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Network configuration | Post-installation configuration | OpenShift Container Platform 4.5
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Post-installation network configuration

After installing OpenShift Container Platform, you can further expand and customize your network to your requirements.

Configuring network policy with OpenShift SDN

Understand and work with network policy.

About network policy

In a cluster using a Kubernetes Container Network Interface (CNI) plug-in that supports Kubernetes network policy, network isolation is controlled entirely by NetworkPolicy objects. In OpenShift Container Platform 4.5, OpenShift SDN supports using network policy in its default network isolation mode.

When using the OpenShift SDN cluster network provider, the following limitations apply regarding network policies:

  • Egress network policy as specified by the egress field is not supported.

  • IPBlock is supported by network policy, but without support for except clauses. If you create a policy with an IPBlock section that includes an except clause, the SDN pods log warnings and the entire IPBlock section of that policy is ignored.

Network policy does not apply to the host network namespace. Pods with host networking enabled are unaffected by network policy rules.

By default, all pods in a project are accessible from other pods and network endpoints. To isolate one or more pods in a project, you can create NetworkPolicy objects in that project to indicate the allowed incoming connections. Project administrators can create and delete NetworkPolicy objects within their own project.

If a pod is matched by selectors in one or more NetworkPolicy objects, then the pod will accept only connections that are allowed by at least one of those NetworkPolicy objects. A pod that is not selected by any NetworkPolicy objects is fully accessible.

The following example NetworkPolicy objects demonstrate supporting different scenarios:

  • Deny all traffic:

    To make a project deny by default, add a NetworkPolicy object that matches all pods but accepts no traffic:

    kind: NetworkPolicy
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: deny-by-default
spec:
  podSelector:
  ingress: []

  • Only allow connections from the OpenShift Container Platform Ingress Controller:

    To make a project allow only connections from the OpenShift Container Platform Ingress Controller, add the following NetworkPolicy object.

    For the OVN-Kubernetes network provider plug-in, when the Ingress Controller is configured to use the HostNetwork endpoint publishing strategy, there is no supported way to apply network policy so that ingress traffic is allowed and all other traffic is denied.

    		 
    apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: allow-from-openshift-ingress
spec:
  ingress:
  - from:
    - namespaceSelector:
        matchLabels:
          network.openshift.io/policy-group: ingress
  podSelector: {}
  policyTypes:
  - Ingress

    If the Ingress Controller is configured with endpointPublishingStrategy: HostNetwork, then the Ingress Controller pod runs on the host network. When running on the host network, the traffic from the Ingress Controller is assigned the netid:0 Virtual Network ID (VNID). The netid for the namespace that is associated with the Ingress Operator is different, so the matchLabel in the allow-from-openshift-ingress network policy does not match traffic from the default Ingress Controller. With OpenShift SDN, the default namespace is assigned the netid:0 VNID and you can allow traffic from the default Ingress Controller by labeling your default namespace with network.openshift.io/policy-group: ingress.

  • Only accept connections from pods within a project:

    To make pods accept connections from other pods in the same project, but reject all other connections from pods in other projects, add the following NetworkPolicy object:

    kind: NetworkPolicy
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: allow-same-namespace
spec:
  podSelector:
  ingress:
  - from:
    - podSelector: {}

  • Only allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic based on pod labels:

    To enable only HTTP and HTTPS access to the pods with a specific label (role=frontend in following example), add a NetworkPolicy object similar to the following:

    kind: NetworkPolicy
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: allow-http-and-https
spec:
  podSelector:
    matchLabels:
      role: frontend
  ingress:
  - ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 443

  • Accept connections by using both namespace and pod selectors:

    To match network traffic by combining namespace and pod selectors, you can use a NetworkPolicy object similar to the following:

    kind: NetworkPolicy
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: allow-pod-and-namespace-both
spec:
  podSelector:
    matchLabels:
      name: test-pods
  ingress:
    - from:
      - namespaceSelector:
          matchLabels:
            project: project_name
        podSelector:
          matchLabels:
            name: test-pods

NetworkPolicy objects are additive, which means you can combine multiple NetworkPolicy objects together to satisfy complex network requirements.

