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zirain merged 3 commits into from
Aug 2, 2025
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docs: expand Gateway Namespace Mode doc on client/server auth #6616

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c20bf8f
Expand Gateway Namespace Mode doc on client/server auth
cnvergence Jul 28, 2025
ec4561a
Add additional explanation to the overview
cnvergence Aug 1, 2025
493e153
Merge branch 'main' into update-gnm-docs
cnvergence Aug 1, 2025
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9 changes: 7 additions & 2 deletions site/content/en/latest/tasks/operations/gateway-namespace-mode.md
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Expand Up @@ -14,10 +14,15 @@ For status updates or to provide feedback, please follow our [GitHub issues](htt

In standard deployment mode, Envoy Gateway creates all data plane resources in the controller namespace (typically `envoy-gateway-system`).

Gateway Namespace Mode changes this behavior by placing Envoy Proxy data plane resources like Deployments, Services and ServiceAccounts in each Gateway's namespace, providing stronger isolation and multi-tenancy.
The motivation behind this was to operate with minimum permissions needed to be given for Envoy Gateway controller, as the control plane and data plane was deployed in the same namespace.

Traditional deployment mode uses mTLS where both the client and server authenticate each other. However, in Gateway Namespace Mode, we've shifted to server-side TLS and JWT token validation between infra and control-plane.
Gateway Namespace Mode changes this behavior by placing Envoy Proxy data plane resources like Deployments, Services and ServiceAccounts in each Gateway's namespace, which provides stronger isolation and multi-tenancy compared to the Controller Namespace mode, as it isolates Envoy proxy data plane across different tenants.
This distributed architecture requires additional RBAC permissions for the Envoy Gateway controller to manage Kubernetes resources across multiple namespaces.

The default (Controller Namespace) deployment mode uses mTLS where both the client and server authenticate each other. However, in Gateway Namespace Mode, we've shifted to server-side TLS and JWT token validation between infra and control-plane.

* **Envoy proxy pods** (running in Gateway namespaces) act as clients and authenticate using JWT tokens
* **Envoy Gateway controller pod** (running in controller namespace) acts as the server and validates JWT tokens
* Only the CA certificate is available in pods running in Gateway namespaces
* Client certificates are not mounted in these namespaces
* The Envoy proxy still validates server certificates using the CA certificate
Expand Down
9 changes: 7 additions & 2 deletions site/content/en/v1.4/tasks/operations/gateway-namespace-mode.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -14,10 +14,15 @@ For status updates or to provide feedback, please follow our [GitHub issues](htt

In standard deployment mode, Envoy Gateway creates all data plane resources in the controller namespace (typically `envoy-gateway-system`).

Gateway Namespace Mode changes this behavior by placing Envoy Proxy data plane resources like Deployments, Services and ServiceAccounts in each Gateway's namespace, providing stronger isolation and multi-tenancy.
The motivation behind this was to operate with minimum permissions needed to be given for Envoy Gateway controller, as the control plane and data plane was deployed in the same namespace.

Traditional deployment mode uses mTLS where both the client and server authenticate each other. However, in Gateway Namespace Mode, we've shifted to server-side TLS and JWT token validation between infra and control-plane.
Gateway Namespace Mode changes this behavior by placing Envoy Proxy data plane resources like Deployments, Services and ServiceAccounts in each Gateway's namespace, which provides stronger isolation and multi-tenancy compared to the Controller Namespace mode, as it isolates Envoy proxy data plane across different tenants.
This distributed architecture requires additional RBAC permissions for the Envoy Gateway controller to manage Kubernetes resources across multiple namespaces.

The default (Controller Namespace) deployment mode uses mTLS where both the client and server authenticate each other. However, in Gateway Namespace Mode, we've shifted to server-side TLS and JWT token validation between infra and control-plane.

* **Envoy proxy pods** (running in Gateway namespaces) act as clients and authenticate using JWT tokens
* **Envoy Gateway controller pod** (running in controller namespace) acts as the server and validates JWT tokens
* Only the CA certificate is available in pods running in Gateway namespaces
* Client certificates are not mounted in these namespaces
* The Envoy proxy still validates server certificates using the CA certificate
Expand Down