NGINX Ingress Controller Helm Chart

Introduction

This chart deploys the NGINX Ingress controller in your Kubernetes cluster.

Prerequisites

• A Kubernetes Version Supported by the Ingress Controller
• Helm 3.0+.
• Git.
• If you’d like to use NGINX Plus:
  • To pull from the F5 Container registry, configure a docker registry secret using your JWT token from the MyF5 portal by following the instructions from here. Make sure to specify the secret using controller.serviceAccount.imagePullSecretName parameter.
  • Alternatively, pull an Ingress controller image with NGINX Plus and push it to your private registry by following the instructions from here.
  • Alternatively, you can build an Ingress controller image with NGINX Plus and push it to your private registry by following the instructions from here.
  • Update the controller.image.repository field of the values-plus.yaml accordingly.
• If you’d like to use App Protect DoS, please install App Protect DoS Arbitrator helm chart. Make sure to install in the same namespace as the NGINX Ingress Controller. Note that if you install multiple NGINX Ingress Controllers in the same namespace, they will need to share the same Arbitrator because it is not possible to install more than one Arbitrator in a single namespace.

Getting the Chart Sources

This step is required if you're installing the chart using its sources. Additionally, the step is also required for managing the custom resource definitions (CRDs), which the Ingress Controller requires by default, or for upgrading/deleting the CRDs.

1. Clone the Ingress controller repo:

   $ git clone https://github.com/nginxinc/kubernetes-ingress --branch v2.1.1

   Note: If you want to use the experimental repository (edge), remove the --branch flag and value.

2. Change your working directory to /deployments/helm-chart:

   $ cd kubernetes-ingress/deployments/helm-chart

Adding the Helm Repository

This step is required if you're installing the chart via the helm repository.

$ helm repo add nginx-stable https://helm.nginx.com/stable
$ helm repo update

Note: If you want to use the experimental repository, replace stable with edge.

Installing the Chart

Installing the CRDs

By default, the Ingress Controller requires a number of custom resource definitions (CRDs) installed in the cluster. The Helm client will install those CRDs. If the CRDs are not installed, the Ingress Controller pods will not become Ready.

If you do not use the custom resources that require those CRDs (which corresponds to controller.enableCustomResources set to false and controller.appprotect.enable set to false and controller.appprotectdos.enable set to false), the installation of the CRDs can be skipped by specifying --skip-crds for the helm install command.

Installing via Helm Repository

To install the chart with the release name my-release (my-release is the name that you choose):

For NGINX:

$ helm install my-release nginx-stable/nginx-ingress

For NGINX Plus: (assuming you have pushed the Ingress controller image nginx-plus-ingress to your private registry myregistry.example.com)

$ helm install my-release nginx-stable/nginx-ingress --set controller.image.repository=myregistry.example.com/nginx-plus-ingress --set controller.nginxplus=true

Note: If you want to use the experimental repository, replace stable with edge and add the --devel flag.

Installing Using Chart Sources

To install the chart with the release name my-release (my-release is the name that you choose):

For NGINX:

$ helm install my-release .

For NGINX Plus:

$ helm install my-release -f values-plus.yaml .

Note: If you want to use the experimental repository, replace the value in the tag field inside the yaml files with edge.

The command deploys the Ingress controller in your Kubernetes cluster in the default configuration. The configuration section lists the parameters that can be configured during installation.

When deploying the Ingress controller, make sure to use your own TLS certificate and key for the default server rather than the default pre-generated ones. Read the Configuration section below to see how to configure a TLS certificate and key for the default server. Note that the default server returns the Not Found page with the 404 status code for all requests for domains for which there are no Ingress rules defined.

Upgrading the Chart

Upgrading the CRDs

Helm does not upgrade the CRDs during a release upgrade. Before you upgrade a release, run the following command to upgrade the CRDs:

$ kubectl apply -f crds/

Note: The following warning is expected and can be ignored: Warning: kubectl apply should be used on resource created by either kubectl create --save-config or kubectl apply.

Note: Make sure to check the release notes for a new release for any special upgrade procedures.

Upgrading the Release

To upgrade the release my-release:

Upgrade Using Chart Sources:

$ helm upgrade my-release .

Upgrade via Helm Repository:

$ helm upgrade my-release nginx-stable/nginx-ingress

Uninstalling the Chart

Uninstalling the Release

To uninstall/delete the release my-release:

$ helm uninstall my-release

The command removes all the Kubernetes components associated with the release and deletes the release.

