Installing Kong with Docker (Hybrid Mode)

Sun, 26 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Introduction

In this article we will deploy Kong Gateway 3.10 open source in Hybrid mode using Docker Compose. This architecture, based on the separation between the Control Plane (CP) and the Data Plane (DP), is one of the deployment models recommended by Kong for API Gateway environments because of its flexibility, scalability, and high availability.

In a Hybrid deployment, only the Control Plane maintains a direct connection to the database and is responsible for managing the full gateway configuration through the Admin API and Kong Manager. The Data Planes, on the other hand, run in DB-less mode and automatically receive configuration from the Control Plane through a secure channel protected by mTLS. This allows the Data Planes to keep processing traffic even if the Control Plane or the database becomes temporarily unavailable.

Key Auth in Kong

Sun, 26 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200

An API key may look like little more than a random string that a client adds to every request. To use it correctly, however, it helps to separate three ideas: the credential presented by the client, the validation performed by Kong Gateway, and the identity of the Consumer associated with that credential.

This article covers those three layers and builds a reproducible lab with Kong Ingress Controller. We will first understand each resource, then apply it, and finally verify what happens inside Kong.

API Key on Atlas

Installing Kong with Docker (Hybrid Mode)

Introduction

Key Auth in Kong