When managing traffic flow in Kubernetes, various ways exist to control routing to pods and other microservices running in a cluster. For example, using Ingress Controllers and Load Balancers. While both direct traffic to applications and microservices, they use different methods. Understanding their differences and when to use each is essential for optimizing Kubernetes networking, security, and performance.
Load Balancers in Kubernetes?
A load balancer distributes incoming traffic across multiple instances of a service to ensure high availability and reliability. Kubernetes supports external load balancers, often provided by cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP, or a dedicated load balancer solution running in a virtual machine. These load balancers can all allocate a public IP and direct traffic to backend services running in a Kubernetes cluster. It’s typical to use a Load Balancer when:
- You need direct external access to a service without additional routing logic.
- You’re running Kubernetes on a cloud platform with managed load balancing.
- You need global traffic distribution across multiple clusters or regions.
What is an Ingress Controller?
An Ingress Controller acts as a traffic gateway, managing HTTPS requests and routing them to the appropriate Kubernetes Services based on domain names, paths, or other routing criteria. Unlike a load balancer, an Ingress Controller consolidates external access through a single entry point, reducing the number of external IPs required. It’s appropriate to use an Ingress Controller when:
- You have multiple services that need controlled access under a single domain.
- You require advanced traffic routing (e.g., path-based, host-based, or header-based routing).
- You need built-in TLS termination for secure HTTPS communication.
- You want to integrate authentication, rate limiting, and observability.
Ingress Controllers and Load Balancers complement each other. A typical best practice is to use a Load Balancer at the infrastructure level to direct traffic to an Ingress Controller, which then manages fine-grained traffic routing to internal services.
Tetrate Simplifies Ingress and Load Balancing
Correctly configuring Ingress Controllers and Load Balancers delivers optimal scalability, security, and efficiency. The Tetrate Consulting Services team provides expert guidance on designing and deploying optimized, secure, and resilient Kubernetes environments. Our experts can help you optimize your Kubernetes Ingress, service mesh, and traffic management strategies. Get expert guidance on all things Kubernetes-related by connecting with Tetrate’s consulting services.