Ingress NGINX Retirement and Migration to Traefik v3
As part of our commitment to security and modern infrastructure, SmartMakers is announcing a strategic transition for the thingsHub ingress architecture. This guide outlines why we are moving away from Ingress-NGINX and how on-prem customers can migrate to the new Traefik v3 based system.
Why Traefik v3?
The industry-standard ingress-nginx controller is scheduled for official retirement in March 2026. Post-retirement, it will no longer receive security patches or compatibility updates for new Kubernetes versions.
To ensure our customers remain secure and future-proof, we have selected Traefik v3 as our primary ingress controller.
Key Benefits for On-Premise Deployments:
Future-Ready: Full support for the Kubernetes Gateway API, the next generation of cluster networking.
Operational Simplicity: A single, stateless binary that is easier to manage than multi-component architectures.
Built-in Visibility: Native real-time dashboard for immediate insights into route health and connectivity.
Performance: written in Go, providing high efficiency and reliability for high-density device environments.
Natively Compatible: Traefik v3 provides a specialized compatibility layer for existing NGINX annotations, making the initial transition smoother.
Migration Timeline
thingsHub 8.2+ (Available from end of February 2026): Introduction of "Parallel Coexistence." Our Helm charts now support both controllers simultaneously.
thingsHub 9.0 (Upcoming): Official removal of Ingress-NGINX support. All clusters must be migrated to Traefik v3 by this release to maintain support.
The "Parallel Coexistence" Strategy
Starting with thingsHub 8.2, our platform supports a zero-downtime migration path. We deploy resources for both controllers at the same time, allowing you to verify the new path before switching traffic.
The 7-Step Migration Workflow
Install Traefik Controller: Install the Traefik v3 controller alongside your existing Ingress-NGINX installation.
Upgrade thingsHub: Move to thingsHub 8.2 or later. This will automatically deploy Traefik-compatible resources (Middlewares and IngressRoutes) in parallel with your legacy Ingress objects.
Pre-Switch Verification: Test connectivity through the new Traefik LoadBalancer IP or internal hostnames.
DNS Switchover: Update your DNS records (e.g.,
*.example.com) to point to the Traefik LoadBalancer.Monitor & Validate: Ensure all services and device check-ins are functioning correctly.
Legacy Cleanup: Once verified, you can safely uninstall the legacy Ingress-NGINX controller.
Migration Complete: Your cluster is now modernized and secured for the long term.
The full guide on deploying (or configuring) the Traefik v3 controller for the Thingshub Cluster will be available along with the Thingshub 8.2 release at the end of February 2026.
From NGINX to Traefik
Traefik v3 replaces legacy NGINX "annotations" with modular Middleware resources.
Feature | NGINX Annotation | Traefik v3 (Middleware) |
|---|---|---|
Security Headers |
|
|
Body Size Limits |
|
|
Path Rewrites |
|
|
Timeouts |
|
|
Note: All migration-specific CRDs are included in the latest thingsHub Helm charts. No manual CRD creation is required if you use our standard installation paths.
Support & Safety Net
We understand that infrastructure changes are critical. Our migration strategy is designed with a "Safety First" approach:
Zero-Downtime: The parallel deployment ensures no traffic is dropped during the upgrade.
Rollback Path: If any issues are encountered during Step 4 (DNS Switch), simply revert your DNS records to the NGINX LoadBalancer to restore the previous state immediately.
Support: Our engineering team is ready to assist with any distribution-specific challenges (RKE, GKE, EKS, etc.).
For assistance, please reach out to your account manager or email support@smartmakers.de.