Each of our microservices had its own authentication, rate limiting, and logging. As the number of services grew, it became unmaintainable. Kong API Gateway centralizes cross-cutting concerns in one place.
Why an API Gateway¶
Instead of each service implementing JWT validation, rate limiting, request logging, and CORS, we move these functions to the gateway. Services focus on business logic.
Kong Architecture¶
Kong is built on nginx/OpenResty. High performance, plugin architecture, Kubernetes-native with Kong Ingress Controller. Configuration via CRDs or declarative YAML.
Our Plugins¶
- JWT — token validation at the gateway
- Rate limiting — per consumer, per route
- Request transformer — header addition, path rewriting
- Prometheus — metrics per route, per consumer
- Correlation ID — trace ID propagation
Kong vs. Istio Ingress¶
Istio handles service-to-service communication, Kong handles north-south traffic (client → cluster). They complement each other. Kong as the edge gateway, Istio for the internal mesh.
An API Gateway Is a Necessity for Microservices¶
Kong saved us hundreds of hours of duplicated code. Centralized authentication, rate limiting, and monitoring — all in one place.
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