Understanding Kubernetes: Part 15 -NodePort Service

If you’ve been following our Kubernetes series 2025, welcome back! For new readers, check out Part 14: Understanding Kubernetes: ClusterIP Services

NodePort Service in Kubernetes

A NodePort Service in Kubernetes allows external traffic to access your application by exposing a specific port on each Node in the cluster. It provides a way to make a Service accessible from outside the cluster by routing traffic from <NodeIP>:<NodePort> to the underlying Pods. This type of Service is useful for debugging, local development, or when you don't have a cloud load balancer.

Example:

Suppose you have a frontend application that needs to be accessed externally for testing purposes. A NodePort Service assigns a static port on all cluster Nodes, allowing direct access to the application from outside the cluster.

Capabilities:

• External Access: Exposes applications to the outside world using <NodeIP>:<NodePort>.

• Port Allocation: Kubernetes assigns a port from the range 30000-32767 if not specified.

• Simple Setup: Provides an easy way to expose services without requiring an external load balancer.

YAML Example:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: frontend-service
spec:
  selector:
    app: frontend
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 8080
      nodePort: 31000
  type: NodePort

In this example, users can access the frontend Pods via http://<NodeIP>:31000.

In My Previous Role:

As a Senior DevOps Engineer, I used NodePort Services to expose internal applications for testing and debugging purposes. For instance, I configured a NodePort Service to allow access to an internal monitoring dashboard without deploying a cloud-based LoadBalancer, enabling efficient troubleshooting and visibility into system health.

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