Use an internal load balancer with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Article
09/26/2023

You can create and use an internal load balancer to restrict access to your applications in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). An internal load balancer doesn't have a public IP and makes a Kubernetes service accessible only to applications that can reach the private IP. These applications can be within the same VNET or in another VNET through VNET peering. This article shows you how to create and use an internal load balancer with AKS.

Note

Azure Load Balancer is available in two SKUs: Basic and Standard. The Standard SKU is used by default when you create an AKS cluster. When you create a LoadBalancer service type, you'll get the same load balancer type as when you provisioned the cluster. For more information, see Azure Load Balancer SKU comparison.

Before you begin

This article assumes that you have an existing AKS cluster. If you need an AKS cluster, you can create one using Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, or the Azure portal.
You need the Azure CLI version 2.0.59 or later. Run az --version to find the version. If you need to install or upgrade, see Install Azure CLI.
If you want to use an existing subnet or resource group, the AKS cluster identity needs permission to manage network resources. For information, see Use kubenet networking with your own IP address ranges in AKS or Configure Azure CNI networking in AKS. If you're configuring your load balancer to use an IP address in a different subnet, ensure the AKS cluster identity also has read access to that subnet.
- For more information on permissions, see Delegate AKS access to other Azure resources.

Create an internal load balancer

Create a service manifest named internal-lb.yaml with the service type LoadBalancer and the azure-load-balancer-internal annotation.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: internal-app
  annotations:
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-load-balancer-internal: "true"
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  ports:
  - port: 80
  selector:
    app: internal-app

Deploy the internal load balancer using the kubectl apply command. This command creates an Azure load balancer in the node resource group connected to the same virtual network as your AKS cluster.
```
kubectl apply -f internal-lb.yaml
```
View the service details using the kubectl get service command.
```
kubectl get service internal-app
```
The IP address of the internal load balancer is shown in the EXTERNAL-IP column, as shown in the following example output. In this context, External refers to the external interface of the load balancer. It doesn't mean that it receives a public, external IP address. This IP address is dynamically assigned from the same subnet as the AKS cluster.
```
NAME           TYPE           CLUSTER-IP    EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)        AGE
internal-app   LoadBalancer   10.0.248.59   10.240.0.7    80:30555/TCP   2m
```

Specify an IP address

When you specify an IP address for the load balancer, the specified IP address must reside in the same subnet as the AKS cluster, but it can't already be assigned to a resource. For example, you shouldn't use an IP address in the range designated for the Kubernetes subnet within the AKS cluster.

You can use the az network vnet subnet list Azure CLI command or the Get-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig PowerShell cmdlet to get the subnets in your virtual network.

For more information on subnets, see Add a node pool with a unique subnet.

If you want to use a specific IP address with the load balancer, you have two options: set service annotations or add the LoadBalancerIP property to the load balancer YAML manifest.

Important

Adding the LoadBalancerIP property to the load balancer YAML manifest is deprecating following upstream Kubernetes. While current usage remains the same and existing services are expected to work without modification, we highly recommend setting service annotations instead.

Set service annotations
Add the LoadBalancerIP property to the load balancer YAML manifest

Set service annotations using service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-load-balancer-ipv4 for an IPv4 address and service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-load-balancer-ipv6 for an IPv6 address.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: internal-app
  annotations:
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-load-balancer-ipv4: 10.240.0.25
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-load-balancer-internal: "true"
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  ports:
  - port: 80
  selector:
    app: internal-app

Add the Service.Spec.LoadBalancerIP property to the load balancer YAML manifest. This field is deprecating following upstream Kubernetes, and it can't support dual-stack. Current usage remains the same and existing services are expected to work without modification.
```
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: internal-app
  annotations:
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-load-balancer-internal: "true"
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  loadBalancerIP: 10.240.0.25
  ports:
  - port: 80
  selector:
    app: internal-app
```

View the service details using the kubectl get service command.

kubectl get service internal-app

The IP address in the EXTERNAL-IP column should reflect your specified IP address, as shown in the following example output:

NAME           TYPE           CLUSTER-IP     EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)        AGE
internal-app   LoadBalancer   10.0.184.168   10.240.0.25   80:30225/TCP   4m

For more information on configuring your load balancer in a different subnet, see Specify a different subnet

Connect Azure Private Link service to internal load balancer

Before you begin

You need Kubernetes version 1.22.x or later.
You need an existing resource group with a VNet and subnet. This resource group is where you create the private endpoint. If you don't have these resources, see Create a virtual network and subnet.

