1. Ingress Operates at Layer 7

Ingress operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS) of the OSI model.

That means:

• It understands HTTP concepts
• It can inspect host headers
• It can inspect URL paths
• It can terminate TLS
• It can route based on domain and path

It does NOT:

• Route raw TCP traffic (like databases)
• Route UDP
• Talk directly to Pods
• Replace Services

Ingress is strictly HTTP/HTTPS aware routing.

2. What Components Are Involved?

Ingress involves two separate things:

1. Ingress Resource (YAML rules)
2. Ingress Controller (actual implementation)