Back to basics, getting traffic into your Kubernetes cluster

This talk goes through all the ways to get traffic into a Kubernetes cluster, from a Service NodePort to the Gateway API

However you’re using your Kubernetes cluster, you’ll sooner or later need to direct traffic into it.

At this point, you’re spoiled with choice. Kubernetes provides no less than three different objects: NodePort, Ingress, and LoadBalancer. Of course, each of them comes with its limitations. For example, LoadBalancer requires a dedicated implementation provided by Cloud Platforms but not with most local distributions.

Moreover, Kubernetes is introducing a new Gateway API, adding one more way to direct traffic to the cluster.

In this talk, I’d like to offer an overview of all four options, with their pros and cons, and a more in-depth explanation of the new Gateway API.