HTTPS Termination

Learn how to terminate HTTPS traffic using NGINX Gateway Fabric.

In this guide, we will show how to configure HTTPS termination for your application, using an HTTPRoute redirect filter, secret, and ReferenceGrant.

Prerequisites

  • Install NGINX Gateway Fabric.

  • Expose NGINX Gateway Fabric and save the public IP address and port of NGINX Gateway Fabric into shell variables:

    GW_IP=XXX.YYY.ZZZ.III
GW_PORT=<port number>

    Save the ports of NGINX Gateway Fabric:

    GW_HTTP_PORT=<http port number>
GW_HTTPS_PORT=<https port number>
Note:
In a production environment, you should have a DNS record for the external IP address that is exposed, and it should refer to the hostname that the gateway will forward for.

Set up

Create the coffee application in Kubernetes by copying and pasting the following block into your terminal:

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: coffee
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: coffee
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: coffee
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: coffee
        image: nginxdemos/nginx-hello:plain-text
        ports:
        - containerPort: 8080
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: coffee
spec:
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 8080
    protocol: TCP
    name: http
  selector:
    app: coffee
EOF

This will create the coffee service and a deployment. Run the following command to verify the resources were created:

kubectl get pods,svc

Your output should include the coffee pod and the coffee service:

NAME                          READY   STATUS      RESTARTS   AGE
pod/coffee-6b8b6d6486-7fc78   1/1     Running   0          40s


NAME                 TYPE        CLUSTER-IP     EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)   AGE
service/coffee       ClusterIP   10.96.189.37   <none>        80/TCP    40s

Configure HTTPS Termination and Routing

For the HTTPS, we need a certificate and key that are stored in a secret. This secret will live in a separate namespace, so we will need a ReferenceGrant in order to access it.

To create the certificate namespace and secret, copy and paste the following into your terminal:

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: certificate
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: cafe-secret
  namespace: certificate
type: kubernetes.io/tls
data:
  tls.crt: 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
  tls.key: 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
EOF

To create the access-to-cafe-secret referencegrant, copy and paste the following into your terminal:

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: ReferenceGrant
metadata:
  name: access-to-cafe-secret
  namespace: certificate
spec:
  to:
  - group: ""
    kind: Secret
    name: cafe-secret # if you omit this name, then Gateways in default namespace can access all Secrets in the certificate namespace
  from:
  - group: gateway.networking.k8s.io
    kind: Gateway
    namespace: default
EOF

To create the cafe gateway, copy and paste the following into your terminal:

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Gateway
metadata:
  name: cafe
spec:
  gatewayClassName: nginx
  listeners:
  - name: http
    port: 80
    protocol: HTTP
  - name: https
    port: 443
    protocol: HTTPS
    tls:
      mode: Terminate
      certificateRefs:
      - kind: Secret
        name: cafe-secret
        namespace: certificate
EOF

This gateway configures:

  • http listener for HTTP traffic
  • https listener for HTTPS traffic. It terminates TLS connections using the cafe-secret we created.

To create the httproute resources, copy and paste the following into your terminal:

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: HTTPRoute
metadata:
  name: cafe-tls-redirect
spec:
  parentRefs:
  - name: cafe
    sectionName: http
  hostnames:
  - "cafe.example.com"
  rules:
  - filters:
    - type: RequestRedirect
      requestRedirect:
        scheme: https
        port: 443
---
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: HTTPRoute
metadata:
  name: coffee
spec:
  parentRefs:
  - name: cafe
    sectionName: https
  hostnames:
  - "cafe.example.com"
  rules:
  - matches:
    - path:
        type: PathPrefix
        value: /coffee
    backendRefs:
    - name: coffee
      port: 80
EOF

The first route issues a requestRedirect from the http listener on port 80 to https on port 443. The second route binds the coffee route to the https listener.

Send Traffic

Using the external IP address and port for NGINX Gateway Fabric, we can send traffic to our coffee application.

Note:
If you have a DNS record allocated for cafe.example.com, you can send the request directly to that hostname, without needing to resolve.

To test that NGINX sends an HTTPS redirect, we will send requests to the coffee service on the HTTP port. We will use curl’s --include option to print the response headers (we are interested in the Location header).

curl --resolve cafe.example.com:$GW_HTTP_PORT:$GW_IP http://cafe.example.com:$GW_HTTP_PORT/coffee --include

HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily
...
Location: https://cafe.example.com/coffee
...

Now we will access the application over HTTPS. Since our certificate is self-signed, we will use curl’s --insecure option to turn off certificate verification.

curl --resolve cafe.example.com:$GW_HTTPS_PORT:$GW_IP https://cafe.example.com:$GW_HTTPS_PORT/coffee --insecure

Server address: 10.244.0.6:80
Server name: coffee-6b8b6d6486-7fc78

Further Reading

To learn more about redirects using the Gateway API, see the following resource: