technology

MCP + Kubernetes Management

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Here’s a breakdown of this topic across all three domains:

MCP + Kubernetes Management

What it looks like: An LLM agent connects to a Kubernetes MCP server that exposes kubectl operations as tools. The agent can then:

  • list_pods(namespace) → find failing pods
  • get_pod_logs(pod, namespace) → fetch logs
  • describe_deployment(name) → inspect rollout status
  • scale_deployment(name, replicas) → auto-scale
  • apply_manifest(yaml) → deploy changes

Real implementations:

  • kubectl-ai — natural language to kubectl commands
  • Robusta — AI-powered Kubernetes troubleshooting with MCP support
  • k8s-mcp-server — open-source MCP server wrapping the Kubernetes API
  • OpenShift + ACM — Red Hat is building AI-assisted cluster management leveraging MCP for tool standardization

Example agent workflow:

User: “Why is the payments service degraded?”

Agent →  list_pods(namespace=”payments”)

      →  get_pod_logs(pod=”payments-7f9b”, tail=100)

      →  describe_deployment(“payments”)

      →  LLM reasons: “OOMKilled — memory limit too low”

      →  Proposes: patch_deployment(memory_limit=”1Gi”)

      →  HITL: “Approve this change?” → Engineer approves

      →  apply_patch() → monitors rollout → confirms healthy

MCP + Terraform Pipelines

What it looks like: A Terraform MCP server exposes infrastructure operations. The agent can plan, review, and apply infrastructure changes conversationally.

MCP tools exposed:

  • terraform_plan(module, vars) → generate and review a plan
  • terraform_apply(plan_id) → apply approved changes
  • terraform_state_show(resource) → inspect current state
  • terraform_output(name) → read output values
  • detect_drift() → compare actual vs declared state

Key use cases:

  • Drift detection agent: continuously checks for infrastructure drift and auto-raises PRs to correct it
  • Cost optimization agent: analyzes Terraform state, identifies oversized resources, proposes rightsizing
  • Compliance agent: scans Terraform plans against OPA/Sentinel policies before apply
  • PR review agent: reviews Terraform PRs, flags security misconfigs, suggests improvements

Example pipeline:

PR opened with Terraform changes

       │

       ▼

MCP Terraform Agent

  ├── terraform_plan() → generates plan

  ├── scan_security(plan) → checks for open security groups, no encryption

  ├── estimate_cost(plan) → computes monthly cost delta

  ├── LLM summarizes: “This adds an unencrypted S3 bucket costing ~$12/mo”

  └── Posts review comment to PR with findings + recommendations

📊MCP + Infrastructure Observability

What it looks like: Observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, Datadog) are wrapped as MCP servers. The agent queries them in natural language and correlates signals across tools autonomously.

MCP tools exposed:

  • query_prometheus(promql, time_range) → fetch metrics
  • search_logs(query, service, time_range) → Loki/Elasticsearch
  • get_traces(service, error_only) → Jaeger/Tempo
  • list_active_alerts() → current firing alerts
  • get_dashboard(name) → Grafana snapshot
  • create_annotation(text, time) → mark events on dashboards

Key use cases:

  • Natural language observability: “Show me error rate for the checkout service in the last 30 mins” — no PromQL needed
  • Automated RCA: agent correlates metrics + logs + traces to pinpoint root cause
  • Alert noise reduction: agent groups related alerts, suppresses duplicates, and writes a single incident summary
  • Capacity planning: agent queries historical metrics, detects trends, forecasts when resources will be exhausted

🔗 How MCP Ties It All Together

The power of MCP is that a single agent can hold tools from all three domains simultaneously:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐

│                   LLM Agent                         │

│              (Claude / GPT-4o)                      │

└────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┘

                     │ MCP

        ┌────────────┼────────────┐

        ▼            ▼            ▼

┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐

│  Kubernetes  │ │Terraform │ │  Observability   │

│  MCP Server  │ │ MCP Server│ │   MCP Server     │

│  (kubectl,   │ │(plan,    │ │(Prometheus, Loki,│

│   Helm, ACM) │ │ apply,   │ │ Grafana, Jaeger) │

└──────────────┘ │ drift)   │ └──────────────────┘

                 └──────────┘

End-to-end scenario:

  1. Observability MCP detects CPU spike on node pool
  2. Agent queries Terraform MCP → finds node group is at max capacity
  3. Agent queries Kubernetes MCP → confirms pods are pending due to insufficient nodes
  4. Agent generates Terraform plan to scale node group from 3→5 nodes
  5. HITL approval → Terraform apply → Kubernetes confirms new nodes joined
  6. Agent posts incident summary to Slack with full audit trail

API – response time

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Here are fast, reliable ways to measure client-side API response time (and break it down) — from your laptop or from an EKS pod.

