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Version: 1.0.0

AWS Load Balancer Controller (ALB)

For EKS clusters running the aws-load-balancer-controller, which provisions an Application Load Balancer per Ingress resource. ALB is uncommon outside EKS — if you're not on EKS, prefer F5 NGINX or Traefik.

Read first: Authentication is your job. ALB itself has no authentication — the example wires Cognito at the listener level, but you can substitute any OIDC provider.

1. Install the controller​

Follow the AWS docs: kubernetes-sigs.github.io/aws-load-balancer-controller

The controller needs IRSA permissions to create ALBs — that step is the part most people get wrong, so cross-check the IAM policy before moving on.

2. Install KubeAtlas with the ALB example values​

Apply helm/kubeatlas/examples/ingress-alb.yaml:

helm install kubeatlas oci://ghcr.io/lithastra/charts/kubeatlas \
  --version 1.0.0 \
  --namespace kubeatlas --create-namespace \
  --values helm/kubeatlas/examples/ingress-alb.yaml

The example sets:

  • ingress.enabled: true
  • ingress.acknowledgeNoBuiltinAuth: true
  • ingress.className: alb
  • alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/scheme: internet-facing
  • alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/target-type: ip
  • HTTPS listener with ssl-redirect
  • alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-type: cognito plus a placeholder auth-idp-cognito JSON — replace with your User Pool details

The example also sets networkPolicy.enabled: false. The ALB lives outside the cluster, so a Pod-level NetworkPolicy doesn't gate it and leaving the policy on creates a false sense of protection.

3. Authentication​

If you don't use Cognito, swap the annotation block:

  • OIDC provider — alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/auth-type: oidc plus auth-idp-oidc JSON. See AWS docs.
  • External provider via separate proxy — set auth-type: none here and front the public hostname with Cloudflare Access or a similar zero-trust gateway.

Either way, do not run with auth-type: none and no upstream gate. ALB's only access control without an auth annotation is the security group, which is rarely enough.

Verify​

curl -fsSL https://kubeatlas.example.com/healthz