Create a Private Link service connection

Create a service manifest named internal-lb-pls.yaml with the service type LoadBalancer and the azure-load-balancer-internal and azure-pls-create annotations. For more options, refer to the Azure Private Link Service Integration design document.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: internal-app
  annotations:
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-load-balancer-internal: "true"
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-pls-create: "true"
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  ports:
  - port: 80
  selector:
    app: internal-app

Deploy the internal load balancer using the kubectl apply command. This command creates an Azure load balancer in the node resource group connected to the same virtual network as your AKS cluster. It also creates a Private Link Service object that connects to the frontend IP configuration of the load balancer associated with the Kubernetes service.
```
kubectl apply -f internal-lb-pls.yaml
```
View the service details using the kubectl get service command.
```
kubectl get service internal-app
```
The IP address of the internal load balancer is shown in the EXTERNAL-IP column, as shown in the following example output. In this context, External refers to the external interface of the load balancer. It doesn't mean that it receives a public, external IP address.
```
NAME           TYPE           CLUSTER-IP    EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)        AGE
internal-app   LoadBalancer   10.125.17.53  10.125.0.66   80:30430/TCP   64m
```

View the details of the Private Link Service object using the az network private-link-service list command.

# Create a variable for the node resource group

AKS_MC_RG=$(az aks show -g myResourceGroup --name myAKSCluster --query nodeResourceGroup -o tsv)

# View the details of the Private Link Service object

az network private-link-service list -g $AKS_MC_RG --query "[].{Name:name,Alias:alias}" -o table

Your output should look similar to the following example output:

Name      Alias
--------  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
pls-xyz   pls-xyz.abc123-defg-4hij-56kl-789mnop.eastus2.azure.privatelinkservice

Create a Private Endpoint to the Private Link service

A Private Endpoint allows you to privately connect to your Kubernetes service object via the Private Link Service you created.

Create the private endpoint using the az network private-endpoint create command.

# Create a variable for the private link service

AKS_PLS_ID=$(az network private-link-service list -g $AKS_MC_RG --query "[].id" -o tsv)

# Create the private endpoint

$ az network private-endpoint create \
    -g myOtherResourceGroup \
    --name myAKSServicePE \
    --vnet-name myOtherVNET \
    --subnet pe-subnet \
    --private-connection-resource-id $AKS_PLS_ID \
    --connection-name connectToMyK8sService

Use private networks

When you create your AKS cluster, you can specify advanced networking settings. These settings allow you to deploy the cluster into an existing Azure virtual network and subnets. For example, you can deploy your AKS cluster into a private network connected to your on-premises environment and run services that are only accessible internally.

For more information, see configure your own virtual network subnets with Kubenet or with Azure CNI.

You don't need to make any changes to the previous steps to deploy an internal load balancer that uses a private network in an AKS cluster. The load balancer is created in the same resource group as your AKS cluster, but it's instead connected to your private virtual network and subnet, as shown in the following example:

$ kubectl get service internal-app

NAME           TYPE           CLUSTER-IP    EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)        AGE
internal-app   LoadBalancer   10.1.15.188   10.0.0.35     80:31669/TCP   1m

Note

You may need to assign a minimum of Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/subnets/read and Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/subnets/join/action permission to AKS MSI on the Azure Virtual Network resources. You can view the cluster identity with az aks show, such as az aks show --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myAKSCluster --query "identity". To create a role assignment, use the az role assignment create command.

Specify a different subnet

Add the azure-load-balancer-internal-subnet annotation to your service to specify a subnet for your load balancer. The subnet specified must be in the same virtual network as your AKS cluster. When deployed, the load balancer EXTERNAL-IP address is part of the specified subnet.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: internal-app
  annotations:
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-load-balancer-internal: "true"
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-load-balancer-internal-subnet: "apps-subnet"
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  ports:
  - port: 80
  selector:
    app: internal-app

Delete the load balancer

The load balancer is deleted when all of its services are deleted.

As with any Kubernetes resource, you can directly delete a service, such as kubectl delete service internal-app, which also deletes the underlying Azure load balancer.

Next steps

To learn more about Kubernetes services, see the Kubernetes services documentation.

Use an internal load balancer with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Before you begin

Create an internal load balancer

Specify an IP address

Connect Azure Private Link service to internal load balancer

Before you begin

Create a Private Link service connection

Create a Private Endpoint to the Private Link service

Use private networks

Specify a different subnet

Delete the load balancer

Next steps

Feedback

Additional resources

Additional resources