A10 Networks added an ingress controller for Kubernetes to its container-native load balancing and application delivery controller (ADC) platform. This will allow for embedded load balancing of running Kubernetes services and a platform to extract performance metrics.

The ingress controller works with ingress resources to automatically provision application delivery configuration and policies for a container. It can also dynamically update A10’s Lightning ADC load balancer as application services scale within a Kubernetes cluster.

An ingress is a collection of rules that allow inbound connections to reach the cluster services. A cluster is a group of nodes that are the compute resources managed by Kubernetes. An ingress controller is responsible for fulfilling the ingress of those inbound connections and applying rules to Layer 7 routing. It typically handles this with a load balancer.

ADCs are used to monitor and help optimize the delivery of enterprise applications on packet-based networks. They can monitor traffic between applications or to a user, and they can be integrated into a cloud environment or run as software layered on top of running operations.

A10’s Ingress Controller also provides application analytics by collecting metrics that can be used to troubleshoot issues, manage capacity planning, and detect performance or security problems. That analytical data is available through the A10 Harmony portal or a set of APIs.

“In the event of a change to the container, the Ingress Controller informs the Harmony Controller, which in turn configures the Lightning ADC,” wrote Paul Nicholson, head of global product marketing and strategy at A10, in a blog post. “This keeps Lightning ADC configuration in sync with the application environment.”

The A10 Ingress Controller is compatible with Kubernetes deployments on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) public clouds. It’s also compatible with private clouds running VMware and bare metal infrastructure.

Cliff Grossner, senior research director at IHS Markit, explained that as enterprises begin the transition to software containers, it is becoming essential for ADCs to be included into the application and orchestration planning.

“A10’s focus on integrating its ADC software Kubernetes container management software answers an important market requirement,” Grossner noted.

That market requirement is rapidly expanding as enterprises continue to ramp up their container efforts.

Google recently noted that it has witnessed a nine-fold, year-over-year increase in core hour usage on its Kubernetes Engine (GKE) platform.

That followed comments from Microsoft that it has seen a 10-fold increase in Kubernetes usage on Azure. That comment was part of Microsoft’s move to rename its Azure Container Service to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).