1) One-shot timing (curl)

This prints DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, and Total in one go:

curl -s -o /dev/null -w '
{ "http_code":%{http_code},
  "remote_ip":"%{remote_ip}",
  "dns":%{time_namelookup},
  "tcp":%{time_connect},
  "tls":%{time_appconnect},
  "ttfb":%{time_starttransfer},
  "total":%{time_total},
  "size":%{size_download},
  "speed":%{speed_download}
}
' https://api.example.com/path

Fields

  • dns: DNS lookup
  • tcp: TCP connect
  • tls: TLS handshake (0 if HTTP)
  • ttfb: time to first byte (request→first response byte)
  • total: full download time

2) From EKS (ephemeral pod)

Run N samples and capture a CSV:

kubectl run curl --rm -it --image=curlimages/curl:8.8.0 -- \
sh -c 'for i in $(seq 1 50); do \
  curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{time_namelookup},%{time_connect},%{time_appconnect},%{time_starttransfer},%{time_total}\n" \
  https://api.example.com/health; \
done' > timings.csv

Open timings.csv and look at columns: dns,tcp,tls,ttfb,total. Large ttfb means slow upstream/app; big tls means handshake issues; big gap total - ttfb means payload/download time.

3) Separate proxy vs upstream (Kong in the path)

Kong adds latency headers you can read on the client:

curl -i https://api.example.com/path | sed -n 's/^\(x-kong-.*latency\): \(.*\)$/\1: \2/p'
# x-kong-proxy-latency: <ms>   (Kong → upstream start)
# x-kong-upstream-latency: <ms> (Upstream processing)

These help you see if delay is at the gateway or in the service.

4) Quick load/percentiles (pick one)

  • hey hey -z 30s -c 20 https://api.example.com/path
  • vegeta echo "GET https://api.example.com/path" | vegeta attack -rate=20 -duration=30s | vegeta report
  • k6 (scriptable) // save as test.js import http from 'k6/http'; import { check } from 'k6'; export const options = { vus: 20, duration: '30s', thresholds: { http_req_duration: ['p(95)<300'] } }; export default () => { const r = http.get('https://api.example.com/path'); check(r, { '200': (res)=>res.status===200 }); }; Run: k6 run test.js

5) App-level timers (optional)

Add a Server-Timing header from the API to expose your own phase timings (DB, cache, etc.). Then the client can read those headers to correlate.

6) Common gotchas

  • Proxies can add latency; test both with and without proxy (NO_PROXY / --proxy).
  • Auth: measure with real headers/tokens; 401/403 will skew.
  • SNI/Host: if hitting by IP, use --resolve host:443:IP -H "Host: host" so cert/routing is correct.
  • Warmup: discard first few samples (JIT, caches, TLS session reuse).

If you want, share a few curl -w outputs from local vs EKS and I’ll pinpoint where the time is going (DNS/TLS/TTFB/payload).

Kong – proxy issue

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Got it—your client runs in AWS and must use a corporate proxy. With mTLS, a client-side proxy can absolutely be the culprit. Here’s the playbook.

What’s happening

  • If the proxy does TLS inspection (MITM), it terminates TLS and re-signs with its own CA. Your server asks the proxy (not the real client) for a cert → it has none → server logs “trying to obtain a certificate from the client.”
  • The client may also see “unable to get local issuer certificate” because it’s validating the proxy’s substituted cert but doesn’t trust the proxy’s Root CA.

Decide the path (pick one)

A) Allow end-to-end mTLS (best):
Ask the proxy admins to bypass SSL inspection for your domain (add it to the proxy’s TLS bypass list) or ensure it does pure CONNECT tunneling. Then the real client cert reaches your server.

