Deploy a Frontend Nginx App on Kubernetes with Ingress in 5 Steps

Introduction

Kubernetes (K8s) is an open‑source container orchestration platform that automates deployment, scaling, and management of applications. This tutorial shows how to deploy a frontend Nginx image on K8s and expose it externally using an Ingress resource.

Prerequisites

A Kubernetes cluster (local Minikube or a cloud‑provided cluster).

The kubectl command‑line tool installed and configured.

Docker installed for building and pushing images.

Step 1: Build the Nginx Image

Create a Dockerfile with the following content:

FROM nginx:alpine
COPY . /usr/share/nginx/html

Build and push the image to Docker Hub (or a private registry):

docker build -t your-dockerhub-username/nginx-frontend:latest .
docker push your-dockerhub-username/nginx-frontend:latest

Step 2: Create the Kubernetes Deployment

Save the following as nginx-deployment.yaml:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx-frontend
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nginx-frontend
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nginx-frontend
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: nginx
        image: your-dockerhub-username/nginx-frontend:latest
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80

Apply the deployment:

kubectl apply -f nginx-deployment.yaml

Step 3: Create the Service

Save the following as nginx-service.yaml:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: nginx-service
spec:
  selector:
    app: nginx-frontend
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 80
  type: ClusterIP

Apply the service:

kubectl apply -f nginx-service.yaml

Step 4: Configure Ingress

Create nginx-ingress.yaml with the following content:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: nginx-ingress
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /
spec:
  rules:
  - host: your-domain.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: nginx-service
            port:
              number: 80

Apply the Ingress resource:

kubectl apply -f nginx-ingress.yaml

Step 5: Verify the Deployment

Access the application via http://your-domain.com. You should see the Nginx welcome page if everything is configured correctly. You can also inspect the resources with:

kubectl get deployments
kubectl get services
kubectl get ingress

Conclusion

By following these steps you have learned how to build a Dockerized Nginx frontend, deploy it on Kubernetes, expose it through a Service, and configure an Ingress for external access, leveraging the powerful features of K8s for containerized applications.