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Kubernetes Custom Resources

Traefik Hub API Gateway provides some Kubernetes Custom Resources, such as IngressRoute, Middleware, etc.

When using KubernetesCRD as a provider, Traefik Hub API Gateway uses Custom Resource Definition to retrieve its routing configuration. Traefik Hub API Gateway Custom Resource Definitions are listed below.

When Traefik Hub API Gateway is installed using the Helm Chart, by default, the provider KubernetesCRD is enabled.

Requirements

When you install Traefik Hub API Gateway without using the Helm Chart, or when you are upgrading the stack using Helm, ensure that you satisfy the following requirements:

  • Add/update all the Traefik resources definitions
  • Add/update the RBAC for the Traefik custom resources
# Install Traefik Hub API Gateway Resource Definitions:
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/traefik/traefik/v3.1/docs/content/reference/dynamic-configuration/kubernetes-crd-definition-v1.yml

# Install RBAC for Traefik Hub API Gateway:
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/traefik/traefik/v3.1/docs/content/reference/dynamic-configuration/kubernetes-crd-rbac.yml

Configuration Example

## YAML file
providers:
kubernetesCRD:
allowEmptyServices: true
nativeLBByDefault: true
throttleDuration: 2s

Configuration Options

FieldDescriptionDefaultRequired
providers.providersThrottleDurationMinimum amount of time to wait for, after a configuration reload, before taking into account any new configuration refresh event.
If multiple events occur within this time, only the most recent one is taken into account, and all others are discarded.
This option cannot be set per provider, but the throttling algorithm applies to each of them independently.
2sNo
providers.kubernetesCRD.endpointServer endpoint URL.
More information here.
""No
providers.kubernetesCRD.tokenBearer token used for the Kubernetes client configuration.""No
providers.kubernetesCRD.certAuthFilePathPath to the certificate authority file.
Used for the Kubernetes client configuration.
""No
providers.kubernetesCRD.namespacesArray of namespaces to watch.
If left empty, watch all namespaces.
No
providers.kubernetesCRD.labelselectorAllow filtering on specific resource objects only using label selectors.
Only to Traefik Custom Resources (they all must match the filter).
No effect on Kubernetes Secrets, EndpointSlices and Services.
See label-selectors for details.
""No
providers.kubernetesCRD.ingressClassValue of kubernetes.io/ingress.class annotation that identifies resource objects to be processed.
If empty, resources missing the annotation, having an empty value, or the value traefik are processed.
""No
providers.kubernetesCRD.throttleDurationMinimum amount of time to wait between two Kubernetes events before producing a new configuration.
This prevents a Kubernetes cluster that updates many times per second from continuously changing your Traefik configuration.
If empty, every event is caught.
0sNo
providers.kubernetesCRD.allowEmptyServicesAllows creating a route to reach a service that has no endpoint available.
It allows Traefik Hub API Gateway to handle the requests and responses targeting this service (applying middleware or observability operations) before returning a 503 HTTP Status.
falseNo
providers.kubernetesCRD.allowCrossNamespaceAllows the IngressRoutes to reference resources in namespaces other than theirs.falseNo
providers.kubernetesCRD.allowExternalNameServicesAllows the IngressRoutes to reference ExternalName services.falseNo
providers.kubernetesCRD.nativeLBByDefaultAllow using the Kubernetes Service load balancing between the pods instead of the one provided by Traefik Hub API Gateway for every IngressRoute by default.
It can br overriden in the ServerTransport.
falseNo
providers.kubernetesCRD.disableClusterScopeResourcesPrevent from discovering cluster scope resources (IngressClass and Nodes).
By doing so, it alleviates the requirement of giving Traefik Hub API Gateway the rights to look up for cluster resources.
Furthermore, Traefik Hub API Gateway will not handle IngressRoutes with IngressClass references, therefore such Ingresses will be ignored (please note that annotations are not affected by this option).
This will also prevent from using the NodePortLB options on services.
falseNo

endpoint

The Kubernetes server endpoint URL.

When deployed into Kubernetes, Traefik reads the environment variables KUBERNETES_SERVICE_HOST and KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT or KUBECONFIG to construct the endpoint.

The access token is looked up in /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token and the SSL CA certificate in /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/ca.crt. Both are mounted automatically when deployed inside Kubernetes.

The endpoint may be specified to override the environment variable values inside a cluster.

When the environment variables are not found, Traefik tries to connect to the Kubernetes API server with an external-cluster client. In this case, the endpoint is required. Specifically, it may be set to the URL used by kubectl proxy to connect to a Kubernetes cluster using the granted authentication and authorization of the associated kubeconfig.

List of Resources

ResourcePurposeNote
IngressRouteHTTP Routing
MiddlewareTweaks the HTTP requests before they are sent to your service
TraefikServiceAbstraction for HTTP loadbalancing/mirroring
TLSOptionsAllows configuring some parameters of the TLS connection
TLSStoresAllows configuring the default TLS store
ServersTransportAllows configuring the transport between Traefik and the backends
IngressRouteTCPTCP RoutingOnly documented in Traefik documentation yet
MiddlewareTCPTweaks the TCP requests before they are sent to your serviceOnly documented in Traefik documentation yet
ServersTransportTCPAllows configuring the transport between Traefik and the backendsOnly documented in Traefik documentation yet
IngressRouteUDPUDP RoutingOnly documented in Traefik documentation yet

Particularities

  • The usage of name and namespace to refer to another Kubernetes resource.
  • The usage of secret for sensitive data (TLS certificates and credentials).
  • The structure of the configuration.