Gateway API v1.2: New Features for Developers and DevOps Teams

Kubernetes SIG Network is excited to announce the general availability of Gateway API v1.2! This version of the API was released on October 3rd, and we are thrilled that there are now several conformant implementations you can try out.

Gateway API v1.2 brings numerous new features to the standard channel (the GA release channel of the Gateway API), introduces some new experimental features, and celebrates our new release process—though there are also two breaking changes to be aware of.

Breaking Changes

Removal of GRPCRoute and ReferenceGrant v1alpha2

Since the v1 versions of GRPCRoute and ReferenceGrant have now reached standard status, the old v1alpha2 versions have been removed from the standard and experimental channels. This is done to reduce the maintenance burden that constant support for old versions would impose on the Gateway API community.

Before upgrading to Gateway API v1.2, ensure that all implementations of the Gateway API have been updated to the v1 API version of these resources, instead of the v1alpha2 API version. Note that even if you use v1 in your YAML manifests, a controller might still use v1alpha2, which could cause issues during the upgrade. Additionally, Kubernetes is making efforts to prevent you from removing a CRD version it considers in use: see the release notes for more information.

Change of .status.supportedFeatures (experimental)

A minor breaking change: .status.supportedFeatures in a Gateway is now a list of objects instead of a list of strings. The objects have a single name field, so converting from strings is straightforward, but switching to objects allows much more flexibility for the future. This stanza is not yet present in the standard channel.

Graduations to the Standard Channel

Gateway API 1.2.0 graduated four features to the standard channel, meaning they can now be considered generally available. Inclusion in the standard release channel indicates a high level of confidence in the API surface and provides guarantees for backward compatibility. Of course, standard channel features, like any other Kubernetes API, can continue to evolve over time, and we certainly expect further refinements and improvements to these new features in the future. For more information on this topic, read the Gateway API versioning guidelines.

HTTPRoute Timeouts

GEP-1742 introduced the timeouts stanza in HTTPRoute, allowing the configuration of basic timeouts for HTTP traffic. This is a simple yet important feature for proper resilience when dealing with HTTP traffic and is now standard.

For example, this HTTPRoute configuration sets a timeout of 300ms for traffic to the path /face:

apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: HTTPRoute
metadata:
  name: face-with-timeouts
  namespace: faces
spec:
  parentRefs:
    - name: my-gateway
      kind: Gateway
  rules:
  - matches:
    - path:
        type: PathPrefix
        value: /face
    backendRefs:
    - name: face
      port: 80
    timeouts:
      request: 300ms

For more information, check out the HTTP Routing documentation. (Please note that this only applies to HTTPRoute timeouts. GRPCRoute timeouts are not yet part of the Gateway API.)

The improvements in Gateway API v1.2 provide developers and DevOps teams with valuable tools to optimize their Kubernetes applications. At ayedo, we are proud to act as a partner in the Kubernetes community and are happy to help you make the most of these new features.

Source: Kubernetes Blog