For example, for the NetworkPolicy objects defined in previous samples, you can define both allow-same-namespace and allow-http-and-https policies within the same project. Thus allowing the pods with the label role=frontend, to accept any connection allowed by each policy. That is, connections on any port from pods in the same namespace, and connections on ports 80 and 443 from pods in any namespace.

Example NetworkPolicy object

The following annotates an example NetworkPolicy object:

kind: NetworkPolicy
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: allow-27107 (1)
spec:
  podSelector: (2)
    matchLabels:
      app: mongodb
  ingress:
  - from:
    - podSelector: (3)
        matchLabels:
          app: app
    ports: (4)
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 27017
1 The name of the NetworkPolicy object.
2 A selector describing the pods the policy applies to. The policy object can only select pods in the project that the NetworkPolicy object is defined.
3 A selector matching the pods that the policy object allows ingress traffic from. The selector will match pods in any project.
4 A list of one or more destination ports to accept traffic on.

Creating a network policy

To define granular rules describing ingress or egress network traffic allowed for namespaces in your cluster, you can create a network policy.

If you log in with a user with the cluster-admin role, then you can create a network policy in any namespace in the cluster.
Prerequisites

  • Your cluster uses a cluster network provider that supports NetworkPolicy objects, such as the OpenShift SDN network provider with mode: NetworkPolicy set. This mode is the default for OpenShift SDN.

  • You installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • You are logged in to the cluster with a user with admin privileges.

  • You are working in the namespace that the network policy applies to.

Procedure

  1. Create a policy rule:

    1. Create a <policy_name>.yaml file:

      $ touch <policy_name>.yaml

      where:

      <policy_name>

      Specifies the network policy file name.

    2. Define a network policy in the file that you just created, such as in the following examples:

      Deny ingress from all pods in all namespaces
      kind: NetworkPolicy
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: deny-by-default
spec:
  podSelector:
  ingress: []
      Allow ingress from all pods in the same namespace
      kind: NetworkPolicy
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: allow-same-namespace
spec:
  podSelector:
  ingress:
  - from:
    - podSelector: {}

  2. To create the network policy object, enter the following command:

    $ oc apply -f <policy_name>.yaml -n <namespace>

    where:

    <policy_name>

    Specifies the network policy file name.

    <namespace>

    Optional: Specifies the namespace if the object is defined in a different namespace than the current namespace.

    Example output
    networkpolicy "default-deny" created

Deleting a network policy

You can delete a network policy in a namespace.

If you log in with a user with the cluster-admin role, then you can delete any network policy in the cluster.
Prerequisites

  • Your cluster uses a cluster network provider that supports NetworkPolicy objects, such as the OpenShift SDN network provider with mode: NetworkPolicy set. This mode is the default for OpenShift SDN.

  • You installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • You are logged in to the cluster with a user with admin privileges.

  • You are working in the namespace where the network policy exists.

Procedure

  • To delete a NetworkPolicy object, enter the following command:

    $ oc delete networkpolicy <policy_name> -n <namespace>

    where:

    <policy_name>

    Specifies the name of the network policy.

    <namespace>

    Optional: Specifies the namespace if the object is defined in a different namespace than the current namespace.

    Example output
    networkpolicy.networking.k8s.io/allow-same-namespace deleted

Viewing network policies

You can examine the network policies in a namespace.

If you log in with a user with the cluster-admin role, then you can view any network policy in the cluster.
Prerequisites

  • You installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • You are logged in to the cluster with a user with admin privileges.

  • You are working in the namespace where the network policy exists.

Procedure

  • List network policies in a namespace:

    • To view NetworkPolicy objects defined in a namespace, enter the following command:

      $ oc get networkpolicy

    • Optional: To examine a specific network policy, enter the following command:

      $ oc describe networkpolicy <policy_name> -n <namespace>

      where:

      <policy_name>

      Specifies the name of the network policy to inspect.

      <namespace>

      Optional: Specifies the namespace if the object is defined in a different namespace than the current namespace.

