Installation Overview

Nantian Gateway runs in Kubernetes as three workloads: a Go control plane, a Rust data plane, and an optional dashboard. Helm is the recommended install path for most users and operators. Kustomize overlays are available when you need patch-based manifests or GitOps workflows.

Installation Methods

Not sure which method to use?

Need production features (rollback, hooks, values)?
  └── YES → Use Helm
          NO → Deploying from Git? Need overlay patches?
                  └── YES → Use Kustomize
                          NO → Use Helm (still the simplest option)

Method	Best for	Notes
Helm	Most installations, upgrades, and value overrides.	Uses the chart repository at `https://chart.nantian.dev`.
Kustomize	GitOps or repository-local manifest customization.	Uses overlays from the component repositories.

Install Gateway API CRDs before installing the gateway. The quick start uses the Gateway API v1.5.1 standard CRD bundle.

What Helm Installs

A default Helm install uses the nantian-gw namespace and creates these main resources:

Resource	Default name	Default count or port	Purpose
Namespace	`nantian-gw`	1	Component namespace when `namespace.create: true`.
Control plane Deployment	`nantian-gw-controlplane`	2 replicas	Watches Kubernetes resources, translates them, updates status, and publishes snapshots.
Data plane Deployment	`nantian-gw-dataplane`	2 replicas	Receives snapshots and handles runtime traffic.
Dashboard Deployment	`nantian-gw-dashboard`	2 replicas	Web UI for users and operators.
GatewayClass	`nantian-gw`	1	Uses controller `gateway.networking.k8s.io/nantian-gw`.

The Helm chart creates the GatewayClass; it does not create your application Gateway or HTTPRoute. Create those resources in application namespaces after installation.

Services And Ports

The current Helm templates create fixed ClusterIP services for control plane, data plane admin/metrics, and dashboard access:

Service	Port	Purpose
`nantian-gw-controlplane-grpc`	`18080`	Data plane xDS/gRPC connection.
`nantian-gw-controlplane-admin`	`18081`	Control plane admin API.
`nantian-gw-controlplane-metrics`	`18082`	Control plane Prometheus metrics.
`nantian-gw-dataplane-admin`	`19080`	Data plane admin API.
`nantian-gw-dataplane-metrics`	`19080`	Data plane metrics scrape entry.
`nantian-gw-dashboard`	`3000`	Dashboard web UI.

The data plane runtime HTTP listener is configured as 0.0.0.0:80. Expose this listener according to your environment, for example with port-forwarding in local tests or a Kubernetes Service overlay for cluster ingress. Do not expose the control plane gRPC, admin, or metrics services outside the cluster.

Default Chart Behavior

The chart defaults are intentionally conservative:

Images use global.imageRegistry: "ghcr.io" with repositories nantian-gw/nantian-controlplane, nantian-gw/dataplane, and nantian-gw/dashboard.
Control plane, data plane, and dashboard each run two replicas by default.
The chart runs in featureMode: standard by default.
The chart does not render Gateway API CRDs by default: gatewayAPI.installCRDs: false and gatewayAPI.channel: standard.
The chart pins the v2026.06.0 release tag (with pullPolicy: IfNotPresent) for control plane, data plane, and dashboard by default; production environments should still pin a specific release tag or digest explicitly in their values files.
HPA is disabled by default with hpa.enabled: false.
Prometheus Operator ServiceMonitor resources are disabled by default with serviceMonitor.enabled: false.
NetworkPolicies are enabled by default with networkPolicies.enabled: true.
The data plane has accessLogVolume.enabled: true, mounted at /var/log/nantian-gw with sizeLimit: 256Mi.
Experimental Gateway and AI features are disabled by default in both planes.

Helm Operator Path

Use this reading order when you plan to run Nantian Gateway with Helm in a real cluster:

Start with Helm Installation for repository setup, render/install commands, release verification, and helm test.
Use Helm Values Guide to organize environment-specific values files and choose the right value groups.
Apply the hardening checklist in Production Deployment before exposing production traffic.
Follow Upgrade Guide when chart versions, values schemas, or CRD expectations change.

Post-Install Checks

After installation, verify the workloads and GatewayClass:

kubectl get pods -n nantian-gw
kubectl get gatewayclass nantian-gw
kubectl get svc -n nantian-gw

If a pod is not ready, inspect recent logs:

kubectl logs -n nantian-gw deploy/nantian-gw-controlplane --tail=100
kubectl logs -n nantian-gw deploy/nantian-gw-dataplane --tail=100

Then create a demo Gateway and HTTPRoute as shown in the Quick Start.

Choosing The Next Page

Use Helm Installation for repository setup, default values, render/install commands, helm test, and uninstall commands.
Use Helm Values Guide for layered values files, major chart value groups, and production guardrails.
Use Experimental Features before creating AIService, TokenPolicy, WasmPlugin, or experimental BackendLBPolicy resources.
Use Operations for first checks after install, service names, logs, metrics, and admin access.

Air-Gapped and Offline Installations

For clusters without internet access, pre-pull and re-tag images:

# On a machine with internet access
docker pull ghcr.io/nantian-gw/nantian-controlplane:v2026.07.0
docker pull ghcr.io/nantian-gw/dataplane:v2026.07.0
docker pull ghcr.io/nantian-gw/dashboard:v2026.07.0

# Tag for your private registry
docker tag ghcr.io/nantian-gw/nantian-controlplane:v2026.07.0 \
  registry.internal.example.com/nantian-gw/nantian-controlplane:v2026.07.0
docker tag ghcr.io/nantian-gw/dataplane:v2026.07.0 \
  registry.internal.example.com/nantian-gw/dataplane:v2026.07.0
docker tag ghcr.io/nantian-gw/dashboard:v2026.07.0 \
  registry.internal.example.com/nantian-gw/dashboard:v2026.07.0

# Push to private registry
docker push registry.internal.example.com/nantian-gw/nantian-controlplane:v2026.07.0
docker push registry.internal.example.com/nantian-gw/dataplane:v2026.07.0
docker push registry.internal.example.com/nantian-gw/dashboard:v2026.07.0

Then override the image registry in your Helm values:

global:
  imageRegistry: registry.internal.example.com
controlplane:
  image:
    tag: v2026.07.0
dataplane:
  image:
    tag: v2026.07.0
dashboard:
  image:
    tag: v2026.07.0

For Helm charts in air-gapped environments, download the chart tarball:

helm pull nantian/nantian-gw --version 2026.07.0
# Transfer nantian-gw-2026.07.0.tgz to the air-gapped machine
helm install nantian-gw ./nantian-gw-2026.07.0.tgz -f values.yaml

Gateway API CRDs must also be available offline. Download the manifest and transfer it:

curl -LO https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/gateway-api/releases/download/v1.5.1/standard-install.yaml
kubectl apply -f standard-install.yaml