B) Two-hop mTLS (enterprise pattern):

  • Client ↔ Proxy: mTLS using Client-Cert-#1 (issued by proxy’s CA).
  • Proxy ↔ Your Server: mTLS using Client-Cert-#2 (issued by a CA your server trusts).
    Your server will authenticate the proxy’s identity, not the original client. If you need end-user identity, have the proxy forward vetted identity (headers/JWT) and verify it.

C) Temporary test bypass:
On that AWS instance, set NO_PROXY for your hostname if policy allows, and open egress 443 to your server to confirm the issue is the proxy.

Quick diagnostics (run both)

1) See if proxy is intercepting

# Behind the proxy
openssl s_client -proxy PROXY_HOST:PROXY_PORT \
  -connect YOUR_HOST:443 -servername YOUR_HOST -showcerts </dev/null | \
  openssl x509 -noout -issuer -subject -enddate

Compare issuer/subject to the same command from a machine without the proxy.
If issuers differ (e.g., “Zscaler/BlueCoat/Corp Root CA”), it’s inspecting.

2) Prove mTLS works through a tunnel

# If proxy supports pure CONNECT (no inspection)
curl -v https://YOUR_HOST/ \
  --proxy http://PROXY_HOST:PROXY_PORT \
  --cert client.crt --key client.key \
  --cacert server_ca_chain.pem
  • If your proxy itself is HTTPS, add: --proxy-cacert PROXY_ROOT_CA.pem.

Java client notes (common in AWS)

# Client cert for mTLS to your server
-Djavax.net.ssl.keyStore=/path/client.p12 -Djavax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword=***** -Djavax.net.ssl.keyStoreType=PKCS12
# Trust your server (or proxy if inspecting)
-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=/path/truststore.jks -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword=*****
# Proxy settings (CONNECT)
-Dhttps.proxyHost=PROXY_HOST -Dhttps.proxyPort=PROXY_PORT
# Bypass (if allowed)
-Dhttp.nonProxyHosts="|YOUR_HOST|*.yourdomain.com"

If inspection can’t be bypassed, you must import the proxy’s Root CA into the truststore, and if mTLS is required by your server, implement the two-hop mTLS model above.

What to send to the proxy team

  • “Please bypass TLS inspection (or allow pure CONNECT) for YOUR_HOST:443.”
  • If not possible: “We’ll run two-hop mTLS. We’ll trust your proxy’s client CA for the proxy→server leg; you’ll trust ours for client→proxy.”

If you share the outputs of the two openssl/curl tests (redact hostnames as needed), I’ll tell you exactly whether it’s inspection vs tunneling and the minimal change to make it work.

Short answer: tcpdump can capture payload, but only if the traffic is plaintext.
If it’s HTTPS/TLS (which most APIs are), tcpdump will not show the body unless you decrypt it. It also won’t write into your “app logs”—it just captures packets.

Here are your practical options:

ClientMTLSAuth status absent

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It means no client certificate was presented/validated on the TLS handshake—i.e., client mTLS auth did not happen for that request.

Think of it like Nginx’s $ssl_client_verify = NONE: the server (Cloudflare/F5/Kong) didn’t see a client cert, so mTLS status is absent.

Why it happens

  • Client didn’t send a cert (missing --cert/--key in curl, or browser/keystore not configured).
  • mTLS not required on that hop (e.g., F5/Cloudflare set to “request/ignore” instead of “require”; Kong’s mtls-auth plugin not enabled).
  • TLS terminates before Kong (Cloudflare/F5 terminates TLS; the origin can’t see the client cert unless that proxy enforces mTLS itself).
  • Wrong host/port/SNI that doesn’t have the mTLS policy.

Quick checks

# PEM pair
curl -vk https://api.example.com/path \
  --cert client.crt --key client.key

# or PKCS#12
curl -vk https://api.example.com/path \
  --cert-type P12 --cert client.p12:password

Look for SSL client certificate lines in the verbose output.

