Gateway API Support

As mentioned in the system design document, Envoy Gateway’s managed data plane is configured dynamically through Kubernetes resources, primarily Gateway API objects. Envoy Gateway supports configuration using the following Gateway API resources.

GatewayClass

A GatewayClass represents a “class” of gateways, i.e. which Gateways should be managed by Envoy Gateway. Envoy Gateway supports managing a single GatewayClass resource that matches its configured controllerName and follows Gateway API guidelines for resolving conflicts when multiple GatewayClasses exist with a matching controllerName.

Note: If specifying GatewayClass parameters reference, it must refer to an EnvoyProxy resource.

Gateway

When a Gateway resource is created that references the managed GatewayClass, Envoy Gateway will create and manage a new Envoy Proxy deployment. Gateway API resources that reference this Gateway will configure this managed Envoy Proxy deployment.

HTTPRoute

A HTTPRoute configures routing of HTTP traffic through one or more Gateways. The following HTTPRoute filters are supported by Envoy Gateway:

• requestHeaderModifier: RequestHeaderModifiers can be used to modify or add request headers before the request is proxied to its destination.
• responseHeaderModifier: ResponseHeaderModifiers can be used to modify or add response headers before the response is sent back to the client.
• requestMirror: RequestMirrors configure destinations where the requests should also be mirrored to. Responses to mirrored requests will be ignored.
• requestRedirect: RequestRedirects configure policied for how requests that match the HTTPRoute should be modified and then redirected.
• urlRewrite: UrlRewrites allow for modification of the request’s hostname and path before it is proxied to its destination.
• extensionRef: ExtensionRefs are used by Envoy Gateway to implement extended filters. Currently, Envoy Gateway supports rate limiting and request authentication filters. For more information about these filters, refer to the rate limiting and request authentication documentation.

Notes:

• The only BackendRef kind supported by Envoy Gateway is a Service. Routing traffic to other destinations such as arbitrary URLs is not possible.
• The filters field within HTTPBackendRef is not supported.

TCPRoute

A TCPRoute configures routing of raw TCP traffic through one or more Gateways. Traffic can be forwarded to the desired BackendRefs based on a TCP port number.

Note: A TCPRoute only supports proxying in non-transparent mode, i.e. the backend will see the source IP and port of the Envoy Proxy instance instead of the client.

UDPRoute

A UDPRoute configures routing of raw UDP traffic through one or more Gateways. Traffic can be forwarded to the desired BackendRefs based on a UDP port number.

Note: Similar to TCPRoutes, UDPRoutes only support proxying in non-transparent mode i.e. the backend will see the source IP and port of the Envoy Proxy instance instead of the client.

GRPCRoute

A GRPCRoute configures routing of gRPC requests through one or more Gateways. They offer request matching by hostname, gRPC service, gRPC method, or HTTP/2 Header. Envoy Gateway supports the following filters on GRPCRoutes to provide additional traffic processing:

• requestHeaderModifier: RequestHeaderModifiers can be used to modify or add request headers before the request is proxied to its destination.
• responseHeaderModifier: ResponseHeaderModifiers can be used to modify or add response headers before the response is sent back to the client.
• requestMirror: RequestMirrors configure destinations where the requests should also be mirrored to. Responses to mirrored requests will be ignored.

Notes:

• The only BackendRef kind supported by Envoy Gateway is a Service. Routing traffic to other destinations such as arbitrary URLs is not currently possible.
• The filters field within HTTPBackendRef is not supported.

TLSRoute

A TLSRoute configures routing of TCP traffic through one or more Gateways. However, unlike TCPRoutes, TLSRoutes can match against TLS-specific metadata.

ReferenceGrant

A ReferenceGrant is used to allow a resource to reference another resource in a different namespace. Normally an HTTPRoute created in namespace foo is not allowed to reference a Service in namespace bar. A ReferenceGrant permits these types of cross-namespace references. Envoy Gateway supports the following ReferenceGrant use-cases:

• Allowing an HTTPRoute, GRPCRoute, TLSRoute, UDPRoute, or TCPRoute to reference a Service in a different namespace.
• Allowing an HTTPRoute’s requestMirror filter to include a BackendRef that references a Service in a different namespace.
• Allowing a Gateway’s SecretObjectReference to reference a secret in a different namespace.