Publish your website as a public secured service

Requirements

read the previous chapter Deploy abcdesktop on AWS with Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service
an AWS account
your own internet domain
aws command line interface aws-cli
kubectl command line
helm command line

Overview

In this chapter we are going to, use a nginx-ingress-controller to host your abcdesktop service with a public IP Address, then configure dns zone file to use your own domain name, and activate TLS to secure your service.

Add tags for public subnets

By default, when creating your VPC, the public subnets does not have the kubernetes.io/role/elb=1 tag, but this tag is mandatory in order to expose our service using a nginx ingress controller with AWS. Actually, AWS scans your VPC, searching for the subnets with this percise tag to place the ingress controller.

To do so, run the following command

aws ec2 create-tags --resources <your_public_subnets_ids> --tags Key=kubernetes.io/role/elb,Value=1

You can find your public subnets ids in the Subnets page of the VPC dashboard on AWS console

You can check if the tags have been applied by running the following command

aws ec2 describe-subnets --filters "Name=vpc-id,Values=<your_vpc_id>" "Name=tag:kubernetes.io/role/elb,Values=1" --query 'Subnets[*].[SubnetId,AvailabilityZone]' --output table

You should read on stdout

--------------------------------------------
|              DescribeSubnets             |
+---------------------------+--------------+
|  subnet-09c09bd5bbdec72a6 |  us-east-1b  |
|  subnet-02d592feab5bb0faf |  us-east-1a  |
+---------------------------+--------------+

Update http-router service

When installing abcdesktop, http-router service type is NodePort by default, in order to expose the service through an ingress controller you will need to change the service type from NodePort to ClusterIP.

If you perform a get services command you will see the NodePort type

kubectl get svc http-router -n abcdesktop
NAME          TYPE       CLUSTER-IP    EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)        AGE
http-router   NodePort   10.0.170.21   <none>        80:30443/TCP   5m31s

To change it, you will first need to delete the service

kubectl delete service http-router -n abcdesktop
service "http-router" deleted

Then paste the following lines in a new http-router.yaml file

kind: Service
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: http-router
  labels:
    abcdesktop/role: router-od
spec:
  selector:
    run: router-od
  ports:
  - protocol: TCP
    port: 443
    targetPort: 443
    name: https
  - protocol: TCP
    port: 80
    targetPort: 80
    name: http

Then Create your new service/http-router

kubectl apply -f http-router.yaml -n abcdesktop
service/http-router created

Now check that the service type is ClusterIP

kubectl get svc http-router -n abcdesktop
NAME          TYPE        CLUSTER-IP     EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)          AGE
http-router   ClusterIP   10.0.132.230   <none>        443/TCP,80/TCP   5s

Deploy nginx ingress controller

You will now deploy a nginx ingress controller on your cluster using helm.

First, run the following command to add the nginx ingress controller repository :

helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx && helm repo update

Then install it on your cluster

helm install ingress-nginx ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx --namespace ingress-nginx --create-namespace

Once the installation process completed, you can check that the service has been createed by running this command :

kubectl get svc ingress-nginx-controller -n ingress-nginx
NAME                                 TYPE           CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)                      AGE
ingress-nginx-controller             LoadBalancer   172.20.87.254   <pending>     80:32337/TCP,443:30414/TCP   34s

You will see that EXTERNAL-IP is <pending> forever, it is totally noraml because by default the controller is considering your service as internal, to make it public you should add annotations by running the following command

kubectl annotate svc ingress-nginx-controller -n ingress-nginx service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-scheme=internet-facing service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-type=nlb --overwrite

Now you can run the previous command until you get an EXTERNAL-IP

kubectl get svc ingress-nginx-controller -n ingress-nginx
NAME                                 TYPE           CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP                                                                     PORT(S)                      AGE
ingress-nginx-controller             LoadBalancer   172.20.87.254   k8s-ingressn-ingressn-dc31c08978-b7ef1bca03cfe45b.elb.us-east-1.amazonaws.com   80:32337/TCP,443:30414/TCP   3m

Create new record

We are going to create a new record hello (hello.aws.pepins.net) using k8s-ingressn-ingressn-dc31c08978-b7ef1bca03cfe45b.elb.us-east-1.amazonaws.com as an alias.

