Skip to main content

One post tagged with "k8s"

View All Tags

Before Applying Gateway API – Understanding L4/L7, TCP/HTTP and TLS Termination

· 10 min read
Hyunmo Ahn
Hyunmo Ahn
Front End Engineer @ Line+

Motivation​

This post doesn't have a single clear topic.

I'm currently running a web server using K8S(Kubernetes) with the ingress nginx controller. However, since maintenance is scheduled to end in March 2026, I'm considering Gateway API as the next solution.

This is a collection of networking knowledge that I previously overlooked while considering Gateway API.

I'm not sure if this will satisfy your knowledge curiosity, but if you're curious about the "questions" in the section below, it might be worth reading on. While not expert-level content, I hope it provides enough stimulation to pique your interest.

Questions​

Q. I often see terms like L4 LB and L7 LB when working with Load Balancers. What's the difference between these two?

Q. Gateway API distinguishes between HTTP connections and TCP connections. What exactly is the difference?

Q. When looking at the TLS concepts in Gateway API, terms like TLS Mode "Passthrough" and "Terminate" appear. What do these concepts mean?