Uninstalling the CRDs

Uninstalling the release does not remove the CRDs. To remove the CRDs, run:

$ kubectl delete -f crds/

Note: This command will delete all the corresponding custom resources in your cluster across all namespaces. Please ensure there are no custom resources that you want to keep and there are no other Ingress Controller releases running in the cluster.

Running Multiple Ingress Controllers

If you are running multiple Ingress Controller releases in your cluster with enabled custom resources, the releases will share a single version of the CRDs. As a result, make sure that the Ingress Controller versions match the version of the CRDs. Additionally, when uninstalling a release, ensure that you don’t remove the CRDs until there are no other Ingress Controller releases running in the cluster.

See running multiple ingress controllers for more details.

Configuration

The following tables lists the configurable parameters of the NGINX Ingress controller chart and their default values.

Parameter	Description	Default
controller.name	The name of the Ingress controller daemonset or deployment.	Autogenerated
controller.kind	The kind of the Ingress controller installation - deployment or daemonset.	deployment
controller.nginxplus	Deploys the Ingress controller for NGINX Plus.	false
controller.nginxReloadTimeout	The timeout in milliseconds which the Ingress Controller will wait for a successful NGINX reload after a change or at the initial start.	60000
controller.hostNetwork	Enables the Ingress controller pods to use the host's network namespace.	false
controller.nginxDebug	Enables debugging for NGINX. Uses the nginx-debug binary. Requires error-log-level: debug in the ConfigMap via controller.config.entries.	false
controller.logLevel	The log level of the Ingress Controller.	1
controller.image.repository	The image repository of the Ingress controller.	nginx/nginx-ingress
controller.image.tag	The tag of the Ingress controller image.	2.1.2
controller.image.pullPolicy	The pull policy for the Ingress controller image.	IfNotPresent
controller.config.name	The name of the ConfigMap used by the Ingress controller.	Autogenerated
controller.config.annotations	The annotations of the Ingress controller configmap.	{}
controller.config.entries	The entries of the ConfigMap for customizing NGINX configuration. See ConfigMap resource docs for the list of supported ConfigMap keys.	{}
controller.customPorts	A list of custom ports to expose on the NGINX ingress controller pod. Follows the conventional Kubernetes yaml syntax for container ports.	[]
controller.defaultTLS.cert	The base64-encoded TLS certificate for the default HTTPS server. If not specified, a pre-generated self-signed certificate is used. Note: It is recommended that you specify your own certificate.	A pre-generated self-signed certificate.
controller.defaultTLS.key	The base64-encoded TLS key for the default HTTPS server. Note: If not specified, a pre-generated key is used. It is recommended that you specify your own key.	A pre-generated key.
controller.defaultTLS.secret	The secret with a TLS certificate and key for the default HTTPS server. The value must follow the following format: <namespace>/<name>. Used as an alternative to specifying a certificate and key using controller.defaultTLS.cert and controller.defaultTLS.key parameters.	None
controller.wildcardTLS.cert	The base64-encoded TLS certificate for every Ingress/VirtualServer host that has TLS enabled but no secret specified. If the parameter is not set, for such Ingress/VirtualServer hosts NGINX will break any attempt to establish a TLS connection.	None
controller.wildcardTLS.key	The base64-encoded TLS key for every Ingress/VirtualServer host that has TLS enabled but no secret specified. If the parameter is not set, for such Ingress/VirtualServer hosts NGINX will break any attempt to establish a TLS connection.	None
controller.wildcardTLS.secret	The secret with a TLS certificate and key for every Ingress/VirtualServer host that has TLS enabled but no secret specified. The value must follow the following format: <namespace>/<name>. Used as an alternative to specifying a certificate and key using controller.wildcardTLS.cert and controller.wildcardTLS.key parameters.	None
controller.nodeSelector	The node selector for pod assignment for the Ingress controller pods.	{}
controller.terminationGracePeriodSeconds	The termination grace period of the Ingress controller pod.	30
controller.tolerations	The tolerations of the Ingress controller pods.	[]
controller.affinity	The affinity of the Ingress controller pods.	{}
controller.volumes	The volumes of the Ingress controller pods.	[]
controller.volumeMounts	The volumeMounts of the Ingress controller pods.	[]
controller.initContainers	InitContainers for the Ingress controller pods.	[]
