ingress gateway
also: Ingress controller, API gateway, edge gateway
An ingress gateway is a network entry point that manages incoming traffic into a Kubernetes cluster or service mesh, routing external requests to appropriate internal services.
An ingress gateway acts as a reverse proxy and load balancer at the edge of a Kubernetes cluster, controlling how external traffic enters and reaches internal services. It examines incoming requests and applies routing rules based on hostnames, URL paths, or other criteria.
In Kubernetes, an Ingress resource defines these routing rules, while the ingress controller (running inside the cluster) implements them. For example, requests to api.example.com/users might be routed to a user service, while api.example.com/products routes to a product service.
In service mesh architectures like Istio, an ingress gateway provides additional features including TLS termination, traffic management, circuit breaking, and observability for all external traffic entering the mesh.