      For example:

      $ oc describe networkpolicy allow-same-namespace
      Output for oc describe command
      Name:         allow-same-namespace
Namespace:    ns1
Created on:   2021-05-24 22:28:56 -0400 EDT
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Spec:
  PodSelector:     <none> (Allowing the specific traffic to all pods in this namespace)
  Allowing ingress traffic:
    To Port: <any> (traffic allowed to all ports)
    From:
      PodSelector: <none>
  Not affecting egress traffic
  Policy Types: Ingress

Configuring multitenant isolation by using network policy

You can configure your project to isolate it from pods and services in other project namespaces.

Prerequisites

  • Your cluster uses a cluster network provider that supports NetworkPolicy objects, such as the OpenShift SDN network provider with mode: NetworkPolicy set. This mode is the default for OpenShift SDN.

  • You installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • You are logged in to the cluster with a user with admin privileges.

Procedure

  1. Create the following NetworkPolicy objects:

    1. A policy named allow-from-openshift-ingress.

      For the OVN-Kubernetes network provider plug-in, when the Ingress Controller is configured to use the HostNetwork endpoint publishing strategy, there is no supported way to apply network policy so that ingress traffic is allowed and all other traffic is denied.

      		 
      $ cat << EOF| oc create -f -
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: allow-from-openshift-ingress
spec:
  ingress:
  - from:
    - namespaceSelector:
        matchLabels:
          network.openshift.io/policy-group: ingress
  podSelector: {}
  policyTypes:
  - Ingress
EOF

    2. A policy named allow-from-openshift-monitoring:

      $ cat << EOF| oc create -f -
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: allow-from-openshift-monitoring
spec:
  ingress:
  - from:
    - namespaceSelector:
        matchLabels:
          network.openshift.io/policy-group: monitoring
  podSelector: {}
  policyTypes:
  - Ingress
EOF

    3. A policy named allow-same-namespace:

      $ cat << EOF| oc create -f -
kind: NetworkPolicy
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: allow-same-namespace
spec:
  podSelector:
  ingress:
  - from:
    - podSelector: {}
EOF

  2. If the default Ingress Controller configuration has the spec.endpointPublishingStrategy: HostNetwork value set, you must apply a label to the default OpenShift Container Platform namespace to allow network traffic between the Ingress Controller and the project:

    1. Determine if your default Ingress Controller uses the HostNetwork endpoint publishing strategy:

      $ oc get --namespace openshift-ingress-operator ingresscontrollers/default \
  --output jsonpath='{.status.endpointPublishingStrategy.type}'

    2. If the previous command reports the endpoint publishing strategy as HostNetwork, set a label on the default namespace:

      $ oc label namespace default 'network.openshift.io/policy-group=ingress'

  3. Confirm that the NetworkPolicy object exists in your current project by running the following command:

    $ oc get networkpolicy <policy-name> -o yaml

    In the following example, the allow-from-openshift-ingress NetworkPolicy object is displayed:

    $ oc get -n project1 networkpolicy allow-from-openshift-ingress -o yaml
    Example output
    apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: allow-from-openshift-ingress
  namespace: project1
spec:
  ingress:
  - from:
    - namespaceSelector:
        matchLabels:
          network.openshift.io/policy-group: ingress
  podSelector: {}
  policyTypes:
  - Ingress

Creating default network policies for a new project

As a cluster administrator, you can modify the new project template to automatically include NetworkPolicy objects when you create a new project.

Modifying the template for new projects

As a cluster administrator, you can modify the default project template so that new projects are created using your custom requirements.

To create your own custom project template:

Procedure

  1. Log in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.

  2. Generate the default project template:

    $ oc adm create-bootstrap-project-template -o yaml > template.yaml

  3. Use a text editor to modify the generated template.yaml file by adding objects or modifying existing objects.

  4. The project template must be created in the openshift-config namespace. Load your modified template:

    $ oc create -f template.yaml -n openshift-config

  5. Edit the project configuration resource using the web console or CLI.

    • Using the web console:

      1. Navigate to the Administration → Cluster Settings page.

      2. Click Global Configuration to view all configuration resources.

      3. Find the entry for Project and click Edit YAML.

    • Using the CLI:

      1. Edit the project.config.openshift.io/cluster resource:

        $ oc edit project.config.openshift.io/cluster

  6. Update the spec section to include the projectRequestTemplate and name parameters, and set the name of your uploaded project template. The default name is project-request.