controller.extraContainers	Extra (eg. sidecar) containers for the Ingress controller pods.	[]
controller.resources	The resources of the Ingress controller pods.	{}
controller.replicaCount	The number of replicas of the Ingress controller deployment.	1
controller.ingressClass	A class of the Ingress controller. An IngressClass resource with the name equal to the class must be deployed. Otherwise, the Ingress Controller will fail to start. The Ingress controller only processes resources that belong to its class - i.e. have the "ingressClassName" field resource equal to the class. The Ingress Controller processes all the VirtualServer/VirtualServerRoute/TransportServer resources that do not have the "ingressClassName" field for all versions of kubernetes.	nginx
controller.setAsDefaultIngress	New Ingresses without an "ingressClassName" field specified will be assigned the class specified in controller.ingressClass.	false
controller.watchNamespace	Namespace to watch for Ingress resources. By default the Ingress controller watches all namespaces.	""
controller.enableCustomResources	Enable the custom resources.	true
controller.enablePreviewPolicies	Enable preview policies. This parameter is deprecated. To enable OIDC Policies please use controller.enableOIDC instead.	false
controller.enableOIDC	Enable OIDC policies.	false
controller.enableTLSPassthrough	Enable TLS Passthrough on port 443. Requires controller.enableCustomResources.	false
controller.enableCertManager	Enable x509 automated certificate management for VirtualServer resources using cert-manager (cert-manager.io). Requires controller.enableCustomResources.	false
controller.globalConfiguration.create	Creates the GlobalConfiguration custom resource. Requires controller.enableCustomResources.	false
controller.globalConfiguration.spec	The spec of the GlobalConfiguration for defining the global configuration parameters of the Ingress Controller.	{}
controller.enableSnippets	Enable custom NGINX configuration snippets in Ingress, VirtualServer, VirtualServerRoute and TransportServer resources.	false
controller.healthStatus	Add a location "/nginx-health" to the default server. The location responds with the 200 status code for any request. Useful for external health-checking of the Ingress controller.	false
controller.healthStatusURI	Sets the URI of health status location in the default server. Requires controller.healthStatus.	"/nginx-health"
controller.nginxStatus.enable	Enable the NGINX stub_status, or the NGINX Plus API.	true
controller.nginxStatus.port	Set the port where the NGINX stub_status or the NGINX Plus API is exposed.	8080
controller.nginxStatus.allowCidrs	Add IP/CIDR blocks to the allow list for NGINX stub_status or the NGINX Plus API. Separate multiple IP/CIDR by commas.	127.0.0.1,::1
controller.priorityClassName	The PriorityClass of the Ingress controller pods.	None
controller.service.create	Creates a service to expose the Ingress controller pods.	true
controller.service.type	The type of service to create for the Ingress controller.	LoadBalancer
controller.service.externalTrafficPolicy	The externalTrafficPolicy of the service. The value Local preserves the client source IP.	Local
controller.service.annotations	The annotations of the Ingress controller service.	{}
controller.service.extraLabels	The extra labels of the service.	{}
controller.service.loadBalancerIP	The static IP address for the load balancer. Requires controller.service.type set to LoadBalancer. The cloud provider must support this feature.	""
controller.service.externalIPs	The list of external IPs for the Ingress controller service.	[]
controller.service.loadBalancerSourceRanges	The IP ranges (CIDR) that are allowed to access the load balancer. Requires controller.service.type set to LoadBalancer. The cloud provider must support this feature.	[]
controller.service.name	The name of the service.	Autogenerated
controller.service.customPorts	A list of custom ports to expose through the Ingress controller service. Follows the conventional Kubernetes yaml syntax for service ports.	[]
controller.service.httpPort.enable	Enables the HTTP port for the Ingress controller service.	true
controller.service.httpPort.port	The HTTP port of the Ingress controller service.	80
controller.service.httpPort.nodePort	The custom NodePort for the HTTP port. Requires controller.service.type set to NodePort.	""
controller.service.httpPort.targetPort	The target port of the HTTP port of the Ingress controller service.	80
controller.service.httpsPort.enable	Enables the HTTPS port for the Ingress controller service.	true
controller.service.httpsPort.port	The HTTPS port of the Ingress controller service.	443
controller.service.httpsPort.nodePort	The custom NodePort for the HTTPS port. Requires controller.service.type set to NodePort.	""
