Kubernetes – When to use Which ServiceTypes?

Kubernetes supports different kinds of service types such as following:

• ClusterIP: The service of type, ClusterIP, can only be exposed to other services running within the same Kubernetes cluster. The default ServiceType is ClusterIP.

  kind: Service
  apiVersion: v1
  metadata:
    name: hello-service
  spec:
    selector:
      app: HelloApp
    ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 9376
      nodePort: 30061
  

• NodePort: The service of type, NodePort, can be exposed externally at a static port. The service address would look like  NodeIP:NodePort. External APIs can invoke the NodePort services.
• LoadBalancer: The service of type, LoadBalancer, can be exposed externally using cloud providers’ load balancer.

  kind: Service
  apiVersion: v1
  metadata:
    name: hello-service
  spec:
    selector:
      app: HelloApp
    ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 9376
      nodePort: 30061
    clusterIP: 10.0.171.239
    loadBalancerIP: 78.11.24.19
    type: LoadBalancer
  status:
    loadBalancer:
      ingress:
      - ip: 146.148.47.155
  

• ExternalName: The service of type, ExternalName, is mapped to an external name, such as helloapp.vitalflux.com.