First, you will need your load balancer hosted zone id. To get, run the following command :

aws elbv2 describe-load-balancers   --region us-east-1   --query 'LoadBalancers[0].CanonicalHostedZoneId'

You should get something like this

Z26RNL4JYFTOTI

Now paste the following lines in a create-record-abcdesktop-aws.json file :

{
  "Comment": "create a new record for abcdesktop on aws",
  "Changes": [
    {
      "Action": "CREATE",
      "ResourceRecordSet": {
        "Name": "hello.aws.pepins.net.",
        "Type": "A",
        "AliasTarget": {
          "HostedZoneId": "<your_hosted_zone_id>",
          "DNSName": "k8s-ingressn-ingressn-dc31c08978-b7ef1bca03cfe45b.elb.us-east-1.amazonaws.com",
          "EvaluateTargetHealth": false
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Now, you will need to retrieve the hosted zone id of your domain on route 53. You can get it through the Route 53 web interface, or by running the following command :

aws route53 list-hosted-zones   --query 'HostedZones[*].[Name,Id]'   --output table

You should read something like this

--------------------------------------------------------
|                    ListHostedZones                   |
+------------------+-----------------------------------+
|  aws.pepins.net. |  /hostedzone/Z0710575SCBYT0OUKZP  |
+------------------+-----------------------------------+

Finally, run this command to add the record :

aws route53 change-resource-record-sets --hosted-zone-id <your_domain_hosted_zone_id> --change-batch file://create-record-abcdesktop-aws.json

For example

aws route53 change-resource-record-sets --hosted-zone-id Z0710575SCBYT0OUKZP --change-batch file://create-record-abcdesktop-aws.json

You should read something like this

{
    "ChangeInfo": {
        "Id": "/change/C07091422RBO1K64I6QWN",
        "Status": "PENDING",
        "SubmittedAt": "2026-01-14T13:30:30.133000+00:00",
        "Comment": "create a new record for abcdesktop on aws"
    }
}

If you go to your Route 53 web console, you should see the record you juste added

aws record added

Configure NGINX Ingress Rules for Backend Services

In this step, you expose the backend applications to the outside world by telling nginx what host each service maps to. You define a rule in nginx to associate a host to a abcdesktop route backend service.

Create an ingress resource for NGNIX using the abcdesktop service and save it as abcdesktop_host.yaml You need to update this manifest with your own FQDN, replace hello.aws.pepins.net by your own values.

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: ingress-abcdesktop
  namespace: abcdesktop
spec:
  rules:
    - host: hello.aws.pepins.net
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: http-router
                port:
                  number: 80
  ingressClassName: nginx

Apply the Ingress yaml file

kubectl apply -f abcdesktop_host.yaml -n abcdesktop

You should read

ingress.networking.k8s.io/ingress-abcdesktop created

Verify the ingress resources:

kubectl get ingress -n abcdesktop

The output looks similar to the following:

Wait fee seconds while the ADDRESS field is empty

NAME                 CLASS   HOSTS                           ADDRESS   PORTS   AGE
ingress-abcdesktop   nginx   hello.aws.pepins.net                      80      24s

When you obtain an IP ADDRESS

NAME                 CLASS   HOSTS                           ADDRESS                                                                         PORTS   AGE
ingress-abcdesktop   nginx   hello.aws.pepins.net            k8s-ingressn-ingressn-dc31c08978-b7ef1bca03cfe45b.elb.us-east-1.amazonaws.com   80      3m13s

The spec section of the manifest contains a list of host rules used to configure the Ingress. If unspecified, or no rule matches, all traffic is sent to the default backend service. The manifest has the following fields:

host specifies the fully qualified domain name of a network host, for example echo.<your-domain-name>.
http contains the list of HTTP selectors pointing to backends.
paths provides a collection of paths that map requests to backends.

