Install Traefik Ingress Controller in Kubernetes

^{Credits: Logo by traefik.io}

Provide load balancing, SSL termination and name-based virtual hosting on a Kubernetes (k3s) cluster using Traefik ingress controller.

• K8s Controller
  • Prepare
  • Install
  • Uninstall
• Traefik Dashboard
  • Certificate
  • Authentication
  • Ingress
• Demo Application
  • Prepare
  • Install
  • Uninstall
  • Certificate
  • Ingress
• Summary

Note: The domain referenced in this post is MY_DOMAIN, please change accordingly. If you interested in a local-only work mode, you don’t have to pay for a new domain, just decide on a name and use it. For example, if your desired domain is homelab.com, replace MY_DOMAIN with homelab.

Prerequisites

• Setting Up a Raspberry Pi Cluster
• Install Rancher K3s on Raspberry Pi Cluster
• Installing Helm, Kubernetes Package Manager
• Install Certificate Manager Controller in Kubernetes

What is an Ingress Controller?
It is an API object that manages external access to a deployed service in a Kubernetes cluster, typically via HTTP/S. It provides load balancing, SSL termination and name-based virtual hosting.

Why would I want to use an Ingress Controller?
These are some of the immediate benefits using an ingress controller:

• Simplify the way internal services interact with each other and re-route when required by changing only the Traefik routing rule.

   

  Note: Instead of relying on an IP address that might change, simply define a hosted name e.g. serviceA.domain.com to address serviceA and use that on other internal services and/or from outside the cluster when in need to call serviceA.
  Isn't serviceA.domain.com easier to remember than 192.169.200.xxx ?

• Allows HTTPS traffic from outside the Kubernetes cluster while terminating encryption and allowing HTTP traffic between services within the cluster

• Load balance traffic between services hosted outside the Kubernetes cluster

Note: Traefik is using custom cluster resource definitions. These CRDs gets installed via Traefik 2 Helm Chart. For CRDs schema click here.

K8s Controller

Traefik is a Kubernetes controller that manage the access to cluster services by supporting the Ingress specification. It receives requests on behalf of your system and finds out which components are responsible for handling them.

Prepare

We want Kubernetes to create the Traefik pod on the master node. In order to do that, we'll have to label that node and use nodeSelector attribute when installing Traefik Helm chart.

1. Get all nodes names and labels
   

   kubectl get nodes --show-labels
   

    

2. Label kmaster node with node-type=master
   

   kubectl label nodes kmaster node-type=master
   

    

   Note: To remove a label, use the same command with dash after the label name e.g. kubectl label nodes kmaster node-type-."

3. Verify that label had been created successfully
   

   kubectl get nodes --show-labels | grep node-type
   

Install

1. Create a traefik namespace
   

   kubectl create namespace traefik
   

    

2. Add the containous Helm repository hosting the Traefik charts metadata
   

   helm repo add traefik https://containous.github.io/traefik-helm-chart
   

    

3. Update local Helm chart repository cache
   

   helm repo update
   

    

4. Search for latest traefik/traefik official Helm chart version
   

   helm search repo traefik
   
   # NAME              CHART VERSION   APP VERSION
   # traefik/traefik   9.1.1           2.2.8      
   

    

5. Install the Traefik Helm chart using the version from previous step
   

   helm upgrade --install traefik \
       --namespace traefik \
       --set dashboard.enabled=true \
       --set rbac.enabled=true \
       --set nodeSelector.node-type=master \
       --set="additionalArguments={--api.dashboard=true,--log.level=INFO,--providers.kubernetesingress.ingressclass=traefik-internal,--serversTransport.insecureSkipVerify=true}" \
       traefik/traefik \
       --version 9.1.1
   

    

6. Verify installation
   

   # Make sure all traefik deployed pods are running
   kubectl get pods --namespace traefik
   
   # Make sure custom resources *.traefik.containo.us were created successfully 
   kubectl get crd | grep traefik
   

    

Uninstall

1. Remove traefik from the cluster
   

   helm uninstall traefik --namespace traefik
   

    

2. Clear the traefik namespace
   

   kubectl delete namespaces traefik
   

    

Traefik Dashboard

Dashboard is installed but disabled by default for security reasons. We will want to avoid using the kubectl proxy-forward option and allow the dashboard via HTTPS with proper TLS/Cert.

Certificate

We will create a certificate using cert-manager to allow accessing the Traefik dashboard via the hosted name traefik.MY_DOMAIN.com within our home network. Create a self signed certificate as described in here under traefik namespace.

