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Multi-Cloud�Global Content Distribution�at Cloud Native Speeds

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Jiri Kremser, Yury Tsarev

Software engineer and open-source enthusiast currently working on kedify.io. He is a contributor/maintainer of k8gb project.

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Previously GiantSwarm.io, ABSA, Red Hat, etc.

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github.com/jkremser

x.com/JirkaKremser

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dev at Kedify.io

Jiri Kremser

An active contributor to the Kubernetes and Crossplane ecosystems, Yury has worked with leading firms in Linux distribution, big data, video streaming, consulting, and finance. Yury joined Upbound to spearhead the control plane revolution in cloud-native infrastructure.�Creator of k8gb project.

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https://github.com/ytsarev

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurytsarev/

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Principal Solutions Architect at Upbound

Yury Tsarev

The Problem with Traditional GSLB

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Traditional GSLB(Global Server Load Balancing) solutions are often:

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❌ Closed-source and opaque

❌ Locked into specific vendors

❌ Difficult to adapt to modern infrastructure

❌ Challenging to integrate with Kubernetes

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Modern platforms need something more flexible, open, and Kubernetes-native.

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K8GB: Modern Global Traffic Management

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k8gb.io Kubernetes Global Balancer project takes a different approach:

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🟢 Open Source – Transparent and community-driven

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☁️ Cloud Native – Designed for Kubernetes from the ground up

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🧭 Vendor Neutral – Works across clouds, on-prem, and hybrid environments

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🌍 Multi-Cloud Ready – Seamlessly supports diverse, distributed deployments

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🔗 API-Driven – Easy to automate and integrate into your platform stack

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Let’s explore how K8GB brings modern global traffic control into the Kubernetes ecosystem.

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K8GB Key Features

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🚀 Handles high impact regional failures

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🌐 DNS-based global traffic steering

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🧩 Simple Gslb CRD

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🌀 No Management Cluster

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🛡️ No Single Point of Failure

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🎯 Multiple global load balancing strategies

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K8GB Project History

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🧪 Originated at Absa to solve the need for a cloud-native GSLB solution

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🗺️ Ability to route traffic to geographically dispersed clusters

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❤️‍🩹 Responds to workload state at the pod health level

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🏁 Designed to replace proprietary vendor solutions

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📅 Started in late 2019 as an open-source project from day one

K8GB Components

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Embedded custom CoreDNS to serve DNS requests

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Integrated ExternalDNS to automatically configure Zone Delegation

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� K8GB controller to coordinate the logic according to the GSLB strategy

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Simple Way to Control Global Traffic

Simple Way to Control Global Traffic

Multiple Integrations

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K8GB is architected to run on top of any CNCF-conformant K8s cluster�and Ingress controller, Istio Virtual Service, GatewayAPI is on the roadmap

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🌎 Operates in any on-prem, cloud, or hybrid environment

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🔌 Supports external DNS providers for full zone delegation automation:

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☁️ AWS Route53

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🔷 Azure Public DNS

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🧠 NS1

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🏢 Infoblox

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🌐 Cloudflare

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📜 RFC2136 implementations (e.g. BIND / Windows DNS)

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Global Load Balancing Strategies

🔄 Round Robin�

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⚖️ Weighted Round Robin

🧭 Failover

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🌍 GeoIP

50% 30% 20%

Failover Strategy: Handling Regional Failure

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Traffic is steered to the primary cluster when it is healthy.

Failover Strategy: Handling Regional Failure

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If the primary cluster fails, traffic is redirected to the secondary clusters

Failover Strategy: Handling Regional Failure

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Once the primary cluster recovers, traffic is steered back to it.

Round Robin: Spread Load Over Multiple Regions

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Weighted Round Robin: Controlled Spread

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50% 30% 20%

GeoIP: Multi-Region Content Distribution

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GeoIP Strategy

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✅ Works with MaxMind DB format��✅ GeoLite2 Free Geolocation Data

�✅ Custom MMDB file for private networks

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✅ Checks edns0 CLIENT-SUBNET option

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✅ For client’s ip fetches a tag like country.iso_code or continent.code from MMDB

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✅ Returns matching DNS Endpoints (with the same tag)

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✅ The advanced strategy logic is handled by CoreDNS CRD Plugin

� Caveat: Cloudflare as a resolver on the client side doesn’t support this, Google does

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Demo

script & source

Demo Setup

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EKS cluster

in EU

EU’s nginx: 3.10.193.235

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US’ nginx: 34.48.156.181

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SEA’s nginx: 172.188.253.31

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Current Project Status

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🌱➡️🌾 CNCF Sandbox → Incubating

�🌍 6 public adopters: Absa, Millennium bcp, Eficode, Open Systems, PagBank, Darede

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🛡️ 2x CNCF Security Slam finalist

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🏅 Perfect CLOMonitor score�

👷 Maintainers from Absa, Upbound, Kedify, Accenture

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🤝 Contributors from Millennium bcp, Tetrate, D2iQ

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Community and Growth

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1030 ⭐ ➕ 111 🍴 github stars explorer

2 📕 ➕ 15 📺 k8gb presos

86 contributors devstats

6 active maintainers 32 releases

> 1,500 PRs

122 ➕ 70 Community Meetings

Release 0.15 highlights (RC2 available)

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🗺️ Multizone Support

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🏷️ Dynamic GeoTags

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🔁 Reverse Proxy Support

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🧩 Advanced ResourceRefs

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Roadmap

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🚪 Gateway API support

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☁️🟡 Google Cloud DNS support for automated zone delegation

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🎓 Finalize the CNCF Incubation process

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Learn More and Help the Project

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🌐 Visit us at k8gb.io

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⭐ Star us on GitHub!

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🏢 Add your organization to ADOPTERS.md

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🧾 Join the K8GB Project Table at KubeCon India!

bit.ly/k8gb-kcd25

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