In the example above, the ingress resource tells nginx to route each HTTP request that is using the / prefix for the hello.aws.pepins.net host, to the route backend service running on port 80. In other words, every time you make a call to http://hello.aws.pepins.net/, the request and reply are served by the echo backend service running on port 80.

You can have multiple ingress controllers per cluster. The ingressClassName field in the manifest differentiates between multiple ingress controllers present in your cluster. Although you can define multiple rules for different hosts and paths in a single ingress resource.

reach your website from your new name

Web browser doesn't allow usage of websocket without secure protocol. To login you need https protocol.

As you can see, your website is Not Secured, we are going to add X509 SSL certificate to secure your service.

Enable HTTPS

Install Cert Manager add-on on AWS EKS marketplace

Navigate to the Add-ons section of your cluster on the AWS console, then click on Get more add-ons and install Cert Manager.

cert manager

Once intalled, you can inspect the Kubernetes ressources created by Cert Manager :

kubectl get all -n cert-manager

The output looks similar to the following

NAME                                           READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/cert-manager-76f99d9cbb-z5dgj              1/1     Running   0          3h26m
pod/cert-manager-76f99d9cbb-z7jnv              1/1     Running   0          3h26m
pod/cert-manager-cainjector-558b47dbf9-h55gx   1/1     Running   0          3h26m
pod/cert-manager-cainjector-558b47dbf9-lvgzl   1/1     Running   0          3h26m
pod/cert-manager-webhook-7db584cc6c-9qz5q      1/1     Running   0          3h26m
pod/cert-manager-webhook-7db584cc6c-l5s58      1/1     Running   0          3h26m

NAME                              TYPE        CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)            AGE
service/cert-manager              ClusterIP   172.20.196.196   <none>        9402/TCP           3h26m
service/cert-manager-cainjector   ClusterIP   172.20.102.95    <none>        9402/TCP           3h26m
service/cert-manager-webhook      ClusterIP   172.20.105.49    <none>        443/TCP,9402/TCP   3h26m

NAME                                      READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
deployment.apps/cert-manager              2/2     2            2           3h26m
deployment.apps/cert-manager-cainjector   2/2     2            2           3h26m
deployment.apps/cert-manager-webhook      2/2     2            2           3h26m

NAME                                                 DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
replicaset.apps/cert-manager-76f99d9cbb              2         2         2       3h26m
replicaset.apps/cert-manager-cainjector-558b47dbf9   2         2         2       3h26m
replicaset.apps/cert-manager-webhook-7db584cc6c      2         2         2       3h26m

The cert-manager pods and webhook service are running.

Cert-Manager creates custom resource definitions (CRDs). Cert-Manager relies on three important CRDs to issue certificates from a Certificate Authority (such as Let’s Encrypt):

Issuer: Defines a namespaced certificate issuer, which allows you to use different CAs in each namespace.

ClusterIssuer: Similar to Issuer, but it does not belong to a namespace and can be used to issue certificates in any namespace.

Certificate: Defines a namespaced resource that references an Issuer or ClusterIssuer for issuing certificates.

Inspect the CRDs by running the following command :

kubectl get crd -l app.kubernetes.io/name=cert-manager

The output looks similar to the following

NAME                                  CREATED AT
certificaterequests.cert-manager.io   2026-01-19T10:23:33Z
certificates.cert-manager.io          2026-01-19T10:23:34Z
challenges.acme.cert-manager.io       2026-01-19T10:23:33Z
clusterissuers.cert-manager.io        2026-01-19T10:23:34Z
issuers.cert-manager.io               2026-01-19T10:23:34Z
orders.acme.cert-manager.io           2026-01-19T10:23:33Z

Configure Production-Ready TLS Certificates for nginx

You can issue the certificate using an Issuer. Configure a certificate issuers resource for Cert-Manager, which fetches the TLS certificate for nginx to use. The certificate issuer uses the HTTP-01 challenge provider to accomplish this task.

