Setup Kong in Almalinux 9

Today I will share with you how you can setup Kong Gateway 3.5 with PostgreSQL 16, both in Almalinux 9.

PostgreSQL 9

We going to start with PostgreSQL 16. The steps required as following:

1. Install PostgreSQL 16
2. Initialise PostgreSQL 16
3. Add port 5432 into public zone
4. Allow remote access to PostgreSQL 16.
5. Enable and start the service.
6. Create kong database, user and password.

I have the following script which I place it in user's home - ~/install-postgresql.

#!/bin/bash

echo "🚀 Downloading PostgreSQL 16..."
sudo dnf update -y
sudo dnf install -y https://download.postgresql.org/pub/repos/yum/reporpms/EL-9-x86_64/pgdg-redhat-repo-latest.noarch.rpm

echo "🚀 Installing PostgreSQL 16..."
sudo dnf install -y postgresql16 postgresql16-server

echo "🚀 Initialise DB for PostgreSQL 16..."
/usr/pgsql-16/bin/postgresql-16-setup initdb

echo "🚀 Configuring PostgreSQL 16 firewall..."
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port=5432/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

echo "🚀 Configuring ph_hba.conf..."
echo "host    all      all    0.0.0.0/0       md5" >>/var/lib/pgsql/16/data/pg_hba.conf

echo "🚀 Configuring postgresql.conf..."
echo "listen_addresses = '*'" >>/var/lib/pgsql/16/data/postgresql.conf

echo "🚀 Enabling PostgreSQL 16 at startup..."
sudo systemctl enable postgresql-16

echo "🚀 Starting the PostgreSQL 16 service..."
sudo systemctl start postgresql-16

echo "🚀 Configuring kong database, user and password..."
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$(echo $RANDOM | md5sum | head -c 20)

DB_EXISTS=$(sudo su - postgres -c "psql -lqt" | cut -d \| -f 1 | grep -w kong | wc -l) || true
if [[ $DB_EXISTS == 0 ]]; then
    sudo su - postgres -c "psql -c \"CREATE USER kong WITH PASSWORD '$POSTGRES_PASSWORD';\" > /dev/null"
    sudo su - postgres -c "psql -c \"CREATE DATABASE kong OWNER kong\" > /dev/null"
    echo POSTGRES_PASSWORD > kong-database.pass
fi

Run the following command to start the installation and configuration:

cd ~
chmod +x install-postgresql
. ./install-postgresql

Copy the password in kong-database.pass and we will use it in the Kong configuration.

Kong Gateway

For Almalinux, we can use RHEL installer.

I have download it and place it in ~/installers/ directory - assuming you are in user's directory.

Then I have config/ directory which stored the kong configuration as following:

# Port

port_maps = 80:8000,443:8443
proxy_listen = 0.0.0.0:80 reuseport backlog=16384, 0.0.0.0:443 http2 ssl reuseport backlog=16384
admin_listen = 127.0.0.1:8001 reuseport backlog=16384, 127.0.0.1:8444 http2 ssl reuseport backlog=16384
# admin_listen = 0.0.0.0:8001
admin_gui_listen = 0.0.0.0:8002

headers = latency_tokens

nginx_http_client_max_body_size = 100m
nginx_http_client_body_buffer_size = 100m

# DATASTORE

database = postgres
pg_host = kong-db-node
pg_port = 5432
pg_timeout = 5000
pg_user = kong
pg_password = 
pg_database = kong
pg_schema = public

Then I have the following script to install and setup Kong.

#!/bin/bash

# Parse command line arguments
while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
    key="$1"

    case $key in
        -k|--kong-ip)
        KONG_DB_IP="$2"
        shift # past argument
        shift # past value
        ;;
        *)
        # unknown option
        echo "Unknown option: $1"
        return
        ;;
    esac
done

# Check if required arguments are provided
if [ -z "$KONG_DB_IP" ]; then
    echo "Error: Please provide Kong Database IP Address."
    return
fi

echo "🚀 Installing Kong..."
yum install "$(dirname "$0")/installers/kong-3.5.0.el8.x86_64.rpm" -y

echo "🚀 Enabling at startup..."
systemctl enable kong

echo "🚀 Setup hostname..."
echo "$KONG_DB_IP kong-db-node" >> /etc/hosts

echo "🚀 Backup Configuration..."
cp /etc/kong/kong.conf /etc/kong/kong.conf.default

echo "🚀 Configuring..."
cp "$(dirname "$0")/config/kong.conf" /etc/kong/kong.conf

echo "🚀 Disable Proxy on localhost..."
echo "export no_proxy=localhost,127.0.0.1" >> /etc/environment

echo "⚠️ You need to update the kong database credential located in /etc/kong/kong.conf"
echo "⚠️ Then you are good to go to start the kong service"

Then you can the script:

cd ~/
chmod +x install-kong
. ./install-kong <database-ip>

Then open up the /etc/kong/kong.conf and update the password for kong database based on step in PostgreSQL 16 installation.

Once you are done, run the following command:

kong migrations bootstrap
kong kong migrations up && kong migrations finish

Update the firewall rules:

sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port=443/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port=8000/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port=8001/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port=8002/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Then start the kong service:

systemctl start kong

Now you can test your Kong:

curl -i -X GET --url http://localhost:8001/services

And open Kong Manager at http://localhost:8002.

It is advisable that Kong Manager only be access from limited IP address and exposing to the internet.

Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash