NodePort

Learn the NodePort service type.

NodePort

NodePort exposes the service on a fixed port (default range 30000–32767) on every node's IP. It's built on top of ClusterIP; traffic goes from the node port to the service, and from there to the pods:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: web
spec:
  type: NodePort
  selector:
    app: web
  ports:
    - port: 80
      targetPort: 8080
      nodePort: 30080

In Minikube, minikube service web --url gives the address. In production, NodePort is usually used not directly but behind a load balancer.

Summary of the port fields

A NodePort service has three ports and they're often confused:

external client ──► node_ip:nodePort (30080)
                     └─► service ClusterIP:port (80)
                          └─► pod_ip:targetPort (8080)

If nodePort isn't written, one is picked at random from the range; it's often left to Kubernetes to avoid conflicts.

Exercise A NodePort service

Write a Service YAML: name web, type: NodePort; selector app: web; port port: 80, targetPort: 8080, nodePort: 30080.

Show example solution

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: web
spec:
  type: NodePort
  selector:
    app: web
  ports:
    - port: 80
      targetPort: 8080
      nodePort: 30080

Test yourself

How is a service with nodePort: 30080 reached from outside the cluster?
- Only with the pod IP
- With the ClusterIP
- It can't be
- With any node's IP and port 30080
Show answer

With any node's IP and port 30080 — Even if the pod isn't on that node, kube-proxy routes the traffic.
Make the service type NodePort.
```
spec:
  type: ____
```
Show answer
```
spec:
  type: NodePort
```
Match the ports.

nodePort

External port on the node
port

Service port
targetPort

Container port
30000–32767

Default NodePort range

Next lesson: LoadBalancer

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