namespace.yaml
root@master:~# kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metallb/metallb/v0.12.1/manifests/metallb.yaml

root@master:~# kubectl get pods -n metallb-system
NAME                                  READY   STATUS    RESTARTS       AGE
metallb-controller-665d96757f-kqlx4   1/1     Running   11 (23h ago)   26h
metallb-speaker-5z4cc                 4/4     Running   18 (23h ago)   4d2h
metallb-speaker-qjrlt                 4/4     Running   22 (23h ago)   4d2h
metallb-speaker-rmnln                 4/4     Running   17 (24h ago)   4d2h

Create IPPool Address

root@master:~# cat metallb-system.yaml
apiVersion: metallb.io/v1beta1
kind: IPAddressPool
metadata:
  name: cheap
  namespace: metallb-system
spec:
  addresses:
  - 172.16.16.150-172.16.16.200

Apply the above in metalb-system namespace

root@master:~# kubectl apply -f metallb-system.yaml

root@master:~# kubectl get IPAddressPool -n metallb-system
NAME    AUTO ASSIGN   AVOID BUGGY IPS   ADDRESSES
cheap   true          false             ["172.16.16.150-172.16.16.200"]

Step 2: Install NGINX Ingress Controller

1. Add the NGINX Helm repository:

root@master:/home/chicco# helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
"ingress-nginx" already exists with the same configuration, skipping

root@master:/home/chicco# helm search repo nginx
NAME                            CHART VERSION   APP VERSION     DESCRIPTION
ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx     4.10.1          1.10.1          Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX a...

2. Install the NGINX Ingress Controller:

root@master:/home/chicco# kubectl create ns ingress-nginx

root@master:/home/chicco# helm install ingress-nginx ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx -n ingress-nginx 
NAME: ingress-nginx
LAST DEPLOYED: Thu Jun 27 12:46:33 2024
NAMESPACE: ingress-nginx
STATUS: deployed
REVISION: 1
TEST SUITE: None
NOTES:
The ingress-nginx controller has been installed.
It may take a few minutes for the load balancer IP to be available.
You can watch the status by running 'kubectl get service --namespace ingress-nginx ingress-nginx-controller --output wide --watch'

An example Ingress that makes use of the controller:
  apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
  kind: Ingress
  metadata:
    name: example
    namespace: foo
  spec:
    ingressClassName: nginx
    rules:
      - host: www.example.com
        http:
          paths:
            - pathType: Prefix
              backend:
                service:
                  name: exampleService
                  port:
                    number: 80
              path: /
    # This section is only required if TLS is to be enabled for the Ingress
    tls:
      - hosts:
        - www.example.com
        secretName: example-tls

If TLS is enabled for the Ingress, a Secret containing the certificate and key must also be provided:

  apiVersion: v1
  kind: Secret
  metadata:
    name: example-tls
    namespace: foo
  data:
    tls.crt: <base64 encoded cert>
    tls.key: <base64 encoded key>
  type: kubernetes.io/tls

3. Check the NGINX Ingress Controller ingress-nginx namespace

root@master:/home/chicco# kubectl get all -n ingress-nginx
NAME                                           READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/ingress-nginx-controller-c8f499cfc-q25jq   1/1     Running   0          39s

NAME                                         TYPE           CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP     PORT(S)                      AGE
service/ingress-nginx-controller             LoadBalancer   10.103.214.79   172.16.16.150   80:31311/TCP,443:32197/TCP   40s
service/ingress-nginx-controller-admission   ClusterIP      10.97.68.133    <none>          443/TCP                      40s

NAME                                       READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
deployment.apps/ingress-nginx-controller   1/1     1            1           39s

NAME                                                 DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
replicaset.apps/ingress-nginx-controller-c8f499cfc   1         1         1       39s

We can see a Loadbalancer IP is allocated to ingress controller via Metallb

root@master:/opt/kubernetes# kubectl create secret generic my-docker-secret  --from-file=.dockerconfigjson=$HOME/.docker/config.json   --type=kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson     -n ingress-test
secret/my-docker-secret created
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  labels:
    run: blue-app
  name: blue-app
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      run: blue-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        run: blue-app
    spec:
      containers:
      - image: omvedi25/main-blue:v1
        name: blue-app
      imagePullSecrets:
      - name: my-docker-secret
-----------------------------------
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  labels:
    run: green-app
  name: green-app
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      run: green-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        run: green-app
    spec:
      containers:
      - image: omvedi25/main-green:v1
        name: green-app
      imagePullSecrets:
      - name: my-docker-secret
-------------------------------------
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  labels:
    run: red-app
  name: red-app
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      run: red-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        run: red-app
    spec:
      containers:
      - image: omvedi25/main-red:v1
        name: red-app
      imagePullSecrets:
      - name: my-docker-secret

root@master:/opt/kubernetes# kubectl create ns ingress-test
root@master:/opt/kubernetes# kubectl apply -f nginx-deploy-red.yaml -n ingress-test
deployment.apps/red-app created

root@master:/opt/kubernetes# kubectl apply -f nginx-deploy-blue.yaml -n ingress-test
deployment.apps/blue-app created

root@master:/opt/kubernetes# kubectl apply -f nginx-deploy-green.yaml -n ingress-test
deployment.apps/green-app created

Export the Service

root@master:/opt/kubernetes/# kubectl expose deploy green-aap --port 80 -n ingress-test

root@master:/opt/kubernetes/# kubectl expose deploy red-aap --port 80 -n ingress-test

root@master:/opt/kubernetes/# kubectl expose deploy blue-aap --port 80 -n ingress-test

Verify The Service

root@master:/opt/kubernetes# kubectl get svc -n ingress-test
NAME                 TYPE        CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)   AGE
blue-app         ClusterIP   10.109.208.98    <none>        80/TCP    25h
green-app        ClusterIP   10.110.140.247   <none>        80/TCP    25h
red-app          ClusterIP   10.98.179.2      <none>        80/TCP    25h

Deploy The Ingress Resource

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /
  name: ingress-resource
spec:
  ingressClassName: nginx
  rules:
  - host: nginx.arobyte.tech
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: red-app
            port:
              number: 80
      - path: /blue
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: blue-app
            port:
              number: 80
      - path: /green
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: green-app
            port:
              number: 80
root@master:/opt/kubernetes# kubectl apply -f ingress-resource.yaml

root@master:~# kubectl get ingress -n ingress-test
NAME                 CLASS   HOSTS                ADDRESS         PORTS   AGE
ingress-resource   nginx   nginx.arobyte.tech   172.16.16.150   80      25h

Verify now its working as expected

root@master:~# curl http://nginx.arobyte.tech
<h1><font color=red>Welcome to Ingress Controller</font></h1>

root@master:~# curl http://nginx.arobyte.tech/blue
<h1><font color=blue>Welcome to Ingress Controller</font></h1>

root@master:~# curl http://nginx.arobyte.tech/green
<h1><font color=green>Welcome to Ingress Controller</font></h1>

Conclusion We have successfully configured the NGINX Ingress Controller in your bare metal Kubernetes cluster using MetalLB. This setup allows you to manage and expose your Kubernetes services with ease, providing a robust load balancing solution in a bare metal environment. Feel free to explore more advanced configurations and features of MetalLB and NGINX Ingress Controller to suit your specific needs. Happy Kubernetes-ing!


Author: CloudOpsKube

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