NovaEdge¶
Kubernetes-Native Network Platform
NovaEdge replaces Envoy + MetalLB + NGINX Ingress + Cisco SD-WAN with a single, integrated solution designed for modern Kubernetes deployments.
Why NovaEdge?¶
flowchart LR
subgraph Before["Traditional Stack"]
NGINX["NGINX Ingress<br/>(L7 Routing)"]
Envoy["Envoy<br/>(Policies)"]
MetalLB["MetalLB<br/>(VIPs)"]
SDWAN["WireGuard + Scripts<br/>(SD-WAN)"]
end
subgraph After["NovaEdge"]
NE["NovaEdge<br/>(All-in-One)"]
end
Before -.->|"replaces"| After
style Before fill:#FFE4B5
style After fill:#90EE90
| Feature | Traditional | NovaEdge |
|---|---|---|
| L7 Load Balancing | NGINX/Envoy | Built-in (12 algorithms) |
| L4 TCP/UDP Proxying | HAProxy/Envoy | Built-in |
| VIP Management | MetalLB | Built-in (L2/BGP/OSPF + BFD) |
| Rate Limiting | Envoy/Kong | Built-in (local + Redis) |
| Authentication | OAuth2 Proxy/Kong | Built-in (Basic/Forward/OIDC) |
| WAF | ModSecurity/Kong | Built-in (Coraza) |
| TLS/ACME | cert-manager/Traefik | Built-in + cert-manager support |
| WASM Plugins | Envoy | Built-in (Wazero) |
| Service Mesh | Istio/Linkerd | Built-in (TPROXY, no sidecars) |
| SD-WAN | Cisco Viptela/WireGuard scripts | Built-in (WireGuard + path selection) |
| Control-Plane VIP | kube-vip | Built-in (L2/BGP/BFD) |
| Components to manage | 4+ | 1 |
Full comparison: What NovaEdge Replaces
Key Features¶
- L7 Load Balancing - HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, HTTP/3 (QUIC), WebSockets, gRPC, SSE
- L4 Proxying - TCP/UDP proxying with TLS passthrough
- VIP Management - L2 ARP, BGP, OSPF modes with BFD and IPv6 dual-stack
- Security - mTLS, OCSP stapling, PROXY protocol, WAF, authentication stack
- Certificate Management - ACME, cert-manager, HashiCorp Vault integration
- Policy Enforcement - Rate limiting, JWT auth, CORS, IP filtering, security headers
- Extensibility - WASM plugins, composable middleware pipelines
- Gateway API - Native support for Kubernetes Gateway API (HTTP, gRPC, TCP, TLS routes)
- SD-WAN - WireGuard tunnels, multi-WAN link management, SLA-based path selection, STUN NAT traversal, DSCP QoS
- Multi-Cluster - Hub-spoke federation with split-brain detection
- Observability - OpenTelemetry tracing, Prometheus metrics, structured logging, Web UI
Quick Start¶
Get running in 2 minutes:
# Install the operator
helm install novaedge-operator ./charts/novaedge-operator \
--namespace novaedge-system --create-namespace
# Deploy NovaEdge
kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: novaedge.io/v1alpha1
kind: NovaEdgeCluster
metadata:
name: novaedge
namespace: novaedge-system
spec:
version: "v0.1.0"
agent:
vip:
enabled: true
mode: L2
EOF
# Verify
kubectl get pods -n novaedge-system
Architecture at a Glance¶
flowchart TB
subgraph Cluster["Kubernetes Cluster"]
subgraph Control["Control Plane"]
OP["Operator"]
CTRL["Controller"]
end
subgraph Data["Data Plane"]
A1["Agent"]
A2["Agent"]
A3["Agent"]
end
CRD[(CRDs)]
SVC["Services"]
end
Client((Client)) --> VIP{{"VIP"}}
VIP --> A1 & A2 & A3
OP --> CTRL
CTRL -->|"watches"| CRD
CTRL -->|"configures"| A1 & A2 & A3
A1 & A2 & A3 --> SVC
Components:
- Operator - Manages NovaEdge lifecycle via
NovaEdgeClusterCRD - Controller - Watches CRDs, builds config, distributes to agents via gRPC
- Agents - Per-node DaemonSet handling traffic routing and VIP management
Learn more about the architecture
What NovaEdge Replaces¶
- Full Comparison - Tool-by-tool replacement guide with feature matrix
Use Cases¶
Hands-on guides for common deployment scenarios, each with architecture diagrams and complete configurations:
- API Gateway - Replace Kong/Ambassador with NovaEdge
- Ingress Controller - Replace NGINX Ingress Controller
- Bare-Metal Load Balancer - Replace MetalLB for bare-metal clusters
- Gateway API - Use Kubernetes Gateway API with NovaEdge
- Service Mesh - Replace Istio/Linkerd with TPROXY-based mesh
- TLS & Certificate Management - ACME, cert-manager, Vault integration
- WAF & Security Stack - Replace ModSecurity with defense-in-depth
- Multi-Cluster Federation - Hub-spoke federation across clusters
Documentation¶
Getting Started¶
- Quick Start - Deploy in 5 minutes
- Installation - Detailed installation options
- Helm Installation - Deploy with Helm charts
- Standalone Mode - Run without Kubernetes
- Operator Installation - Lifecycle management via operator
Architecture¶
- Architecture Overview - System design and components
- Component Details - Deep dive into each component
- Federation Architecture - Multi-cluster federation design
User Guide¶
Routing & Traffic¶
- Routing - Configure routes and traffic matching
- Load Balancing - 12 algorithms and session affinity
- L4 Proxying - TCP/UDP proxying and TLS passthrough
- Middleware Pipelines - Composable middleware chains
- Response Caching - HTTP response caching
- Traffic Mirroring - Shadow traffic for testing
- Retry - Request retry configuration
- Error Pages - Custom error page handling
- SSE - Server-Sent Events support
VIP & Networking¶
- VIP Management - L2, BGP, OSPF modes with BFD and IPv6
- Control-Plane VIP - HA VIP for Kubernetes API server
- IP Pools - ProxyIPPool management and IPAM
- PROXY Protocol - PROXY protocol v1/v2 support
Service Mesh¶
- Service Mesh - TPROXY-based mesh with mTLS and authorization
Security & Authentication¶
- TLS - TLS termination, mTLS, OCSP stapling, ACME challenges
- Authentication - Basic auth, forward auth, OIDC, JWT
- Keycloak Integration - Keycloak OIDC provider setup
- Policies - Rate limiting, CORS, JWT, IP filtering, security headers
- WAF - Web Application Firewall (Coraza)
Certificate Management¶
- cert-manager Integration - Kubernetes-native certificate lifecycle
- HashiCorp Vault - Vault PKI and KV integration
Health & Monitoring¶
- Health Checks - Active and passive health checking
Advanced Topics¶
- Multi-Cluster Federation - Hub-spoke federation
- Federation Setup - Step-by-step federation configuration
- HTTP/3 & QUIC - Next-gen protocol support
- Gateway API - Kubernetes Gateway API integration
- WASM Plugins - Extend NovaEdge with WebAssembly plugins
Operations¶
- Observability - Metrics, tracing, and logging
- Web UI - Dashboard for monitoring and management
- Access Logging - Per-route access log configuration
- Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions
Reference¶
- CRD Reference - Complete CRD specifications
- CLI Reference - novactl command reference
- Helm Values - Chart configuration options
Development¶
- Contributing - How to contribute
- Development Guide - Building from source
License¶
Apache License 2.0