Setting Up NGINX Ingress Controller in EKS with HTTP and TCP Routing

In AWS EKS, exposing each application with its own LoadBalancer is costly and inefficient. A smarter approach is using an NGINX Ingress Controller, which allows routing multiple applications through a single LoadBalancer — using host-based HTTP routing and TCP port-based routing.

This guide explains how to:

• Deploy NGINX Ingress Controller via Helm
• Set up host-based routing for HTTP apps
• Configure TCP routing for non-HTTP services
• Map domains via Cloudflare
• Reference official docs

---

Why Use Ingress in EKS?

Benefits
One LoadBalancer for many services
Lower costs
Host & path-based routing
Supports TCP & HTTP apps
Works with Cloudflare
Centralized config

---

Prerequisites

• EKS Cluster
• Helm, kubectl, eksctl
• Cloudflare account
• Domain for your app
• Applications/services already deployed in Kubernetes

---

Step 1: Install NGINX Ingress Controller via Helm

helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx

helm repo update

helm install ingress-nginx ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx \

--create-namespace \

--namespace ingress-nginx \

--set controller.service.type=LoadBalancer

For advanced configurations, refer to the official NGINX Ingress Helm chart documentation.

This exposes the controller via a single ELB.

---

Step 2: Get ELB DNS for Ingress Controller

kubectl get svc -n ingress-nginx

Note the external ELB DNS, e.g.:

a1b2c3d4e5f6g7.elb.amazonaws.com

---

Step 3: Set Up DNS in Cloudflare

1. Go to DNS settings
2. Add a record:
   • Type: CNAME or A
   • Name: your-subdomain.yourdomain.com
   • Target: ELB DNS
   • Proxy status: DNS Only or Proxied

For Cloudflare-specific optimizations, check Cloudflare’s Kubernetes integration guide.

---

Step 4: HTTP Host-Based Ingress Example

Here's a sample Ingress manifest:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1

kind: Ingress

metadata:

name: pubggpiro9ypjn-ing

namespace: pubggpiro9ypjn

annotations:

nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /

spec:

ingressClassName: nginx

rules:

- host: metube-app-622604.clb2.nifetency.com

http:

paths:

- path: /

pathType: Prefix

backend:

service:

name: service-f35714cd-4cb5-4f7e-b9db-4daa699640b3

port:

number: 8081

Apply the file:

kubectl apply -f ingress.yaml

Learn more about Ingress annotations in the Kubernetes Ingress documentation.

---

Step 5: Add TCP Support (Optional)

Step 5.1: Create TCP ConfigMap

apiVersion: v1

kind: ConfigMap

metadata:

name: tcp-services

namespace: ingress-nginx

data:

"5432": "my-namespace/postgres-service:5432"

Step 5.2: Upgrade Controller to Load TCP ConfigMap

helm upgrade ingress-nginx ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx \

--namespace ingress-nginx \

--set controller.extraArgs.tcp-services-configmap=ingress-nginx/tcp-services

Or during first install:

helm install ingress-nginx ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx \

--namespace ingress-nginx \

--set controller.extraArgs.tcp-services-configmap=ingress-nginx/tcp-services \

--set controller.service.type=LoadBalancer

For troubleshooting TCP routing, see NGINX’s TCP/UDP passthrough guide.

---

Step 6: Expose TCP Port in LoadBalancer

Edit the controller service:

kubectl edit svc ingress-nginx-controller -n ingress-nginx

Add:

ports:

- name: postgres

port: 5432

targetPort: 5432

protocol: TCP

---

Routing Overview

Type	Uses	Ingress Object?	ConfigMap?	DNS
HTTP	Web apps, APIs	Yes	No	Subdomain
TCP	PostgreSQL, Redis	No	Yes	Same ELB + Port

Tips

• Use ingressClassName: nginx to prevent conflicts.
• Use cert-manager for HTTPS/TLS termination.
• Isolate apps using namespaces.
• Annotate Ingress for rewrites, caching, rate-limiting, etc.

---

Conclusion

With this setup, you can serve both HTTP and TCP apps in your EKS cluster using a single LoadBalancer, simplifying your architecture and saving costs. HTTP traffic is managed using Ingress resources with host rules, while TCP apps like databases are handled using a custom ConfigMap.

This architecture is production-ready when combined with Cloudflare for DNS, TLS, and protection.

For cluster management solutions, explore our Nife's Managed Clusters platform.

Discover solutions for Managing Multiple Organizations across your infrastructure