Installation with Helm

Overview

Learn how to install, upgrade, and uninstall NGINX Gateway Fabric in a Kubernetes cluster using Helm.

Important:
NGINX Plus users that are upgrading from version 1.4.0 to 1.5.0 need to install an NGINX Plus JWT Secret before upgrading. Follow the steps in the Before you begin section to create the Secret. If you use a different name than the default nplus-license name, specify the Secret name by setting --set nginx.usage.secretName=<secret-name> when running helm upgrade.

Before you begin

To complete this guide, you’ll need to install:

  • kubectl, a command-line tool for managing Kubernetes clusters.
  • Helm 3.0 or later, for deploying and managing applications on Kubernetes.
Important:
If you’d like to use NGINX Plus, some additional setup is also required:
NGINX Plus JWT setup
Note:

For security, follow these practices with JSON Web Tokens (JWTs), passwords, and shell history:

  1. JWTs: JWTs are sensitive information. Store them securely. Delete them after use to prevent unauthorized access.

  2. Shell history: Commands that include JWTs or passwords are recorded in the history of your shell, in plain text. Clear your shell history after running such commands. For example, if you use bash, you can delete commands in your ~/.bash_history file. Alternatively, you can run the history -c command to erase your shell history.

Follow these practices to help ensure the security of your system and data.

1. Download the JWT from MyF5

  1. Log in to MyF5.
  2. Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
  3. Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
  4. Download the JSON Web Token (JWT) from the subscription page.
Note:
The Connectivity Stack for Kubernetes JWT does not work with NGINX Plus reporting. A regular NGINX Plus instance JWT must be used.

2. Create the Docker Registry Secret

Note:
If you would rather pull the NGINX Plus image and push to a private registry, you can skip this specific step and instead follow this step.

If the nginx-gateway namespace does not yet exist, create it:

kubectl create namespace nginx-gateway

Create a Kubernetes docker-registry secret type using the contents of the JWT as the username and none for password (as the password is not used). The name of the docker server is private-registry.nginx.com.

kubectl create secret docker-registry nginx-plus-registry-secret --docker-server=private-registry.nginx.com --docker-username=<JWT Token> --docker-password=none -n nginx-gateway

It is important that the --docker-username=<JWT Token> contains the contents of the token and is not pointing to the token itself. When you copy the contents of the JWT, ensure there are no additional characters such as extra whitespaces. This can invalidate the token, causing 401 errors when trying to authenticate to the registry.

3. Create the NGINX Plus Secret

Place the JWT in a file called license.jwt. Create a Kubernetes Secret using the contents of the JWT file.

kubectl create secret generic nplus-license --from-file license.jwt -n nginx-gateway

You can now delete the license.jwt file.

If you need to update the JWT at any time, update the license.jwt field in the Secret using kubectl edit and apply the changes.

Note:
For more information on why this is needed and additional configuration options, including how to report to NGINX Instance Manager instead, see the NGINX Plus Image and JWT Requirement document.

Deploy NGINX Gateway Fabric

Installing the Gateway API resources

Note:
The Gateway API resources from the standard channel must be installed before deploying NGINX Gateway Fabric. If they are already installed in your cluster, please ensure they are the correct version as supported by the NGINX Gateway Fabric - see the Technical Specifications.

To install the Gateway API resources, run the following:

kubectl kustomize "https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-gateway-fabric/config/crd/gateway-api/standard?ref=v1.5.0" | kubectl apply -f -
Note:
If you plan to use the edge version of NGINX Gateway Fabric, you can replace the version in ref with main, for example ref=main.

Alternatively, you can install the Gateway API resources from the experimental channel. Installing Gateway API resources from the experimental channel includes everything in the standard release channel plus additional experimental resources and fields. NGINX Gateway Fabric currently supports a subset of the additional features provided by the experimental channel. To install from the experimental channel, run the following:

kubectl kustomize "https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-gateway-fabric/config/crd/gateway-api/experimental?ref=v1.5.0" | kubectl apply -f -
Note:
To learn more about what Gateway API resources NGINX Gateway Fabric currently supports, visit our Gateway API Compatibility document.

Install from the OCI registry

To install the latest stable release of NGINX Gateway Fabric in the nginx-gateway namespace, run the following command:

helm install ngf oci://ghcr.io/nginxinc/charts/nginx-gateway-fabric --create-namespace -n nginx-gateway

Note:
If applicable, replace the F5 Container registry private-registry.nginx.com with your internal registry for your NGINX Plus image, and replace nginx-plus-registry-secret with your Secret name containing the registry credentials. If your NGINX Plus JWT Secret has a different name than the default nplus-license, then define that name using the nginx.usage.secretName flag.

To install the latest stable release of NGINX Gateway Fabric in the nginx-gateway namespace, run the following command:

helm install ngf oci://ghcr.io/nginxinc/charts/nginx-gateway-fabric  --set nginx.image.repository=private-registry.nginx.com/nginx-gateway-fabric/nginx-plus --set nginx.plus=true --set serviceAccount.imagePullSecret=nginx-plus-registry-secret --create-namespace -n nginx-gateway

ngf is the name of the release, and can be changed to any name you want. This name is added as a prefix to the Deployment name.

If the namespace already exists, you can omit the optional --create-namespace flag. If you want the latest version from the main branch, add --version 0.0.0-edge to your install command.

To wait for the Deployment to be ready, you can either add the --wait flag to the helm install command, or run the following after installing:

kubectl wait --timeout=5m -n nginx-gateway deployment/ngf-nginx-gateway-fabric --for=condition=Available

Install from sources

Pull the latest stable release of the NGINX Gateway Fabric chart:

helm pull oci://ghcr.io/nginxinc/charts/nginx-gateway-fabric --untar
cd nginx-gateway-fabric

If you want the latest version from the main branch, add --version 0.0.0-edge to your pull command.

To install the chart into the nginx-gateway namespace, run the following command:

helm install ngf . --create-namespace -n nginx-gateway

Note:
If applicable, replace the F5 Container registry private-registry.nginx.com with your internal registry for your NGINX Plus image, and replace nginx-plus-registry-secret with your Secret name containing the registry credentials. If your NGINX Plus JWT Secret has a different name than the default nplus-license, then define that name using the nginx.usage.secretName flag.

To install the chart into the nginx-gateway namespace, run the following command:

helm install ngf . --set nginx.image.repository=private-registry.nginx.com/nginx-gateway-fabric/nginx-plus --set nginx.plus=true --set serviceAccount.imagePullSecret=nginx-plus-registry-secret --create-namespace -n nginx-gateway

ngf is the name of the release, and can be changed to any name you want. This name is added as a prefix to the Deployment name.

If the namespace already exists, you can omit the optional --create-namespace flag.

To wait for the Deployment to be ready, you can either add the --wait flag to the helm install command, or run the following after installing:

kubectl wait --timeout=5m -n nginx-gateway deployment/ngf-nginx-gateway-fabric --for=condition=Available

Custom installation options

Service type

By default, the NGINX Gateway Fabric helm chart deploys a LoadBalancer Service.

To use a NodePort Service instead:

helm install ngf oci://ghcr.io/nginxinc/charts/nginx-gateway-fabric --create-namespace -n nginx-gateway --set service.type=NodePort

To disable the creation of a Service:

helm install ngf oci://ghcr.io/nginxinc/charts/nginx-gateway-fabric --create-namespace -n nginx-gateway --set service.create=false

Experimental features

We support a subset of the additional features provided by the Gateway API experimental channel. To enable the experimental features of Gateway API which are supported by NGINX Gateway Fabric:

helm install ngf oci://ghcr.io/nginxinc/charts/nginx-gateway-fabric --create-namespace -n nginx-gateway --set nginxGateway.gwAPIExperimentalFeatures.enable=true
Note:
Requires the Gateway APIs installed from the experimental channel.

Examples

You can find several examples of configuration options of the values.yaml file in the helm examples directory.

Access NGINX Gateway Fabric

There are two options for accessing NGINX Gateway Fabric depending on the type of LoadBalancer service you chose during installation:

  • If the LoadBalancer type is NodePort, Kubernetes will randomly allocate two ports on every node of the cluster. To access the NGINX Gateway Fabric, use an IP address of any node of the cluster along with the two allocated ports.

    Tip:
    Read more about the type NodePort in the Kubernetes documentation.

  • If the LoadBalancer type is LoadBalancer:

    • For GCP or Azure, Kubernetes will allocate a cloud load balancer for load balancing the NGINX Gateway Fabric pods. Use the public IP of the load balancer to access NGINX Gateway Fabric.
    • For AWS, Kubernetes will allocate a Network Load Balancer (NLB) in TCP mode with the PROXY protocol enabled to pass the client’s information (the IP address and the port).