Verify that a TLS secret had been created for the certificate:

kubectl get secret MY_DOMAIN-com-cert-secret --namespace traefik

Authentication

We will create a user / password basic authentication, please read here if you wish to use a different method.

1. Generate a flat-file that stores a username and password for basic authentication
   

   bash <<'EOF'
   
   # Change these credentials to your own
   export TRAEFIK_UI_USER=admin
   export TRAEFIK_UI_PASS=dashboard
   export DESTINATION_FOLDER=${HOME}/temp/traefik-ui-creds
   
   # Backup credentials to local files (in case you'll forget them later on)
   mkdir -p ${DESTINATION_FOLDER}
   echo $TRAEFIK_UI_USER >> ${DESTINATION_FOLDER}/traefik-ui-user.txt
   echo $TRAEFIK_UI_PASS >> ${DESTINATION_FOLDER}/traefik-ui-pass.txt
   
   htpasswd -Bbn ${TRAEFIK_UI_USER} ${TRAEFIK_UI_PASS} \
       > ${DESTINATION_FOLDER}/htpasswd
   
   unset TRAEFIK_UI_USER TRAEFIK_UI_PASS DESTINATION_FOLDER
   
   EOF
   

    

2. Create a Kubernetes secret based on the basic authentication file
   

   kubectl create secret generic traefik-dashboard-auth-secret \
     --from-file=$HOME/temp/traefik-ui-creds/htpasswd \
     --namespace traefik
   

    

Ingress

1. Create an IngressRoute for accessing the dashboard, make sure to replace MY_DOMAIN with your domain name
   

   cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
   apiVersion: traefik.containo.us/v1alpha1
   kind: IngressRoute
   metadata:
     name: traefik-dashboard
     namespace: traefik
   spec:
     entryPoints:
       - websecure
     routes:
       - kind: Rule
         match: Host(\`traefik.MY_DOMAIN.com\`) && (PathPrefix(\`/api\`) || PathPrefix(\`/dashboard\`))
         services:
           - name: api@internal
             kind: TraefikService
         middlewares:
           - name: traefik-dashboard-auth # Referencing the BasicAuth middleware
             namespace: traefik
     tls:
       secretName: MY_DOMAIN-com-cert-secret
   ---
   apiVersion: traefik.containo.us/v1alpha1
   kind: Middleware
   metadata:
     name: traefik-dashboard-auth
     namespace: traefik
   spec:
     basicAuth:
       secret: traefik-dashboard-auth-secret
   EOF
   

    

2. Check that resources were created successfully
   

   # IngressRoute
   kubectl describe ingressroute traefik-dashboard --namespace traefik
   
   # Middleware
   kubectl describe middleware traefik-dashboard-auth --namespace traefik
   

    

3. Check there are no error logs
   

   kubectl logs -f $(kubectl get pods --namespace traefik | grep "^traefik" | awk '{print $1}') --namespace traefik
   

    

4. Set a hosted name traefik.MY_DOMAIN.com on a client machine (laptop/desktop)
   

   # Edit the file using `sudo /etc/hosts`
   # Append manualy to the existing k3s hosted name 
   111.222.333.444 kmaster, traefik.MY_DOMAIN.com
   
   # Alternatively, add a new hosted name entry with a one-liner
   echo -e "111.222.333.444\ttraefik.MY_DOMAIN.com" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts
   

    

   Note: Replace 111.222.333.444 with the k3s master node IP address and MY_DOMAIN with your domain name.

5. Open browser at https://traefik.MY_DOMAIN.com/dashboard/

   Note: If you encounter an untrusted certificate warning, please follow the cert-manager post Trust section for instructions on how to trust the traefik certificate.

   Dashboard:
   

    

Demo Application

We will deploy an example whoami application that returns basic information about the client issuing the request. It'll allow us to check that Traefik was deployed successfully by addressing our demo application using whoami.MY_DOMAIN.com.

Prepare

Before deploying our application to the Kubernetes cluster, we will have to define which node(s) are eligible of assigning pods for it.

We will use the node-type=master label created at the Prepare step of the Traefik installation. To assign the whoami pod(s) to the kmaster node, we will use the nodeSelector attribute on a Kubernetes resource (Deployment / Pod) with that label.