  • On Cloudflare/F5:
    • Require client certs on the relevant hostname/path.
    • Ensure the CA used to validate client certs is uploaded/selected.
    • If using Cloudflare, remember: the client’s cert terminates at Cloudflare; the origin (Kong) won’t receive it. Enforce mTLS at Cloudflare edge and use origin controls (e.g., Authenticated Origin Pulls) separately.
  • On Kong:
    • If using Enterprise mtls-auth plugin, enable it on the route/service and upload your CA certificate to /ca-certificates; reference it in the plugin.
    • If relying on Nginx-level mTLS, ensure the proxy listener is configured with ssl_client_certificate and ssl_verify_client on; (or the equivalent in your deployment).

Interpreting statuses

  • absent = no cert presented.
  • failed/invalid = cert presented but couldn’t be validated (untrusted/expired/CN mismatch).
  • success/verified = cert was validated.

If you share how traffic flows (Client → Cloudflare/F5 → Kong) and where you intend to enforce mTLS, I’ll give you the exact config and a working curl for that hop.

Kong latency 2

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Short answer:
In Kong logs, proxy latency is the time spent waiting on your upstream service (the API/backend) — i.e., how long it took the upstream to respond to Kong.

Here’s the breakdown of the three latency fields you’ll see in Kong logs:

  • latencies.proxy → Upstream latency (a.k.a. “proxy latency”): time from when Kong sends the request to the upstream until it starts getting the response.
  • latencies.kong → Kong internal time: routing + plugin execution + overhead inside Kong.
  • latencies.request → Total request time as seen by the client.

Quick mental model:

Client ──> [ Kong (latencies.kong) ] ──> Upstream API (latencies.proxy) ──> [ Kong ] ──> Client
                           \________________ latencies.request ________________/

A common point of confusion: in response headers,

  • X-Kong-Upstream-Latency ≈ latencies.proxy (upstream time)
  • X-Kong-Proxy-Latency ≈ latencies.kong (Kong time)

So, if you see high proxy latency, the slowness is almost always in your backend (or the network to it), not Kong itself. Focus on the upstream’s performance (DB calls, external services), network/DNS, and connection reuse; use Kong’s service/route timeouts (connect_timeout, read_timeout, write_timeout) to guard against outliers.Short answer:
In Kong logs, proxy latency is the time spent waiting on your upstream service (the API/backend) — i.e., how long it took the upstream to respond to Kong.

Here’s the breakdown of the three latency fields you’ll see in Kong logs:

  • latencies.proxy → Upstream latency (a.k.a. “proxy latency”): time from when Kong sends the request to the upstream until it starts getting the response.
  • latencies.kong → Kong internal time: routing + plugin execution + overhead inside Kong.
  • latencies.request → Total request time as seen by the client.

Quick mental model:

Client ──> [ Kong (latencies.kong) ] ──> Upstream API (latencies.proxy) ──> [ Kong ] ──> Client
                           \________________ latencies.request ________________/

A common point of confusion: in response headers,

  • X-Kong-Upstream-Latency ≈ latencies.proxy (upstream time)
  • X-Kong-Proxy-Latency ≈ latencies.kong (Kong time)

So, if you see high proxy latency, the slowness is almost always in your backend (or the network to it), not Kong itself. Focus on the upstream’s performance (DB calls, external services), network/DNS, and connection reuse; use Kong’s service/route timeouts (connect_timeout, read_timeout, write_timeout) to guard against outliers.

Kong – no suitable authorization credentials were provided

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The error “no suitable authorization credentials were provided” usually means Kong (or an upstream service) expected authentication information, but it either:

  • Didn’t receive it at all
  • Received it in the wrong format
  • Received it in the wrong location (header vs. query parameter)
  • Couldn’t match it to any configured credentials

Here’s how to troubleshoot it step-by-step:

1. Identify which plugin or service is throwing the error

  • Kong Plugin Layer – Often caused by key-auth, jwt, or openid-connect plugin when no valid credential is passed.
  • Upstream Service Layer – Could be from the API/backend if Kong passed the request without credentials.
  • Load Balancer / F5 – Sometimes strips or alters headers, so credentials never reach Kong.

2. Check the authentication type you’re using

  • API Key (key-auth plugin)
    • Expected: apikey in ?query or apikey in header (apikey: <key>).
    • Verify: curl -H "apikey: YOUR_API_KEY" https://your-kong-endpoint/your-api
  • JWT Plugin
    • Expected: Authorization: Bearer <jwt_token> header.
    • Token must be valid and match a configured consumer.
  • OpenID Connect (openid-connect plugin)
    • Expected: Valid ID/Access token, usually Authorization: Bearer <access_token>.
    • Token must be signed by a trusted issuer in plugin config.