    Use the public IP of the load balancer to access NGINX Gateway Fabric. To get the public IP which is reported in the EXTERNAL-IP column:

    • For GCP or Azure, run:

      kubectl get svc nginx-gateway -n nginx-gateway

    • In AWS, the NLB (Network Load Balancer) DNS (directory name system) name will be reported by Kubernetes instead of a public IP. To get the DNS name, run:

      kubectl get svc nginx-gateway -n nginx-gateway
      Note:

      We recommend using the NLB DNS whenever possible, but for testing purposes, you can resolve the DNS name to get the IP address of the load balancer:

      nslookup <dns-name>
    Tip:

    Learn more about type LoadBalancer in the Kubernetes documentation.

    For AWS, additional options regarding an allocated load balancer are available, such as its type and SSL termination. Read the Kubernetes documentation to learn more.

Important:
By default Helm and manifests configure NGINX Gateway Fabric on ports 80 and 443, affecting any gateway listeners on these ports. To use different ports, update the configuration. NGINX Gateway Fabric requires a configured gateway resource with a valid listener to listen on any ports.

NGINX Gateway Fabric uses the created service to update the Addresses field in the Gateway Status resource. Using a LoadBalancer service sets this field to the IP address and/or hostname of that service. Without a service, the pod IP address is used.

This gateway is associated with the NGINX Gateway Fabric through the gatewayClassName field. The default installation of NGINX Gateway Fabric creates a GatewayClass with the name nginx. NGINX Gateway Fabric will only configure gateways with a gatewayClassName of nginx unless you change the name via the --gatewayclass command-line flag.

Upgrade NGINX Gateway Fabric

Tip:
For guidance on zero downtime upgrades, see the Delay Pod Termination section below.

To upgrade NGINX Gateway Fabric and get the latest features and improvements, take the following steps:

Upgrade Gateway resources

To upgrade your Gateway API resources, take the following steps:

  • Verify the Gateway API resources are compatible with your NGINX Gateway Fabric version. Refer to the Technical Specifications for details.

  • Review the release notes for any important upgrade-specific information.

  • To upgrade the Gateway API resources, run:

    kubectl kustomize "https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-gateway-fabric/config/crd/gateway-api/standard?ref=v1.5.0" | kubectl apply -f -

    or, if you installed the from the experimental channel:

    kubectl kustomize "https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-gateway-fabric/config/crd/gateway-api/experimental?ref=v1.5.0" | kubectl apply -f -

Upgrade NGINX Gateway Fabric CRDs

Helm’s upgrade process does not automatically upgrade the NGINX Gateway Fabric CRDs (Custom Resource Definitions).

To upgrade the CRDs, take the following steps:

  1. Pull the latest stable release of the NGINX Gateway Fabric chart:

    helm pull oci://ghcr.io/nginxinc/charts/nginx-gateway-fabric --untar
cd nginx-gateway-fabric

    If you want the latest version from the main branch, add --version 0.0.0-edge to your pull command.

  2. Upgrade the CRDs:

    kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nginxinc/nginx-gateway-fabric/v1.5.0/deploy/crds.yaml
    Note:
    Ignore the following warning, as it is expected.
    Warning: kubectl apply should be used on resource created by either kubectl create --save-config or kubectl apply.

Upgrade NGINX Gateway Fabric release

Important:
NGINX Plus users that are upgrading from version 1.4.0 to 1.5.0 need to install an NGINX Plus JWT Secret before upgrading. Follow the steps in the Before you begin section to create the Secret. If you use a different name than the default nplus-license name, specify the Secret name by setting --set nginx.usage.secretName=<secret-name> when running helm upgrade.

Upgrade from the OCI registry

  • To upgrade to the latest stable release of NGINX Gateway Fabric, run:

    helm upgrade ngf oci://ghcr.io/nginxinc/charts/nginx-gateway-fabric -n nginx-gateway

    If needed, replace ngf with your chosen release name.

Upgrade from sources

  1. Pull the latest stable release of the NGINX Gateway Fabric chart:

    helm pull oci://ghcr.io/nginxinc/charts/nginx-gateway-fabric --untar
cd nginx-gateway-fabric

    If you want the latest version from the main branch, add --version 0.0.0-edge to your pull command.

