Pod Networking
Each Pod in Kubernetes gets its own IP address. This simplifies networking because you don’t have to think about port conflicts – each Pod has its own space. However, Pods are ephemeral, so you should not rely on their IPs directly.
Pod IP Address
Every Pod receives a unique IP from the cluster’s network. Containers inside the same Pod share that IP and can communicate on
localhost. Different Pods can communicate using their IPs (if network policies allow).Check a Pod’s IP:
kubectl get pod my-pod -o wideCluster Networking Model
Kubernetes assumes a flat network where every Pod can reach every other Pod without NAT. This is implemented by a Container Network Interface (CNI) plugin, such as Calico, Flannel, or Weave.
Accessing a Pod from Outside the Cluster
Pod IPs are not directly accessible from outside the cluster. To expose a Pod, you need a Service (covered in Module 4). For testing, you can use port‑forwarding:
kubectl port-forward pod/my-pod 8080:80Network Policies
By default, all Pods can talk to each other. To restrict traffic, you can define NetworkPolicy resources. This is an advanced topic for security.
DNS for Pods
Kubernetes has an internal DNS service. Pods can be resolved via
pod-ip-address.namespace.pod.cluster.local, but normally you use Services to get stable names.Two Minute Drill
- Each Pod gets a unique IP in the cluster network.
- Containers inside the same Pod communicate via localhost.
- Pod IPs are ephemeral; use Services for stable access.
- Network Policies control traffic between Pods.
- For testing, use
kubectl port-forward.
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