3. Verify headers are not stripped

If you have F5 / Nginx / Apache in front of Kong:

  • Check that Authorization headers are forwarded.
  • In F5, enable HTTP::header Authorization forwarding.
  • In Nginx, ensure: proxy_set_header Authorization $http_authorization;

4. Check Kong logs for details

Run Kong in debug mode temporarily:

KONG_LOG_LEVEL=debug kong restart
tail -f /usr/local/kong/logs/error.log

Look for:

  • plugin=... lines showing missing credentials
  • no credentials found for given consumer/issuer

5. Confirm consumer mapping

For jwt or oidc:

  • The public key / JWKS URL must be correct.
  • The iss (issuer) in token must match plugin config.
  • The consumer must be linked to the credential.

💡 Common causes I’ve seen in your past scenarios with F5 + Kong + Ping Identity:

  • F5 stripping Authorization header before reaching Kong.
  • Wrong token type (ID token instead of Access token) in OIDC flow.
  • Consumer not mapped in Kong for the provided JWT/OIDC token.
  • client_id and client_secret missing in a token request.

If you want, I can draw you a flow diagram for Kong + Ping Identity showing exactly where the credential might be getting lost in your setup with F5 in the middle. That would make pinpointing the issue much faster.

Kong / our app is build using Java Spring Boot

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Yes — when integrating certificates into Spring Boot, especially for mTLS, HTTPS, or secure inter-service communication, there are several important certificate handling considerations you should account for:

✅ 1. Keystore / Truststore Formats

StorePurposeCommon Format
KeystoreHolds your application’s private key + certJKS, PKCS12 (.p12 / .pfx)
TruststoreHolds trusted CA certs to verify clients or serversJKS, PKCS12

🟡 JKS is Java-native, but PKCS12 is preferred for modern apps (more portable + supports OpenSSL).

🔧 Example Spring Boot Config:

server.ssl.key-store=classpath:server.p12
server.ssl.key-store-password=changeit
server.ssl.key-store-type=PKCS12
server.ssl.trust-store=classpath:truststore.p12
server.ssl.trust-store-password=changeit
server.ssl.trust-store-type=PKCS12

✅ 2. Certificate Chain Requirements

Spring Boot expects:

  • Full certificate chain in the keystore if issued by an intermediate CA
  • Trusted root CA in the truststore (for mTLS)

🔸 Failure to include the full chain often results in handshake errors or “unable to find valid certification path” errors.

✅ 3. Protocol Configuration (TLS)

Spring Boot (via embedded Tomcat) uses TLS 1.2+ by default.

To restrict or specify:

server.ssl.enabled-protocols=TLSv1.2,TLSv1.3

🔐 Disable TLS 1.0/1.1 — they are deprecated and insecure.

✅ 4. Cipher Suites

Spring Boot (via Tomcat) negotiates secure ciphers by default.
You can explicitly define them:

server.ssl.ciphers=TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384,...

Use modern ciphers like ECDHE + AES_GCM.
Avoid RC4, 3DES, NULL, or EXPORT ciphers.

✅ 5. Mutual TLS (mTLS)

To require client certs:

server.ssl.client-auth=need

Modes:

  • none: default (no client cert)
  • want: optional client cert
  • need: mandatory client cert (for mTLS)

✅ 6. Generating Keystore & Truststore

Convert PEM to PKCS12:

openssl pkcs12 -export \
  -in client.crt \
  -inkey client.key \
  -certfile ca.crt \
  -out client-keystore.p12 \
  -name client

Then import trusted CA into truststore (if using JKS):

keytool -import -alias myca -file ca.crt -keystore truststore.jks

✅ 7. Spring Boot with Reverse Proxies (e.g., Kong, F5)

If TLS termination is done by Kong/F5 and Spring Boot sits behind it:

  • Use X-Forwarded headers: server.forward-headers-strategy=framework
  • Do not terminate TLS inside Spring unless you need end-to-end TLS.