Install

1. Create a playground namespace
   

   kubectl create namespace playground
   

    

2. Create Kubernetes Deployment and Service with x2 running instances of the whoami application
   

   cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
   apiVersion: apps/v1
   kind: Deployment
   metadata:
     name: whoami
     namespace: playground
     labels:
       app: containous
       name: whoami
   spec:
     replicas: 2
     selector:
       matchLabels:
         app: containous
         task: whoami
     template:
       metadata:
         labels:
           app: containous
           task: whoami
       spec:
         nodeSelector:
           node-type: "master"
         containers:
           - name: containouswhoami
             image: containous/whoami
             ports:
               - containerPort: 80
   ---
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Service
   metadata:
     name: whoami
     namespace: playground
   spec:
     ports:
       - name: http
         port: 80
     selector:
       app: containous
       task: whoami
   EOF
   

    

   Note: Please refer to the official docs to read more about Kubernetes Deployment or Service.

3. Verify both Deployment and Service were created successfully
   

   # Deployment should indicate 2/2 running pods 
   kubectl get deployments -n playground
   
   # Service should indicate a cluster IP on port 80 without an external IP
   kubectl get services -n playground
   
   # Check that there are x2 running pods on kmaster node
   kubectl describe pods whoami -n playground | grep "Status:"
   

    

Uninstall

1. Follow the installation instructions for Deployment, Service, IngressRoute, Middleware and execute both scripts while replacing the kubectl action:
   

   # Instead of using apply
   cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -  
   ...
   EOF
   
   # Replace with delete
   cat <<EOF | kubectl delete -f - 
   ...
   EOF
   

    

2. Clear the playground namespace
   

   kubectl delete namespaces playground
   

    

Certificate

We will have to create a certificate using cert-manager to allow accessing the whoami application using the hosted name whoami.MY_DOMAIN.com within our home network. Create a self signed certificate as described in here under playground namespace.

Verify that a TLS secret had been created for the certificate:

kubectl get secret MY_DOMAIN-com-cert-secret --namespace playground

Ingress

1. Create ingress entry points to allow secure communication using HTTPS and allowing HTTP with HTTPS redirect middleware (make sure to replace MY_DOMAIN with your domain name)
   

   cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
   apiVersion: traefik.containo.us/v1alpha1
   kind: IngressRoute
   metadata:
     name: whoami-https
     namespace: playground
   spec:
     entryPoints:
       - websecure
     routes:
       - match: Host(\`whoami.MY_DOMAIN.com\`)
         kind: Rule
         priority: 10
         services:
           - name: whoami
             port: 80
     tls:
       secretName: MY_DOMAIN-com-cert-secret
   ---
   apiVersion: traefik.containo.us/v1alpha1
   kind: IngressRoute
   metadata:
     name: whoami
     namespace: playground
   spec:
     entryPoints:
       - web
     routes:
       - match: Host(\`whoami.MY_DOMAIN.com\`)
         kind: Rule
         priority: 10
         services:
           # This IngressRoute will be never called due to the redirect middleware
           - name: whoami
             port: 80
         middlewares:
           - name: https-redirect
   ---
   apiVersion: traefik.containo.us/v1alpha1
   kind: Middleware
   metadata:
     name: https-redirect
     namespace: playground
   spec:
     redirectScheme:
       scheme: https
       permanent: true
   EOF
   

    

2. Verify success status of HTTP routers and middlewares using the traefik dashboard

   HTTP Routers:
   

   HTTP Middlewares:
   

    

3. Set a hosted name whoami.MY_DOMAIN.com on a client machine (laptop/desktop)
   

   # Edit the file using `sudo /etc/hosts`
   # Append manualy to the existing k3s hosted name 
   111.222.333.444 kmaster, traefik.MY_DOMAIN.com, whoami.MY_DOMAIN.com
   
   # Alternatively, add a new hosted name entry with a one-liner
   echo -e "111.222.333.444\twhoami.MY_DOMAIN.com" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts
   

    

   Note: Replace 111.222.333.444 with the k3s master node IP address and MY_DOMAIN with your domain name.

4. Open a web-browser at https://whoami.MY_DOMAIN.com and check that you can get a response from the service(s)

   Note: Open http://whoami.MY_DOMAIN.com to check the HTTP -> HTTPS redirect.

Summary

Congratulations on completing a major part of deploying an ingress controller on your Kubernetes cluster ! 💪

What now? Now that you are familiar with how to use Traefik as an ingress controller, you can simplify the inter-services communication within the cluster and expose applications APIs / Web-UI and such via HTTPS in no time.

Please leave your comment, suggestion or any other input you think is relevant to this post in the discussion below.

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Thanks for reading! ❤️