:orphan:

.. _nginxgateway_install:

Install load balancer (metallb) and Gateway API
------------------------------------------------

MetalLB is a load balancer implementation for Kubernetes that allows services to be exposed externally

.. only:: internal
    FRR: Stands for "Free Range Routing," a routing protocol suite used for dynamic routing.
    Integration: MetalLB can use FRR to manage BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) for routing traffic to services.
    Purpose: The combination enables Kubernetes clusters to efficiently handle external traffic.
    Open Source: Both MetalLB and FRR are open-source projects, promoting community collaboration.

Gateway API is a newer way to manage traffic to Kubernetes cluster.

For on prem-clusters, install load balancer using metallb

* Add metallb helm chart, download and install metallb

.. code-block::

    helm repo add metallb https://metallb.github.io/metallb
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metallb/metallb/main/charts/metallb/values.yaml
    helm install metallb metallb/metallb --values values.yaml

* Verify metallb is deployed

.. code-block::

    kubectl -n default get pods

* Prepare the metallb Ip files(metallb_ip.yaml), and modify the IP address (with range provided by your network team)

.. code-block::

    apiVersion: metallb.io/v1beta1
    kind: IPAddressPool
    metadata:
        name: default
    spec:
        addresses:
        - 172.16.20.16-172.16.20.23  <- Change this to your range of IP
        autoAssign: true
    ---
    apiVersion: metallb.io/v1beta1
    kind: L2Advertisement
    metadata:
        name: default
    spec:
        ipAddressPools:
        - default

* Apply IP address pool range

.. code-block::

    kubectl apply -f metallb_ip.yaml

* Verify metallb ip address pool

.. code-block::

    kubectl get IPAddressPool 
    kubectl describe IPAddressPool

* Setup :ref:`Gateway APIs<gatewayapi_install>`
    * For non-secure connections (dev clusters), install steps 1 to 4
    * For secure connections, install additional steps 5 to 10