✅ Summary: What to Account For

AreaKey Considerations
🔐 FormatUse PKCS12 for best compatibility
🧾 TrustTruststore must contain root CA or intermediate
🔄 ChainInclude full cert chain in keystore
🌐 ProtocolEnable TLSv1.2+ only
🔐 CiphersUse strong, modern suites
🔁 mTLSSet client-auth=need + configure truststore
🔀 ProxyHandle X-Forwarded-* if behind Kong/F5

Would you like:

  • A working Spring Boot + mTLS project example?
  • An OpenSSL script to prepare the .p12 files?
  • A Kong + Spring Boot mTLS walkthrough?

Let me know your setup.

Kong – HIGH-LEVEL AUTH FLOW

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Here’s a clear breakdown of how authentication works in a Kong + Ping Identity + IAM setup, which is common in enterprise environments where Kong acts as an API gateway and Ping Identity (like PingFederate/PingOne) handles user authentication and token issuance.

HIGH-LEVEL AUTH FLOW

Scenario:

Client → Kong Gateway → Protected Service
Kong integrates with Ping Identity for OIDC authentication or JWT validation, often backed by a central IAM system.

COMPONENT ROLES

ComponentRole
Kong GatewayAPI gateway that enforces authentication & authorization plugins
Ping IdentityIdentity Provider (IdP) – handles login, token issuance, and federation
IAM (e.g., Ping IAM, LDAP, AD)Stores users, groups, permissions, policies

AUTHENTICATION FLOW (OIDC Plugin)

OpenID Connect (Authorization Code Flow):

  1. Client → Kong
    Tries to access a protected API.
  2. Kong (OIDC Plugin)
    Redirects client to Ping Identity (Authorization Endpoint).
  3. Ping Identity (PingFederate or PingOne)
    • Authenticates user (UI, MFA, etc.).
    • Issues authorization_code.
  4. Kong → Ping Identity (Token Endpoint)
    Exchanges code for access_token (and optionally id_token, refresh_token).
  5. Kong (OIDC Plugin)
    • Validates token.
    • Optionally maps user to Kong consumer.
    • Passes request to backend with enriched headers (e.g., X-Consumer-Username).
  6. Backend Service
    Receives authenticated request with headers.

JWT Token Validation (Alt. Flow)

If Ping Identity issues JWT tokens, you can use Kong’s JWT plugin to validate them without redirect:

  1. Client gets access_token from Ping (out of band or SPA).
  2. Client sends request with Authorization: Bearer <token>.
  3. Kong JWT plugin verifies:
    • Signature using Ping’s public key / JWKS.
    • Claims like iss, aud, exp, etc.
  4. If valid, forward to upstream.

Where IAM Comes In

IAM sits behind Ping Identity and handles:

  • User/group storage (via LDAP, AD, DB, etc.)
  • Role mapping (e.g., admin/user)
  • Authorization policies (PingAccess, policy processor)
  • MFA/SSO rules

Ping Identity federates those identities into SSO tokens and passes them to Kong.

Plugin Example: OIDC Config

curl -X POST http://<admin>:8001/services/my-service/plugins \
  --data "name=openid-connect" \
  --data "config.issuer=https://ping-idp.com" \
  --data "config.client_id=my-client" \
  --data "config.client_secret=abc123" \
  --data "config.redirect_uri=https://my-kong.com/callback" \
  --data "config.scopes=openid profile email"

Kong Headers Passed to Backend

After successful auth, Kong can pass:

  • X-Consumer-Username
  • X-Authenticated-Userid
  • Authorization: Bearer <token> (if configured)

Optional Enhancements

  • Use ACL plugin to enforce group-level access.
  • Use OIDC group claim mapping to Kong consumer groups.
  • Enable rate limiting per consumer.
  • Log authenticated user ID to Splunk or ELK.

KONG 401 & 400 error

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If you’re getting 401 and 400 intermittently from the upstream service, that strongly suggests authentication-related issues, often tied to token forwarding, expiration, or format mismatch.

🔁 Quick Summary of Key Differences

StatusMeaningCommon Cause
401UnauthorizedMissing/invalid/expired credentials
400Bad RequestMalformed or incomplete request (e.g. OIDC token request)

🧠 Intermittent 401 + 400: Common Root Causes

🔸 1. Expired or Reused Tokens

  • Kong gets a token once, caches it, and keeps using it—but upstream expects a fresh one.
  • Especially common with client credentials or authorization code flows.