    Project configuration resource with custom project template
    apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
kind: Project
metadata:
  ...
spec:
  projectRequestTemplate:
    name: <template_name>

  7. After you save your changes, create a new project to verify that your changes were successfully applied.

Adding network policies to the new project template

As a cluster administrator, you can add network policies to the default template for new projects. OpenShift Container Platform will automatically create all the NetworkPolicy objects specified in the template in the project.

Prerequisites

  • Your cluster uses a default CNI network provider that supports NetworkPolicy objects, such as the OpenShift SDN network provider with mode: NetworkPolicy set. This mode is the default for OpenShift SDN.

  • You installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • You must log in to the cluster with a user with cluster-admin privileges.

  • You must have created a custom default project template for new projects.

Procedure

  1. Edit the default template for a new project by running the following command:

    $ oc edit template <project_template> -n openshift-config

    Replace <project_template> with the name of the default template that you configured for your cluster. The default template name is project-request.

  2. In the template, add each NetworkPolicy object as an element to the objects parameter. The objects parameter accepts a collection of one or more objects.

    In the following example, the objects parameter collection includes several NetworkPolicy objects:

    objects:
- apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
  kind: NetworkPolicy
  metadata:
    name: allow-from-same-namespace
  spec:
    podSelector:
    ingress:
    - from:
      - podSelector: {}
- apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
  kind: NetworkPolicy
  metadata:
    name: allow-from-openshift-ingress
  spec:
    ingress:
    - from:
      - namespaceSelector:
          matchLabels:
            network.openshift.io/policy-group: ingress
    podSelector: {}
    policyTypes:
    - Ingress
...

  3. Optional: Create a new project to confirm that your network policy objects are created successfully by running the following commands:

    1. Create a new project:

      $ oc new-project <project> (1)
      1 Replace <project> with the name for the project you are creating.

    2. Confirm that the network policy objects in the new project template exist in the new project:

      $ oc get networkpolicy
NAME                           POD-SELECTOR   AGE
allow-from-openshift-ingress   <none>         7s
allow-from-same-namespace      <none>         7s

Setting DNS to private

After you deploy a cluster, you can modify its DNS to use only a private zone.

Procedure

  1. Review the DNS custom resource for your cluster:

    $ oc get dnses.config.openshift.io/cluster -o yaml
    Example output
    apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
kind: DNS
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: "2019-10-25T18:27:09Z"
  generation: 2
  name: cluster
  resourceVersion: "37966"
  selfLink: /apis/config.openshift.io/v1/dnses/cluster
  uid: 0e714746-f755-11f9-9cb1-02ff55d8f976
spec:
  baseDomain: <base_domain>
  privateZone:
    tags:
      Name: <infrastructureID>-int
      kubernetes.io/cluster/<infrastructureID>: owned
  publicZone:
    id: Z2XXXXXXXXXXA4
status: {}

    Note that the spec section contains both a private and a public zone.

  2. Patch the DNS custom resource to remove the public zone:

    $ oc patch dnses.config.openshift.io/cluster --type=merge --patch='{"spec": {"publicZone": null}}'
dns.config.openshift.io/cluster patched

    Because the Ingress Controller consults the DNS definition when it creates Ingress objects, when you create or modify Ingress objects, only private records are created.

    DNS records for the existing Ingress objects are not modified when you remove the public zone.

  3. Optional: Review the DNS custom resource for your cluster and confirm that the public zone was removed:

    $ oc get dnses.config.openshift.io/cluster -o yaml
    Example output
    apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
kind: DNS
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: "2019-10-25T18:27:09Z"
  generation: 2
  name: cluster
  resourceVersion: "37966"
  selfLink: /apis/config.openshift.io/v1/dnses/cluster
  uid: 0e714746-f755-11f9-9cb1-02ff55d8f976
spec:
  baseDomain: <base_domain>
  privateZone:
    tags:
      Name: <infrastructureID>-int
      kubernetes.io/cluster/<infrastructureID>-wfpg4: owned
status: {}

Enabling the cluster-wide proxy

The Proxy object is used to manage the cluster-wide egress proxy. When a cluster is installed or upgraded without the proxy configured, a Proxy object is still generated but it will have a nil spec. For example:

apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
kind: Proxy
metadata:
  name: cluster
spec:
  trustedCA:
    name: ""
status:

A cluster administrator can configure the proxy for OpenShift Container Platform by modifying this cluster Proxy object.

Only the Proxy object named cluster is supported, and no additional proxies can be created.
Prerequisites

  • Cluster administrator permissions

  • OpenShift Container Platform oc CLI tool installed

Procedure

  1. Create a ConfigMap that contains any additional CA certificates required for proxying HTTPS connections.

    You can skip this step if the proxy’s identity certificate is signed by an authority from the RHCOS trust bundle.

    1. Create a file called user-ca-bundle.yaml with the following contents, and provide the values of your PEM-encoded certificates:

      apiVersion: v1
data:
  ca-bundle.crt: | (1)
    <MY_PEM_ENCODED_CERTS> (2)
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: user-ca-bundle (3)
  namespace: openshift-config (4)
      1 This data key must be named ca-bundle.crt.
      2 One or more PEM-encoded X.509 certificates used to sign the proxy’s identity certificate.
      3 The ConfigMap name that will be referenced from the Proxy object.
      4 The ConfigMap must be in the openshift-config namespace.

    2. Create the ConfigMap from this file:

      $ oc create -f user-ca-bundle.yaml

  2. Use the oc edit command to modify the Proxy object:

    $ oc edit proxy/cluster

  3. Configure the necessary fields for the proxy:

    apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
kind: Proxy
metadata:
  name: cluster
spec:
  httpProxy: http://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port> (1)
  httpsProxy: http://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port> (2)
  noProxy: example.com (3)
  readinessEndpoints:
  - http://www.google.com (4)
  - https://www.google.com
  trustedCA:
    name: user-ca-bundle (5)
    1 A proxy URL to use for creating HTTP connections outside the cluster. The URL scheme must be http.
    2 A proxy URL to use for creating HTTPS connections outside the cluster. If this is not specified, then httpProxy is used for both HTTP and HTTPS connections.
    3 A comma-separated list of destination domain names, domains, IP addresses or other network CIDRs to exclude proxying.

    Preface a domain with . to match subdomains only. For example, .y.com matches x.y.com, but not y.com. Use * to bypass proxy for all destinations. If you scale up workers that are not included in the network defined by the networking.machineNetwork[].cidr field from the installation configuration, you must add them to this list to prevent connection issues.

    This field is ignored if neither the httpProxy or httpsProxy fields are set.
    4 One or more URLs external to the cluster to use to perform a readiness check before writing the httpProxy and httpsProxy values to status.
    5 A reference to the ConfigMap in the openshift-config namespace that contains additional CA certificates required for proxying HTTPS connections. Note that the ConfigMap must already exist before referencing it here. This field is required unless the proxy’s identity certificate is signed by an authority from the RHCOS trust bundle.

  4. Save the file to apply the changes.

The URL scheme must be http. The https scheme is currently not supported.

Cluster Network Operator configuration

The configuration for the cluster network is specified as part of the Cluster Network Operator (CNO) configuration and stored in a CR object that is named cluster. The CR specifies the parameters for the Network API in the operator.openshift.io API group.

After cluster installation, you cannot modify the configuration for the cluster network provider.

Configuring ingress cluster traffic

OpenShift Container Platform provides the following methods for communicating from outside the cluster with services running in the cluster:

  • If you have HTTP/HTTPS, use an Ingress Controller.

  • If you have a TLS-encrypted protocol other than HTTPS, such as TLS with the SNI header, use an Ingress Controller.

  • Otherwise, use a load balancer, an external IP, or a node port.

Method Purpose

Use an Ingress Controller

Allows access to HTTP/HTTPS traffic and TLS-encrypted protocols other than HTTPS, such as TLS with the SNI header.

Automatically assign an external IP by using a load balancer service

Allows traffic to non-standard ports through an IP address assigned from a pool.

Manually assign an external IP to a service

Allows traffic to non-standard ports through a specific IP address.

Configure a NodePort

Expose a service on all nodes in the cluster.

Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh supported configurations

The following are the only supported configurations for the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh:

  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform version 4.x.

OpenShift Online and OpenShift Dedicated are not supported for Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh.

