HashiCorp Consul integrates with Ambassador to securely route Ingress traffic to Consul Service Mesh when using Kubernetes. When onboarding applications onto a service mesh or when integrating with existing applications outside of the Mesh, a north south API gateway is typically required for communications with clients outside of the network. Ambassador is a Kubernetes API Gateway that allows you to route incoming traffic to your Consul Service Mesh proxies while also providing the ability to leverage advanced API Gateway functionalities such as rate limiting and authentication.

1. Getting Started with
Ambassador and Consul on Kubernetes
Using the K8s Initializer

2. ● Cloud native comms require intentional design
● Bootstrap your skills in a K8s playground
● Ambassador manages ingress traffic
● Consul manages service-to-service traffic
● Evolve through proof-of-concept to production
tl;dr

3. Who are we?
@danielbryantuk
Dev Rel at
Ambassador Labs
@davidyu_io
Product Manager at
HashiCorp

4. Cloud native comms can be… complex
Kubernetes provides good comms abstractions
● CNI plugins (provided via distro / cloud vendor)
● Ingress: north-south traffic
● “Service”-to-service: east-west traffic
Must integrate with your platform/dev ecosystem!

5. Exploring end-to-end communication

6. thenewstack.io/learning-kubernetes-the-need-for-a-realistic-playground

8. Ambassador Edge Stack
● K8s-native and Envoy powered
● Designed for dev self-service
● CRD-driven config (GitOps friendly)
● Easy config of TLS (via ACME/Let’s Encrypt)
● User auth / rate limiting / developer portal

9. ● Multi-platform with excellent K8s support, and deployed as self-
managed or managed service on AWS/Azure
● Native multi-region and multi-cluster support
● Envoy-powered
● CRD-driven config (1.9+)
○ Intentions for service to service authorization
○ Layer 7 Traffic Routing
● Easy config of mTLS and Vault Integration
Consul Service Mesh

10. Demo time!
https://app.getambassador.io/initializer/

11. Playground Proof of concept Production

12. Playground
Goals:
● Learning
● Think of the WIIFMs for dev and ops
Pain points:
● Integration into platform and workflows

13. Proof-of-concept
Goals:
● “Dancing skeleton” in production-like env
● Feedback from all stakeholders
Pain points:
● Flushing out all requirements
● Impact “shift left” quality (testing and security)

14. Production
Goals:
● Hardening the solution
● Resilience: technology, processes, people
Pain points:
● Expect the unexpected
● Optimizing for the ability to iterate… fast!

15. ● Cloud native comms require intentional design
● Ambassador manages ingress traffic
● Consul manages service-to-service traffic
● Bootstrap your skills in a K8s playground
● Evolve through proof-of-concept to production
Conclusion

16. Want to learn more?
K8s Initializer: app.getambassador.io/initializer
Ambassador: www.getambassador.io
Consul: www.consul.io
getambassador.io/learn/service-mesh
consul.io/docs/k8s/connect/ambassador
learn.hashicorp.com/consul