Anderson Leite

Posted on Nov 15

Stop the Panic: NGINX is NOT Dead: Understanding the ingress-nginx Controller Retirement

#cloudnative #kubernetes #nginx #ingress

TL;DR - What's Actually Happening

🚨 What's retiring: The Kubernetes ingress-nginx controller project

✅ What's NOT affected: NGINX web server, NGINX Plus, OpenResty, or any other NGINX-based products

📅 Timeline: Best-effort maintenance until March 2026

🔄 Action needed: If you use ingress-nginx controller, start planning migration to alternatives

Don't know what I'm talking about? Read the official announcement here and keep reading the article to understand what's going on and what alternatives you have.

Introduction: Déjà Vu All Over Again

Remember the Great Docker Panic of 2020? (Don't know about it? You can read about it here, here and the original FAQ from 2020 here) When Kubernetes announced the deprecation of dockershim, the internet erupted with "Kubernetes is dropping Docker!" headlines, causing widespread confusion. The reality? Containers continued to run just fine with containerd, and Docker images worked exactly as before.

Well, here we go again.

On November 11, 2025, the Kubernetes SIG Network and Security Response Committee announced the retirement of the ingress-nginx project. And predictably, social media and forums are already ablaze with misconceptions about "NGINX dying" or "Kubernetes dropping NGINX support."

Let me be crystal clear: NGINX, the web server that powers a significant portion of the internet, is NOT going anywhere.

What ingress-nginx Actually Is (And Isn't)

The NGINX Ecosystem

First, let's understand the players:

NGINX - The open-source web server/reverse proxy/load balancer maintained by F5
NGINX Plus - The commercial version with additional features
OpenResty - NGINX with Lua scripting capabilities
ingress-nginx - A Kubernetes Ingress controller that happens to use NGINX

The ingress-nginx controller is just ONE implementation of a Kubernetes Ingress controller that uses NGINX under the hood. It's a Kubernetes community project, not the NGINX project itself.

What an Ingress Controller Does

# This is an Ingress resource - it needs a controller to work
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: my-app-ingress
spec:
  rules:
  - host: myapp.example.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: my-app-service
            port:
              number: 80

An Ingress controller watches for these Ingress resources and configures a load balancer (in this case, NGINX) to route traffic accordingly. Think of it as the bridge between Kubernetes' declarative configuration and the actual traffic routing.

Why ingress-nginx is Being Retired

The announcement outlines several key challenges:

1. Maintenance Burden

Only 1-2 maintainers working in their spare time
Complex codebase with years of accumulated features
Security concerns with features like "snippets" annotations

2. Evolution of Standards

What was once considered a feature (like arbitrary configuration injection) is now seen as a security risk. The project accumulated technical debt that became increasingly difficult to manage.

3. Better Alternatives Now Exist

When ingress-nginx was created, it was one of the few options. Now we have:

Gateway API (the modern replacement for Ingress)
Multiple mature Ingress controllers from various vendors
Cloud-provider specific solutions

What This Means for You

If You're Using ingress-nginx Controller

Check if you're affected:

kubectl get pods --all-namespaces \
  --selector app.kubernetes.io/name=ingress-nginx

If this returns pods, you're using ingress-nginx and should plan migration.

If You're Using NGINX in Other Ways

Not affected:

NGINX as a standalone web server
NGINX in Docker containers (not as Ingress controller)
NGINX Plus installations
OpenResty deployments
Other NGINX-based Ingress controllers (like NGINX Inc.'s official controller)

Migration Paths

Option 1: Gateway API (Recommended)

The Gateway API is the evolution of Ingress, offering:

Better separation of concerns
More expressive configuration
Built-in support for advanced scenarios

# Modern Gateway API approach
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: HTTPRoute
metadata:
  name: my-app-route
spec:
  parentRefs:
  - name: my-gateway
  hostnames:
  - myapp.example.com
  rules:
  - matches:
    - path:
        type: PathPrefix
        value: /
    backendRefs:
    - name: my-app-service
      port: 80

Option 2: Alternative Ingress Controllers

Popular alternatives include:

Traefik - Dynamic configuration, Let's Encrypt integration
HAProxy Ingress - High-performance, enterprise features
Contour - Envoy-based, modern architecture
NGINX Ingress Controller (by NGINX Inc. via NGINX Plus) - Commercial support available
Kong Ingress - API gateway features
Ambassador - Developer-friendly, declarative configuration

Option 3: Cloud Provider Solutions

AWS: Application Load Balancer (ALB) Ingress Controller
Google Cloud: GKE Ingress
Azure: Application Gateway Ingress Controller

Timeline and What Happens Next

Now - March 2026

Best-effort maintenance continues
Security fixes will still be provided
You should start planning migration

After March 2026

No new releases
No bug fixes
No security updates
Important: Existing deployments continue to work
Container images and Helm charts remain available

Lessons Learned: The Lifecycle of Kubernetes Projects

This situation highlights important aspects of open-source sustainability:

Popular ≠ Sustainable: Despite widespread use, ingress-nginx struggled with maintainership
Evolution is Natural: What worked in 2016 may not meet 2025's requirements
Community Projects Need Community Support: Using open source means considering how to give back

The Bright Side

Unlike the dockershim deprecation (which was purely removal), this situation actually represents progress:

Gateway API: A more powerful, flexible replacement exists
Healthy Competition: Multiple mature alternatives available
No Breaking Changes: Existing deployments continue to work
Adequate Timeline: Over 4 months notice for migration

Conclusion: Don't Panic, Do Plan

Just as Kubernetes didn't "kill Docker" when dockershim was removed, this retirement doesn't mean "NGINX is dead" or "Kubernetes is dropping NGINX." It means one specific Ingress controller implementation is being retired due to maintenance challenges.

Key Takeaways:

✅ NGINX (the web server) is alive and well
✅ You have multiple excellent alternatives
✅ Existing deployments won't break
✅ You have time to plan migration
❌ This is not an emergency
❌ NGINX is not being removed from Kubernetes

Action Items:

Check if you're using ingress-nginx controller
Evaluate alternatives (Gateway API recommended)
Plan migration before March 2026
Consider contributing to the open-source projects you depend on

Remember: In the cloud native world, change is constant, but it's rarely catastrophic. This is evolution, not extinction.

Resources

Have you started planning your migration from ingress-nginx? What alternative are you considering? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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