controller.service.httpsPort.targetPort	The target port of the HTTPS port of the Ingress controller service.	443
controller.serviceAccount.name	The name of the service account of the Ingress controller pods. Used for RBAC.	Autogenerated
controller.serviceAccount.imagePullSecretName	The name of the secret containing docker registry credentials. Secret must exist in the same namespace as the helm release.	""
controller.reportIngressStatus.enable	Updates the address field in the status of Ingress resources with an external address of the Ingress controller. You must also specify the source of the external address either through an external service via controller.reportIngressStatus.externalService, controller.reportIngressStatus.ingressLink or the external-status-address entry in the ConfigMap via controller.config.entries. Note: controller.config.entries.external-status-address takes precedence over the others.	true
controller.reportIngressStatus.externalService	Specifies the name of the service with the type LoadBalancer through which the Ingress controller is exposed externally. The external address of the service is used when reporting the status of Ingress, VirtualServer and VirtualServerRoute resources. controller.reportIngressStatus.enable must be set to true. The default is autogenerated and enabled when controller.service.create is set to true and controller.service.type is set to LoadBalancer.	Autogenerated
controller.reportIngressStatus.ingressLink	Specifies the name of the IngressLink resource, which exposes the Ingress Controller pods via a BIG-IP system. The IP of the BIG-IP system is used when reporting the status of Ingress, VirtualServer and VirtualServerRoute resources. controller.reportIngressStatus.enable must be set to true.	""
controller.reportIngressStatus.enableLeaderElection	Enable Leader election to avoid multiple replicas of the controller reporting the status of Ingress resources. controller.reportIngressStatus.enable must be set to true.	true
controller.reportIngressStatus.leaderElectionLockName	Specifies the name of the ConfigMap, within the same namespace as the controller, used as the lock for leader election. controller.reportIngressStatus.enableLeaderElection must be set to true.	Autogenerated
controller.reportIngressStatus.annotations	The annotations of the leader election configmap.	{}
controller.pod.annotations	The annotations of the Ingress Controller pod.	{}
controller.pod.extraLabels	The additional extra labels of the Ingress Controller pod.	{}
controller.appprotect.enable	Enables the App Protect module in the Ingress Controller.	false
controller.appprotectdos.enable	Enables the App Protect DoS module in the Ingress Controller.	false
controller.appprotectdos.debug	Enable debugging for App Protect DoS.	false
controller.appprotectdos.maxDaemons	Max number of ADMD instances.	1
controller.appprotectdos.maxWorkers	Max number of nginx processes to support.	Number of CPU cores in the machine
controller.appprotectdos.memory	RAM memory size to consume in MB.	50% of free RAM in the container or 80MB, the smaller
controller.readyStatus.enable	Enables the readiness endpoint "/nginx-ready". The endpoint returns a success code when NGINX has loaded all the config after the startup. This also configures a readiness probe for the Ingress Controller pods that uses the readiness endpoint.	true
controller.readyStatus.port	The HTTP port for the readiness endpoint.	8081
controller.enableLatencyMetrics	Enable collection of latency metrics for upstreams. Requires prometheus.create.	false
rbac.create	Configures RBAC.	true
psp.create	Configure PodSecurityPolicies in Kubernetes installations which have enabled it. policy/v1beta1 PodSecurityPolicy is deprecated and unavailable in v1.25+.	false
prometheus.create	Expose NGINX or NGINX Plus metrics in the Prometheus format.	false
prometheus.port	Configures the port to scrape the metrics.	9113
prometheus.scheme	Configures the HTTP scheme to use for connections to the Prometheus endpoint.	http
prometheus.secret	The namespace / name of a Kubernetes TLS Secret. If specified, this secret is used to secure the Prometheus endpoint with TLS connections.	""
nginxServiceMesh.enable	Enable integration with NGINX Service Mesh. See the NGINX Service Mesh docs for more details. Requires controller.nginxplus.	false
nginxServiceMesh.enableEgress	Enable NGINX Service Mesh workloads to route egress traffic through the Ingress controller. See the NGINX Service Mesh docs for more details. Requires nginxServiceMesh.enable.	false

Notes

• The values-icp.yaml file is used for deploying the Ingress controller on IBM Cloud Private. See the blog post for more details.
• The values-nsm.yaml file is used for deploying the Ingress controller with NGINX Service Mesh. See the NGINX Service Mesh docs for more details.