Statement of direction: End of support for Kubernetes NGINX Ingress controller

The changes mentioned in this Statement of direction apply to BMC Helix IT Operations Management 25.2 and BMC Helix Service Management 25.2.01 and later versions.

Kubernetes has announced the retirement of the NGINX Ingress Controller in March 2026. This change impacts your BMC Helix IT Operations Management and BMC Helix Service Management on‑premises environments if you currently use the Kubernetes NGINX Ingress Controller.

For more details on the Kubernetes announcement, see Kubernetes official retirement notice.

Important

While every effort is made to provide accurate, forward-looking guidance on product direction to assist you with your buying and planning decisions, BMC Helix cannot guarantee that intentions stated as follows are final and binding.

Statement of direction

BMC Helix recommends using Chainguard-maintained images as an interim solution.

BMC Helix has tested and validated the use of Chainguard-maintained images with BMC Helix IT Operations Management and BMC Helix Service Management. Chainguard-maintained images are secured, FIPS-capable, and compatible with your existing NGINX Ingress Controller and Helm charts. Therefore, your existing deployments and manifests require minimal changes.

All required images are available in the BMC Docker Trusted Registry (docker.io) along with other BMC Helix deployment images. To start using the new Chainguard-maintained images, you must migrate your existing images to Chainguard-maintained images. For information about the migration steps, see Migrating from Nginx Ingress Controller to Chainguard-maintained images.

Alternatives to NGINX Ingress Controller

As alternatives to the NGINX Ingress Controller, BMC Helix recommends the following options:

Use NGINX Ingress Controller with Chainguard-maintained images.
or
Use F5 NGINX Plus for enterprise-grade Ingress Controller support.
- If you plan to use F5 NGINX Plus, it is already supported with BMC Helix Service Management and BMC Helix IT Operations Management. You can adopt this option immediately.
- You are not required to migrate to Envoy Gateway when it is introduced.

Future considerations for F5 NGINX Plus

In the longer term, BMC Helix might further evolve its architecture to support only an API Gateway-compatible enterprise solution.

As part of this evolution for F5 NGINX Plus:

BMC Helix might choose to deprecate F5 NGINX Plus-based Ingress options. Any such change would follow a long‑term roadmap (approximately 12–18 months).
You will receive advance notification through formal communications.

What’s coming next

BMC Helix plans to introduce Envoy Gateway as the strategic replacement with the BMC Helix IT Operations Management 26.3 and BMC Helix Service Management 26.3.01 releases. When Envoy Gateway is made available, Helix will provide migration guidance to help you transition from Chainguard-Maintained NGINX images to Envoy Gateway.

This approach of using Envoy Gateway aligns with Kubernetes community guidance, gateway API standards, and BMC Helix's long‑term scalability and platform evolution. Envoy Gateway aligns with the Kubernetes Gateway API standards and supports required capabilities.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Kubernetes NGINX Ingress Controller retirement date?

Kubernetes NGINX Ingress Controller retirement date is March 2026.
See Kubernetes official retirement notice.

My company is using Kubernetes NGINX Ingress Controller with BMC Helix Service Management earlier than 23.3.04. What should I do?

BMC Helix recommends you to perform the following actions before March 2026:

You can stay on BMC Helix Service Management 23.3.04. However, you must upgrade your BMC Helix Platform Common Services to version 25.2.00.
Transition Ingress configuration to F5 NGINX Plus or Kubernetes NGINX Ingress Controller with Chainguard maintained images.

Will my existing BMC Helix Service Management environment that uses NGINX Ingress Controller stop working?

No. Existing on-premises deployments of BMC Helix Service Management will continue to work after reaching the Ingress Controller retirement date, and you can continue using such deployed instances. However, it would not be fixed for security vulnerabilities.

Should we keep our BMC Helix Service Management environments with NGINX Ingress Controller implementation going?

BMC Helix strongly recommends that you start using the Chainguard NGINX images or transition to F5 NGINX Plus starting in March 2026.

When will Envoy Gateway be available?

BMC Helix plans to introduce Envoy Gateway support with the BMC Helix IT Operations Management 26.3.00 and BMC Helix Service Management 26.3.01.

Will I be required to migrate to Envoy Gateway?

If you are using the Kubernetes NGINX Ingress Controller, you will be encouraged to migrate to Envoy Gateway once it is supported.
If you are using F5 NGINX Plus, there is no action required to migrate to Envoy Gateway.