  2. To upgrade, run: the following command:

    helm upgrade ngf . -n nginx-gateway

    If needed, replace ngf with your chosen release name.

How to upgrade from NGINX OSS to NGINX Plus

  • To upgrade from NGINX OSS to NGINX Plus, update the Helm command to include the necessary values for Plus:

    Note:
    If applicable, replace the F5 Container registry private-registry.nginx.com with your internal registry for your NGINX Plus image, and replace nginx-plus-registry-secret with your Secret name containing the registry credentials.
    Important:
    Ensure that you Create the required JWT Secrets before installing.
    helm upgrade ngf oci://ghcr.io/nginxinc/charts/nginx-gateway-fabric  --set nginx.image.repository=private-registry.nginx.com/nginx-gateway-fabric/nginx-plus --set nginx.plus=true --set serviceAccount.imagePullSecret=nginx-plus-registry-secret -n nginx-gateway

    If needed, replace ngf with your chosen release name.

Delay pod termination for zero downtime upgrades

To avoid client service interruptions when upgrading NGINX Gateway Fabric, you can configure PreStop hooks to delay terminating the NGINX Gateway Fabric pod, allowing the pod to complete certain actions before shutting down. This ensures a smooth upgrade without any downtime, also known as a zero downtime upgrade.

For an in-depth explanation of how Kubernetes handles pod termination, see the Termination of Pods topic on their official website.

Note:
Keep in mind that NGINX won’t shut down while WebSocket or other long-lived connections are open. NGINX will only stop when these connections are closed by the client or the backend. If these connections stay open during an upgrade, Kubernetes might need to shut down NGINX forcefully. This sudden shutdown could interrupt service for clients.

Follow these steps to configure delayed pod termination:

  1. Open the values.yaml for editing.

  2. Add delayed shutdown hooks:

    • In the values.yaml file, add lifecycle: preStop hooks to both the nginx and nginx-gateway container definitions. These hooks instruct the containers to delay their shutdown process, allowing time for connections to close gracefully. Update the sleep value to what works for your environment.

       nginxGateway:
 <...>
 lifecycle:
     preStop:
     exec:
         command:
         - /usr/bin/gateway
         - sleep
         - --duration=40s # This flag is optional, the default is 30s

 nginx:
 <...>
 lifecycle:
     preStop:
     exec:
         command:
         - /bin/sleep
         - "40"

  3. Set the termination grace period:

    • Set terminationGracePeriodSeconds to a value that is equal to or greater than the sleep duration specified in the preStop hook (default is 30). This setting prevents Kubernetes from terminating the pod before before the preStop hook has completed running.

      terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 50

  4. Save the changes.

See Also:

For additional information on configuring and understanding the behavior of containers and pods during their lifecycle, refer to the following Kubernetes documentation:

Uninstall NGINX Gateway Fabric

Follow these steps to uninstall NGINX Gateway Fabric and Gateway API from your Kubernetes cluster:

  1. Uninstall NGINX Gateway Fabric:

    • To uninstall NGINX Gateway Fabric, run:

      helm uninstall ngf -n nginx-gateway

      If needed, replace ngf with your chosen release name.

  2. Remove namespace and CRDs:

    • To remove the nginx-gateway namespace and its custom resource definitions (CRDs), run:

      kubectl delete ns nginx-gateway
kubectl delete -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nginxinc/nginx-gateway-fabric/v1.5.0/deploy/crds.yaml

  3. Remove the Gateway API resources:

    • Warning:
      This will remove all corresponding custom resources in your entire cluster, across all namespaces. Double-check to make sure you don’t have any custom resources you need to keep, and confirm that there are no other Gateway API implementations active in your cluster.

      To uninstall the Gateway API resources, run the following:

      kubectl kustomize "https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-gateway-fabric/config/crd/gateway-api/standard?ref=v1.5.0" | kubectl delete -f -

      Alternatively, if you installed the Gateway APIs from the experimental channel, run the following:

      kubectl kustomize "https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-gateway-fabric/config/crd/gateway-api/experimental?ref=v1.5.0" | kubectl delete -f -

Additional configuration

For a full list of the Helm Chart configuration parameters, read the NGINX Gateway Fabric Helm Chart.

Last modified November 15, 2024