Create the following manifest, replace <your-valid-email-address> with your own value, and save it as cert-manager-issuer.yaml :

apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Issuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt-nginx
spec:
  acme:
    email: <your-valid-email-address>
    server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: letsencrypt-nginx-private-key
    solvers:
      # Use the HTTP-01 challenge provider
      - http01:
          ingress:
            class: nginx

The ACME issuer configuration has the following fields:

email: Email address to be associated with the ACME account. server: URL used to access the ACME server’s directory endpoint. privateKeySecretRef: Kubernetes secret to store the automatically generated ACME account private key.

The ingress resources use the HTTP-01 challenge.

kubectl apply -f cert-manager-issuer.yaml -n abcdesktop

The output looks similar to the following

issuer.cert-manager.io/letsencrypt-nginx created

Verify that the Issuer resource is created:

kubectl get issuer -n abcdesktop

The output looks similar to the following

NAME                READY   AGE
letsencrypt-nginx   True    7s

Next, configure each nginx ingress resource to use TLS. Open the previous abcdesktop_host.yaml manifest you created previously for the route application, add the annotations and tls sections shown below, and save the abcdesktop_host.yaml file : You can also add dedicated nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io annotations to increase default timeout values. Replace hello.aws.pepins.net by own FQDN

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: ingress-abcdesktop
  namespace: abcdesktop
  annotations:
   cert-manager.io/issuer: letsencrypt-nginx
   nginx.org/client-max-body-size: "256M"
   nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-connect-timeout: "30"
   nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-read-timeout: "1800"
   nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-send-timeout: "1800"
   nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-body-size: "256M"
spec:
  tls:
   - hosts:
     - hello.aws.pepins.net
     secretName: letsencrypt-nginx-echo
  rules:
    - host: hello.aws.pepins.net
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: http-router
                port:
                  number: 80
  ingressClassName: nginx

Run the following command to configure the hosts to use TLS:

kubectl apply -f abcdesktop_host.yaml -n abcdesktop

After a few minutes, check the state of the ingress object:

kubectl get ingress -n  abcdesktop
NAME                 CLASS   HOSTS                  ADDRESS                                                                         PORTS     AGE
ingress-abcdesktop   nginx   hello.aws.pepins.net   k8s-ingressn-ingressn-dc31c08978-b7ef1bca03cfe45b.elb.us-east-1.amazonaws.com   80, 443   42m

You see that 443 appeard in the PORTS section.

Check that the certificate resource is created

kubectl get certificates -n abcdesktop

The output looks similar to the following

NAME                     READY   SECRET                   AGE
letsencrypt-nginx-echo   True    letsencrypt-nginx-echo   3m27s

Run a simple curl command line curl -Li https://hello.aws.pepins.net/ to confirm that your secured abcdesktop service is running.

curl -Li https://hello.aws.pepins.net/
HTTP/2 200 
date: Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:06:46 GMT
content-type: text/html
content-length: 56291
vary: Accept-Encoding
last-modified: Tue, 16 Dec 2025 11:52:18 GMT
etag: "694147f2-dbe3"
accept-ranges: bytes
x-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN
x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block
strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains

<!doctype html>
...

Reach your website using `https` protocol

You can now connect to your abcdesktop desktop pulic web site using https protocol.

reach your website using https

The status is secured and we get some informations from the certificate

reach your website using https

Publish your website as a public secured service

Requirements

Overview

Add tags for public subnets

Update http-router service

Deploy nginx ingress controller

Create new record

Configure NGINX Ingress Rules for Backend Services

Enable HTTPS

Install Cert Manager add-on on AWS EKS marketplace

Configure Production-Ready TLS Certificates for nginx

Reach your website using https protocol

Reach your website using `https` protocol