  • The deployment must be contained to a single OpenShift Container Platform cluster that is not federated.

  • This release of Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh is only available on OpenShift Container Platform x86_64.

  • This release only supports configurations where all Service Mesh components are contained in the OpenShift cluster in which it operates. It does not support management of microservices that reside outside of the cluster, or in a multi-cluster scenario.

  • This release only supports configurations that do not integrate external services such as virtual machines.

Supported configurations for Kiali on Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh

  • The Kiali observability console is only supported on the two most recent releases of the Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari browsers.

Supported Mixer adapters

  • This release only supports the following Mixer adapter:

    • 3scale Istio Adapter

Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh installation activities

To install the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator, you must first install these Operators:

  • Elasticsearch - Based on the open source Elasticsearch project that enables you to configure and manage an Elasticsearch cluster for tracing and logging with Jaeger.

  • Jaeger - based on the open source Jaeger project, lets you perform tracing to monitor and troubleshoot transactions in complex distributed systems.

  • Kiali - based on the open source Kiali project, provides observability for your service mesh. By using Kiali you can view configurations, monitor traffic, and view and analyze traces in a single console.

After you install the Elasticsearch, Jaeger, and Kiali Operators, then you install the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator. The Service Mesh Operator defines and monitors the ServiceMeshControlPlane resources that manage the deployment, updating, and deletion of the Service Mesh components.

  • Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh - based on the open source Istio project, lets you connect, secure, control, and observe the microservices that make up your applications.

Next steps

Optimizing routing

The OpenShift Container Platform HAProxy router scales to optimize performance.

Baseline Ingress Controller (router) performance

The OpenShift Container Platform Ingress Controller, or router, is the Ingress point for all external traffic destined for OpenShift Container Platform services.

When evaluating a single HAProxy router performance in terms of HTTP requests handled per second, the performance varies depending on many factors. In particular:

  • HTTP keep-alive/close mode

  • Route type

  • TLS session resumption client support

  • Number of concurrent connections per target route

  • Number of target routes

  • Back end server page size

  • Underlying infrastructure (network/SDN solution, CPU, and so on)

While performance in your specific environment will vary, Red Hat lab tests on a public cloud instance of size 4 vCPU/16GB RAM. A single HAProxy router handling 100 routes terminated by backends serving 1kB static pages is able to handle the following number of transactions per second.

In HTTP keep-alive mode scenarios:

Encryption LoadBalancerService HostNetwork

none

21515

29622

edge

16743

22913

passthrough

36786

53295

re-encrypt

21583

25198

In HTTP close (no keep-alive) scenarios:

Encryption LoadBalancerService HostNetwork

none

5719

8273

edge

2729

4069

passthrough

4121

5344

re-encrypt

2320

2941

Default Ingress Controller configuration with ROUTER_THREADS=4 was used and two different endpoint publishing strategies (LoadBalancerService/HostNetwork) were tested. TLS session resumption was used for encrypted routes. With HTTP keep-alive, a single HAProxy router is capable of saturating 1 Gbit NIC at page sizes as small as 8 kB.

When running on bare metal with modern processors, you can expect roughly twice the performance of the public cloud instance above. This overhead is introduced by the virtualization layer in place on public clouds and holds mostly true for private cloud-based virtualization as well. The following table is a guide to how many applications to use behind the router:

Number of applications Application type

5-10

static file/web server or caching proxy

100-1000

applications generating dynamic content

In general, HAProxy can support routes for 5 to 1000 applications, depending on the technology in use. Ingress Controller performance might be limited by the capabilities and performance of the applications behind it, such as language or static versus dynamic content.

Ingress, or router, sharding should be used to serve more routes towards applications and help horizontally scale the routing tier.

Ingress Controller (router) performance optimizations

OpenShift Container Platform no longer supports modifying Ingress Controller deployments by setting environment variables such as ROUTER_THREADS, ROUTER_DEFAULT_TUNNEL_TIMEOUT, ROUTER_DEFAULT_CLIENT_TIMEOUT, ROUTER_DEFAULT_SERVER_TIMEOUT, and RELOAD_INTERVAL.

You can modify the Ingress Controller deployment, but if the Ingress Operator is enabled, the configuration is overwritten.