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A Kubernetes Ingress object describes HTTP or HTTPS routing intent; it does not route traffic by itself. An ingress controller watches Kubernetes resources and configures a proxy or load balancer to carry out those rules. For new designs, also consider the Gateway API: Kubernetes recommends it over Ingress, although the Ingress API remains available for existing deployments.
Why do I need an ingress controller?
An Ingress resource can describe which hostnames and URL paths should reach which Kubernetes Services, along with TLS-related settings. A running controller is the component that watches those declarations and makes them effective by configuring a data plane, such as a proxy or load balancer. Without a suitable controller, the routing rules are only configuration in the Kubernetes API.
The ingressClassName field associates an Ingress with an IngressClass, identifying the implementation intended to handle it. A cluster can have multiple controllers, so the class and each controller’s configuration determine which implementation responds to a given resource. Kubernetes notes that implementations can behave differently; see its Ingress concepts documentation and Ingress API reference.
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Should a new project use Ingress or Gateway API?
Kubernetes documentation states: “The Kubernetes project recommends using Gateway instead of Ingress.” The Ingress API remains generally available and Kubernetes has no plan to remove it, but the API is frozen and is not receiving further development. Existing Ingress deployments can continue; for new work, evaluate the Gateway API and confirm that a suitable implementation supports the resources and features your design needs. See Kubernetes Services, Load Balancing, and Networking.
Gateway API is an API, not a traffic-routing implementation on its own. As with Ingress, you need an implementation that accepts the API resources and configures the data plane. Before migrating, inventory annotations and custom resources as well as standard fields: features expressed through implementation-specific extensions may need to be redesigned or replaced.
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How do I choose an ingress controller?
Start with the requirements of your workload and operations team, not a popularity ranking. Kubernetes lists implementations across different proxy, gateway, cloud-load-balancer, and vendor ecosystems, and cautions that they do not all behave alike. Check the documentation for the exact implementation and version you plan to run.
1. Choose the API and migration path
- For new deployments, assess Gateway API support alongside any need to maintain Ingress-based workloads.
- For an existing cluster, map each Ingress to its class and controller, then identify annotations, ConfigMaps, and custom resources before changing implementations.
- Confirm which Gateway API resources and features the chosen implementation supports; API-level direction alone does not establish implementation support.
2. Verify protocols and routing behavior
Confirm HTTP and HTTPS host-and-path routing, then separately check any need for TCP, UDP, gRPC, WebSockets, or TLS passthrough. Those capabilities are implementation-specific. For example, F5’s documentation for its NGINX Ingress Controller lists HTTP content routing, TLS termination, WebSocket, gRPC, TCP, and UDP load balancing. That is a description of that implementation, not a general guarantee for ingress controllers. See F5 NGINX Ingress Controller documentation.
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3. Check TLS details, not just whether TLS is supported
Review how certificates are configured and whether the implementation terminates TLS or supports passthrough. The Kubernetes API reference describes TLS configuration and port 443 behavior, while noting that SNI behavior depends on the controller. Confirm certificate selection, SNI handling, and any port or passthrough limitations in the implementation’s documentation rather than assuming that all controllers interpret the same configuration identically.
4. Balance portability against extensions
Standard API fields are generally easier to move between implementations than vendor-specific configuration. Extensions can be valuable when they provide a needed feature, but they can add migration work. F5 documents configuration through annotations and ConfigMaps as well as its VirtualServer, VirtualServerRoute, and TransportServer resources. Check which of your requirements depend on such extensions and whether an alternative exists in the API you intend to use.
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5. Match the operational model to your team
- Review installation, upgrades, permissions, and the namespaces the controller watches.
- Decide how class selection and default-class behavior will work, especially if several controllers share the cluster.
- Plan observability, redundancy, and scaling, and assign responsibility for controller operations separately from ownership of route configuration where appropriate.
- Check compatibility with your Kubernetes versions and deployment environment.
Kubernetes documentation allows multiple controllers and points users to implementation-specific caveats; it does not define one universal operational model. HAProxy’s description of a controller running in-cluster is one example, not a requirement for every implementation. See HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress Controller documentation.
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6. Verify maintenance and security status
Before adopting an implementation, check its maintainers’ current release cadence, supported Kubernetes versions, security-response process, and project status. Be precise about project identity: the Kubernetes ingress-nginx project and F5’s separately documented NGINX Ingress Controller are distinct projects. A vendor documentation page reports that Kubernetes ingress-nginx announced retirement in March 2026 and links to an official Kubernetes announcement. Because maintenance status can change and the primary announcement is the authoritative source, verify that announcement and the project’s current status directly before relying on the report.
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What do the implementation examples show?
- F5 NGINX Ingress Controller: F5 documents an implementation for NGINX and NGINX Plus that integrates through the Kubernetes API. Its documented protocol and routing capabilities, along with annotations, ConfigMaps, and custom resources, illustrate why feature claims must be tied to a specific implementation and configuration method.
- HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress Controller: HAProxy describes a controller that interprets Kubernetes Ingress rules and updates HAProxy configuration as pod membership changes. This is an example of reconciliation, not evidence of a comparative performance advantage.
These examples are vendor documentation, not an apples-to-apples evaluation. The available information does not establish a universal best controller, comparative benchmark, or exhaustive current feature matrix.
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