Solution:

  • Set token caching to short duration or disable it in the OIDC plugin: config: cache_ttl: 0 # Or a very short TTL like 5

🔸 2. Multiple Consumers with Invalid Secrets

  • One client (consumer) is configured correctly, others are not.
  • You see 401/400 when the bad client makes a request.

Solution:

  • Enable verbose logging in Kong: export KONG_LOG_LEVEL=debug kong reload Then correlate consumer_id with the error.

🔸 3. Kong Not Forwarding Tokens Correctly

  • Kong authenticates but doesn’t forward Authorization header to the upstream.
  • Some plugins strip headers by default.

Solution:

  • Add request-transformer plugin to pass the token: curl -X POST http://localhost:8001/services/YOUR_SERVICE/plugins \ --data "name=request-transformer" \ --data "config.add.headers=Authorization:Bearer $(jwt_token)"

🔸 4. OIDC Plugin Misconfiguration

If you’re using the OpenID Connect plugin:

  • grant_type, client_id, or redirect_uri may be wrong or missing intermittently.
  • Kong might request a new token but fail to pass a correct one.

Check:

  • Kong OIDC plugin config
  • Errors like: error=invalid_request error_description="Unsupported client authentication method"

🧪 How to Debug Effectively

  1. Set KONG_LOG_LEVEL=debug, reload Kong, and tail the logs: tail -f /usr/local/kong/logs/error.log
  2. Inspect Upstream Request:
    • Look for what headers/body Kong is sending.
    • Especially Authorization, Content-Type, and request body if OIDC is involved.
  3. Track Errors to a Specific Consumer:
    • Use consumer_id in the access log to trace.
    • Maybe only some consumers are misconfigured.
  4. Try Curling the Upstream Directly with the exact payload Kong sends (use Postman or curl): curl -X POST https://upstream/token \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <your_token>" \ -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \ -d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=...&client_secret=..."

to check

  • Kong plugin configs (especially OIDC/JWT)
  • A few lines from Kong’s debug logs showing the upstream request/response
  • Whether you’re using Ping Identity or a custom upstream

kong – 2 services same route

techhadoop Uncategorized , , , ,

In Kong Gateway, you cannot have two services bound to the exact same route — a route must be unique in terms of its combination of matching rules (such as paths, hosts, methods, etc.).

🚫 Why You Can’t Have Duplicate Routes

Kong uses the route’s matching criteria to determine which service should handle a request. If two routes have the same matching rules, Kong can’t disambiguate, which leads to a conflict error when trying to create the second route.

For example:

# Service A
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/services/ --data name=service-a --data url=http://api-a
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/routes --data name=route-a --data service.name=service-a --data paths[]=/api

# Service B
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/services/ --data name=service-b --data url=http://api-b
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/routes --data name=route-b --data service.name=service-b --data paths[]=/api

⛔ The second POST /routes will fail with:

HTTP 409 Conflict – duplicate entry

✅ Workarounds / Alternatives

GoalSolution
Blue/Green or Canary DeploymentsUse Kong Plugins (e.g., traffic-split, canary) or upstreams and targets instead of duplicate routes.
Different consumers/users hitting different backendsUse request transformers, ACLs, or Kong Enterprise Route-by-header/Route-by-consumer plugins.
Same path, different method or hostYou can differentiate routes by methods[], hosts[], or headers.

🧪 Example: Two Routes with Same Path, Different Hosts

# Route 1
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/routes \
  --data name=api-v1 \
  --data paths[]=/api \
  --data hosts[]=v1.example.com \
  --data service.name=service-a

# Route 2
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/routes \
  --data name=api-v2 \
  --data paths[]=/api \
  --data hosts[]=v2.example.com \
  --data service.name=service-b

These can coexist because their hosts[] fields are different.

🧠 Summary

Route Matching RuleMust Be Unique For
paths[]Same host/methods/headers
hosts[]If combined with same path
methods[], headersCan disambiguate routes with same path

If you’re trying to achieve load balancing, blue-green deployment, or AB testing between services at the same route — I can help you set that up using upstreams + targets or the traffic-split plugin.

Would you like an example?