Setting up Ingress with SSL using NGINX and Cert-Manager

This guide explains how to configure NGINX Ingress Controller and Cert-Manager in a Kubernetes cluster for managing ingress resources with SSL termination.

Prerequisites

A Kubernetes cluster
kubectl CLI configured to interact with the cluster

Step 1: Install NGINX Ingress Controller

Deploy the NGINX Ingress Controller to your cluster using the following command:

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/main/deploy/static/provider/kind/deploy.yaml

Verify the installation:

kubectl get pods -n ingress-nginx

Step 2: Install Cert-Manager

Deploy Cert-Manager to manage SSL certificates:

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.7.1/cert-manager.yaml

Verify the installation:

kubectl get pods -n cert-manager

Step 3: Create a ClusterIssuer for Let's Encrypt

Apply the following YAML file to create a ClusterIssuer for Let's Encrypt:

apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt-prod
  namespace: cert-manager
spec:
  acme:
    server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    email: [email protected]
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: letsencrypt-prod
    solvers:
    - http01:
        ingress:
          class: nginx

Save this YAML as cluster-issuer.yaml and apply it:

kubectl apply -f cluster-issuer.yaml

Step 4: Create an Ingress Resource

Replace <your-host> with your domain name in the following Ingress manifest. This example sets up multiple services with SSL termination:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: example-ingress
  annotations:
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: "letsencrypt-prod"
    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: "nginx"
spec:
  tls:
  - hosts:
      - <your-host>
    secretName: tls-secret
  rules:
  - host: "<your-host>"
    http:
      paths:
      - pathType: Prefix
        path: /sample-1
        backend:
          service:
            name: sample-1
            port:
              number: 3000
  - host: "<your-host>"
    http:
      paths:
      - pathType: Prefix
        path: /sample-2
        backend:
          service:
            name: sample-2
            port:
              number: 3000
  - host: "<your-host>"
    http:
      paths:
      - pathType: Prefix
        path: "/"
        backend:
          service:
            name: sample-3
            port:
              number: 3000
  - host: "<your-host>"
    http:
      paths:
      - pathType: Prefix
        path: "/"
        backend:
          service:
            name: sample-4
            port:
              number: 3000

Save this YAML as ingress.yaml and apply it:

kubectl apply -f ingress.yaml

Step 5: Verify the Setup

Check the status of the ingress:

kubectl get ing

Check the status of the certificate:

kubectl get certificates

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