5 ms·

Can you explain what Kong does and why you would use it? I'm having a tough time finding anything of substance on the website which talks about why Kong exists

sinzone 11y ago
It's the 2nd main call to action in the middle of the page: http://cl.ly/image/230t2d0H403a http://cl.ly/image/230t2d0H403a
- jessedhillon 11y ago
  Yes, I guess it wasn't clear from my comment, but I have read their site. Assuming you're being sincere, this doesn't mean anything to me: http://imgur.com/BZz409G http://imgur.com/BZz409G
  - sinzone 11y ago
    Well.. to understand the value you need to have a bit of knowledge on how microservice architectures work and why an API Gateway (like Kong, which is the most popular OSS solution for that) is a fundamental part of it. ;) I suggest to start from here to get up to speed: http://microservices.io/patterns/apigateway.html http://microservices.io/patterns/apigateway.html
  - icebraining 11y ago
    From a cursory look, it's a set of Lua scripts that augment Nginx with features like authentication and such, so that you can avoid implementing them in the actual services.
anonfunction 11y ago
Kong is meant to replace nginx or HAproxy but with additional functionality added as plugins. For example you could proxy any APIs or microservices and add authentication, rate-limiting and logging as plugins.
- icebraining 11y ago
  Nginx can also be extended with modules and Lua scripts, which can add authentication, rate-limiting and logging. EDIT: It seems Kong doesn't really replace Nginx, it's actually a set of Lua scripts for Nginx.
  - sinzone 11y ago
    Correct. Kong is Nginx on steroids (w/ Lua + Cassandra) for managing microservices.
  - anonfunction 11y ago
    Even though Kong uses Nginx under the hood as a user you interface with Kong through the CLI or REST API and don't deal directly with Nginx or it's config files. While Kong is a mix of Nginx + Lua + Cassandra it's meant to take the place Nginx in your software stack.

sinzone 11y ago

It's the 2nd main call to action in the middle of the page: http://cl.ly/image/230t2d0H403a http://cl.ly/image/230t2d0H403a

jessedhillon 11y ago
Yes, I guess it wasn't clear from my comment, but I have read their site. Assuming you're being sincere, this doesn't mean anything to me: http://imgur.com/BZz409G http://imgur.com/BZz409G
- sinzone 11y ago
  Well.. to understand the value you need to have a bit of knowledge on how microservice architectures work and why an API Gateway (like Kong, which is the most popular OSS solution for that) is a fundamental part of it. ;) I suggest to start from here to get up to speed: http://microservices.io/patterns/apigateway.html http://microservices.io/patterns/apigateway.html
- icebraining 11y ago
  From a cursory look, it's a set of Lua scripts that augment Nginx with features like authentication and such, so that you can avoid implementing them in the actual services.

anonfunction 11y ago

Kong is meant to replace nginx or HAproxy but with additional functionality added as plugins. For example you could proxy any APIs or microservices and add authentication, rate-limiting and logging as plugins.

icebraining 11y ago
Nginx can also be extended with modules and Lua scripts, which can add authentication, rate-limiting and logging. EDIT: It seems Kong doesn't really replace Nginx, it's actually a set of Lua scripts for Nginx.
- sinzone 11y ago
  Correct. Kong is Nginx on steroids (w/ Lua + Cassandra) for managing microservices.
- anonfunction 11y ago
  Even though Kong uses Nginx under the hood as a user you interface with Kong through the CLI or REST API and don't deal directly with Nginx or it's config files. While Kong is a mix of Nginx + Lua + Cassandra it's meant to take the place Nginx in your software stack.