“Connectivity Link is utilizing the Gateway API, which was introduced by the Kubernetes community a little over one year ago, as well as integrating with different cloud service providers’ DNS solutions,” Chris Ferreira, senior principal technical product manager at Red Hat, explained to Network World.
Red Hat Connectivity Link is not a mesh, Ferreira emphasized. It’s an Envoy plugin through which Red Hat is able to integrate different capabilities beyond the standard features of an Istio or LinkerD mesh. He explained that via integrations with cloud DNS, as well as configuration mirroring, Red Hat Connectivity Link provides access to multiple clusters and workload health checks. It is also aware of appropriate routing, load balancing, and failover, and it’s able to create/edit/delete CNAME, A Records, Zones and more within any DNS provider in an automated, systematic approach, Ferreira said.
A key goal with Red Hat Connectivity Link is to make it easier for organizations to set up, manage and monitor cloud-native connectivity. Ferreira noted that the technology brings the core capabilities cloud administrators need for connectivity down to a single interface that is fully API-driven. Being API-driven enables automation as well as modern GitOps and DevOps workflows.
Why the Kubernetes Gateway API is better way to connect cloud-native deployments
The Kubernetes gateway API is, in some respects, an evolution of the earlier Ingress controller in Kubernetes. That said, Ferreira argued that the Gateway API is much more than just a new ingress controller standard. For example, it is role oriented, which will allow cluster operators to define how shared infrastructure can be used by many different groups, Ferreira noted.
