gateway-api-compatibility.md

Gateway API Compatibility

This document describes which Gateway API resources NGINX Gateway Fabric supports and the extent of that support.

Summary

Resource	Core Support Level	Extended Support Level	Implementation-Specific Support Level	API Version
GatewayClass	Supported	Not supported	Not Supported	v1
Gateway	Supported	Not supported	Not Supported	v1
HTTPRoute	Supported	Partially supported	Not Supported	v1
ReferenceGrant	Supported	N/A	Not Supported	v1beta1
Custom policies	Not supported	N/A	Not Supported	N/A
TLSRoute	Not supported	Not supported	Not Supported	N/A
TCPRoute	Not supported	Not supported	Not Supported	N/A
UDPRoute	Not supported	Not supported	Not Supported	N/A

Terminology

Gateway API features has three support levels: Core, Extended and Implementation-specific. We use the following terms to describe the support status for each level and resource field:

• Supported. The resource or field is fully supported.
• Partially supported. The resource or field is supported partially or with limitations. It will become fully supported in future releases.
• Not supported. The resource or field is not yet supported. It will become partially or fully supported in future releases.

Note: it might be possible that NGINX Gateway Fabric will never support some resources and/or fields of the Gateway API. We will document these decisions on a case by case basis.

NGINX Gateway Fabric doesn't support any features from the experimental release channel.

Resources

Below we list the resources and the support status of their corresponding fields.

For a description of each field, visit the Gateway API documentation.

GatewayClass

Support Levels:

• Core: Supported.
• Extended: Not supported.
• Implementation-specific: Not supported.

NGINX Gateway Fabric supports only a single GatewayClass resource configured via --gatewayclass flag of the static-mode command.

Fields:

• spec
  • controllerName - supported.
  • parametersRef - not supported.
  • description - supported.
• status
  • conditions - supported (Condition/Status/Reason):
    • Accepted/True/Accepted
    • Accepted/False/InvalidParameters
    • Accepted/False/GatewayClassConflict: Custom reason for when the GatewayClass references this controller, but a different GatewayClass name is provided to the controller via the command-line argument.

Gateway

Support Levels:

• Core: Supported.
• Extended: Partially supported.
• Implementation-specific: Not supported.

NGINX Gateway Fabric supports only a single Gateway resource. The Gateway resource must reference NGINX Gateway Fabric's corresponding GatewayClass. See static-mode command for more info.

Fields:

• spec
  • gatewayClassName - supported.
  • listeners
    • name - supported.
    • hostname - supported.
    • port - supported.
    • protocol - partially supported. Allowed values: HTTP, HTTPS.
    • tls
      • mode - partially supported. Allowed value: Terminate.
      • certificateRefs - The TLS certificate and key must be stored in a Secret resource of type kubernetes.io/tls. Only a single reference is supported.
      • options - not supported.
    • allowedRoutes - supported.
  • addresses - not supported.
• status
  • addresses - partially supported. LoadBalancer and Pod IP.
  • conditions - supported (Condition/Status/Reason):
    • Accepted/True/Accepted
    • Accepted/True/ListenersNotValid
    • Accepted/False/ListenersNotValid
    • Accepted/False/Invalid
    • Accepted/False/UnsupportedValue- custom reason for when a value of a field in a Gateway is invalid or not supported.
    • Accepted/False/GatewayConflict- custom reason for when the Gateway is ignored due to a conflicting Gateway. NGF only supports a single Gateway.
    • Programmed/True/Programmed
    • Programmed/False/Invalid
    • Programmed/False/GatewayConflict- custom reason for when the Gateway is ignored due to a conflicting Gateway. NGF only supports a single Gateway.
  • listeners
    • name - supported.
    • supportedKinds - supported.
    • attachedRoutes - supported.
    • conditions - supported (Condition/Status/Reason):
      • Accepted/True/Accepted
      • Accepted/False/UnsupportedProtocol
      • Accepted/False/InvalidCertificateRef
      • Accepted/False/ProtocolConflict
      • Accepted/False/UnsupportedValue- custom reason for when a value of a field in a Listener is invalid or not supported.
      • Accepted/False/GatewayConflict - custom reason for when the Gateway is ignored due to a conflicting Gateway. NGF only supports a single Gateway.
      • Programmed/True/Programmed
      • Programmed/False/Invalid
      • ResolvedRefs/True/ResolvedRefs
      • ResolvedRefs/False/InvalidCertificateRef
      • ResolvedRefs/False/InvalidRouteKinds
      • Conflicted/True/ProtocolConflict
      • Conflicted/False/NoConflicts

HTTPRoute

Support Levels:

• Core: Supported.
• Extended: Partially supported.
• Implementation-specific: Not supported.

Fields:

• spec
  • parentRefs - partially supported. Port not supported.
  • hostnames - supported.
  • rules
    • matches
      • path - partially supported. Only PathPrefix and Exact types.
      • headers - partially supported. Only Exact type.
      • queryParams - partially supported. Only Exact type.
      • method - supported.
    • filters
      • type - supported.
      • requestRedirect - supported except for the experimental path field. If multiple filters with requestRedirect are configured, NGINX Gateway Fabric will choose the first one and ignore the rest.
      • requestHeaderModifier - supported. If multiple filters with requestHeaderModifier are configured, NGINX Gateway Fabric will choose the first one and ignore the rest.
      • responseHeaderModifier, requestMirror, urlRewrite, extensionRef - not supported.
    • backendRefs - partially supported. Backend ref filters are not supported.
• status
  • parents
    • parentRef - supported.
    • controllerName - supported.
    • conditions - partially supported. Supported (Condition/Status/Reason):
      • Accepted/True/Accepted
      • Accepted/False/NoMatchingListenerHostname
      • Accepted/False/NoMatchingParent
      • Accepted/False/NotAllowedByListeners
      • Accepted/False/UnsupportedValue - custom reason for when the HTTPRoute includes an invalid or unsupported value.
      • Accepted/False/InvalidListener - custom reason for when the HTTPRoute references an invalid listener.
      • Accepted/False/GatewayNotProgrammed - custom reason for when the Gateway is not Programmed. HTTPRoute may be valid and configured, but will maintain this status as long as the Gateway is not Programmed.
      • ResolvedRefs/True/ResolvedRefs
      • ResolvedRefs/False/InvalidKind
      • ResolvedRefs/False/RefNotPermitted
      • ResolvedRefs/False/BackendNotFound
      • ResolvedRefs/False/UnsupportedValue - custom reason for when one of the HTTPRoute rules has a backendRef with an unsupported value.
      • PartiallyInvalid/True/UnsupportedValue

ReferenceGrant

Support Levels:

• Core: Supported.
• Extended: N/A.
• Implementation-specific: N/A

Fields:

• spec
  • to
    • group - supported.
    • kind - supports Secret and Service.
    • name- supported.
  • from
    • group - supported.
    • kind - supports Gateway and HTTPRoute.
    • namespace- supported.

TLSRoute

Status: Not supported.

TCPRoute

Status: Not supported.

UDPRoute

Status: Not supported.

Custom Policies

Status: Not supported.

Custom policies will be NGINX Gateway Fabric-specific CRDs that will allow supporting features like timeouts, load-balancing methods, authentication, etc. - important data-plane features that are not part of the Gateway API spec.

While those CRDs are not part of the Gateway API, the mechanism of attaching them to Gateway API resources is part of the Gateway API. See the Policy Attachment doc.