Kubernetes Gateway API v1

Overview

Overview

Kubernetes Gateway API reached v1.0 (GA) in October 2023 and v1.2 in November 2024. It is the next-generation replacement for the Ingress API, built on a role-oriented resource model.

Role-oriented design

• Infrastructure provider — GatewayClass — Platform team creates cloud LB classes mapped to a controller (Envoy Gateway, Istio, Kong, Cilium)
• Cluster operator — Gateway — Selects a GatewayClass, configures TLS, sets listeners
• Application developer — Routes — Points routes at their own Services, with no cluster-level RBAC needed

> [!NOTE] Ingress put all configuration in one resource that required elevated permissions; Gateway API splits it by role.

Why it beats Ingress

Gateway API is more expressive, portable and extensible than Ingress. Traffic splitting, header routing and gRPC routing are native features, not annotation hacks.

• Traffic splitting — Controller-specific annotations — Weighted BackendRefs, for example a 90/10 canary
• Header and query param routing — Annotations — Native HTTPRoute matches
• gRPC routing — Annotations — GRPCRoute
• Header modification, URL rewriting, redirects, timeouts, retries — Annotation sprawl — Native HTTPRoute features

Cross-namespace routing with ReferenceGrant

> [!IMPORTANT] A ReferenceGrant in the target namespace is an explicit opt-in; without it, cross-namespace references are refused.

More DevOps topics

• Kubernetes Core Resources
• Kubernetes Custom Schedulers
• Kubernetes Deployment Strategies
• Kubernetes Descheduler
• Kubernetes Error Triage — Symptoms, Exit Codes and Cloud Equivalents
• Kubernetes Evictions and Node Pressure
• Kubernetes Multi-cloud and Hybrid Cluster Patterns
• Kubernetes Multi-tenancy Patterns
• Kubernetes Native Sidecar Containers
• Kubernetes Network Policies
• Kubernetes Networking Deep Dive
• Kubernetes Observability: Metrics, Logs, and Traces