Configure a Kong Mesh global control plane on Kubernetes with the Konnect UI

Before you can add services or apply configurations, you must create a global control plane.

1. In the Konnect sidebar, click Service Mesh.
2. Click Create a service mesh.
3. In the Name field, enter example-cp.
4. Click Save.

The global control plane is now created but has no functionality until you connect a zone.

Add a zone to connect a data plane and receive configuration updates.

1. In the Konnect sidebar, click Service Mesh.
2. Click example-cp.
3. Click Create zone.
4. Select Kubernetes as the configuration type.

5. In the Name field, enter zone-1.

   The zone name must use lowercase alphanumeric characters or hyphens, and start and end with an alphanumeric character.

6. In the Token field, enter your Konnect personal access token.

7. Follow the Helm and token setup instructions shown in the UI to deploy the zone control plane on your Kubernetes cluster.

   Konnect automatically provisions a system account access token for the zone and includes it, along with the control plane ID and address, in the deployment steps. You don’t need to create a token manually.

8. Once the zone is connected, click Continue.

Workloads can only join the mesh once a mesh exists on the global control plane. Create the default mesh:

1. In the Konnect sidebar, click Service Mesh.
2. Click example-cp, then click Meshes.
3. Click Create mesh.
4. In the Name field, enter default.
5. Click Create.

1. To test your mesh, deploy the Kong Mesh demo app into the kong-mesh-demo namespace:

   echo "
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Namespace
   metadata:
     labels:
       kuma.io/sidecar-injection: enabled
     name: kong-mesh-demo
   ---
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Service
   metadata:
     name: demo-app
     namespace: kong-mesh-demo
   spec:
     ports:
     - appProtocol: http
       port: 5050
       protocol: TCP
       targetPort: 5050
     selector:
       app: demo-app
   ---
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Service
   metadata:
     name: kv
     namespace: kong-mesh-demo
   spec:
     ports:
     - appProtocol: http
       port: 5050
       protocol: TCP
       targetPort: 5050
     selector:
       app: kv
   ---
   apiVersion: apps/v1
   kind: Deployment
   metadata:
     labels:
       app: demo-app
       version: v1
     name: demo-app
     namespace: kong-mesh-demo
   spec:
     replicas: 1
     selector:
       matchLabels:
         app: demo-app
         version: v1
     template:
       metadata:
         labels:
           app: demo-app
           version: v1
       spec:
         containers:
         - env:
           - name: KV_URL
             value: http://kv.kong-mesh-demo.svc.cluster.local:5050
           - name: APP_VERSION
             valueFrom:
               fieldRef:
                 fieldPath: metadata.labels['version']
           image: ghcr.io/kumahq/kuma-counter-demo:latest@sha256:daf8f5cffa10b576ff845be84e4e3bd5a8a6470c7e66293c5e03a148f08ac148
           name: demo-app
           ports:
           - containerPort: 5050
             name: http
   ---
   apiVersion: apps/v1
   kind: Deployment
   metadata:
     name: kv
     namespace: kong-mesh-demo
   spec:
     replicas: 1
     selector:
       matchLabels:
         app: kv
     template:
       metadata:
         labels:
           app: kv
       spec:
         containers:
         - image: ghcr.io/kumahq/kuma-counter-demo:latest
           name: kv
           ports:
           - containerPort: 5050
             name: http
   " | kubectl apply -f -

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2. Wait for the demo app to be ready:

   kubectl wait -n kong-mesh-demo --for=condition=available --timeout=120s deployment --all

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   This creates:

   • demo-app: a counter web app on port 5050
   • kv: the key-value store that backs the counter

Confirm the zone and demo services are connected to your global control plane.

1. In the Konnect sidebar, click Service Mesh.
2. Click example-cp, then click Meshes.

3. Click default, then click the Services tab.

   You should see the demo-app and kv services.

   It may take a few minutes for the services to reach the Online status.

4. Port-forward the demo-app service to your local machine:

   kubectl port-forward svc/demo-app -n kong-mesh-demo 5050:5050

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5. In a browser, go to http://127.0.0.1:5050 and increment the counter.

   The counter is stored in the kv service through the mesh, so a successful increment confirms that traffic is flowing between your services.