You can make an on-premises Kubernetes cluster reachable from a data-center network by having a routing component advertise selected Pod or Service prefixes to external routers using BGP. Those routers can use ECMP to forward flows across equal-cost paths. BGP distributes routes; it does not provide Kubernetes’ in-cluster packet forwarding or, by itself, a load-balancer datapath. A resilient design keeps the node network, Pod network, Service exposure, and Kubernetes API endpoint as separate concerns.
Which network does each part of the cluster use?
Start by separating four functions that are easy to conflate:
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- Node network: The physical or virtual data-center network connecting Kubernetes nodes. It is generally outside Kubernetes’ management and may share infrastructure with, or be separated from, storage and external-access networks.
- Pod network: The CNI-provided network for container connectivity. The CNI and its datapath determine how packets move within the cluster.
- Service exposure: The mechanism that makes an application address reachable from outside the cluster, such as a LoadBalancer Service implementation.
- Control-plane API endpoint: The stable address clients and nodes use to reach the Kubernetes API. It is an availability requirement distinct from application routing.
Kubernetes’ bare-metal networking overview describes the node and Pod networks as distinct layers. A BGP speaker can tell external routers how to reach selected destinations, but that route advertisement does not replace the CNI datapath or create internal cluster reachability. Cilium’s BGP Control Plane documentation makes this distinction explicit: it advertises routes to connected routers and does not program the datapath or establish reachability within the cluster.
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What does BGP advertise, and what does it not do?
BGP exchanges reachability information between the cluster’s routing component and connected routers. Depending on the chosen implementation and configuration, the advertised destinations may include Pod networks, Service addresses, or both. The external router can then install a route and forward traffic toward the cluster.
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Think of BGP as the mechanism for telling the surrounding network where a prefix can be reached. It does not decide how a packet is delivered from a node to a Pod, implement Service translation, or guarantee that the advertised destination is healthy. Those behaviors depend on the CNI, Service implementation, node state, and routing policy.
Cilium’s stable documentation identifies version 1.20.2 and describes IPv4, IPv6, and dual-stack support subject to the address family configured in the Cilium agent. Treat this as version-sensitive: confirm the capabilities and configuration for the Cilium release actually deployed, as well as the address families and policies supported by the routers.
How does a LoadBalancer Service become reachable on bare metal?
Kubernetes’ type: LoadBalancer is not, on its own, a complete external load-balancer datapath. It depends on an environment with a supported provider or implementation. The provider may automate allocation, health checks, filtering rules, and publication of an address; the external datapath is supplied outside Kubernetes.
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Bare-metal implementations can make a floating Service address reachable through mechanisms such as BGP route advertisement or ARP/NDP neighbor advertisement. The Kubernetes bare-metal overview names MetalLB, kube-vip, LoxiLB, Cilium, and Kube-OVN as options. Their behavior and fit depend on the deployment; the overview’s selection of one option for its own context is not a universal ranking.
Before choosing an implementation, decide which addresses need to be reachable, which component announces them, and how traffic is forwarded once it reaches a node. Do not assume that advertising a Service address also selects the Service’s traffic policy or ensures that every advertised node can serve it.
How does ECMP distribute traffic?
When a router has multiple equal-cost next hops for a destination, it can install an ECMP route. FRRouting’s stable 8.0 manual describes flow-based hashing: packets belonging to a flow are normally sent through the same next hop, rather than being independently balanced packet by packet. This helps preserve packet ordering, but it does not mean each node receives exactly the same number of connections or bytes.
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If a next hop is added or removed, the router may rehash some flows onto different paths. A change in path can interrupt an established connection, particularly if the new path reaches a different node or the original node is unavailable. ECMP provides multiple forwarding choices; it is not a promise of hitless failover or session continuity.
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Ordinary ECMP should not be assumed to account for different link capacities. FRRouting 8.0 documents weighted ECMP, also called UCMP, using BGP link-bandwidth information carried in an extended community. Unequal weighting requires the relevant routers and forwarding plane to be configured to use that information.
How should you plan the implementation?
There is no universal ASN, CIDR plan, router policy, or CNI configuration that fits every data center. Work through the design in this order, then translate it into the configuration supported by your specific CNI release and network equipment.
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- Map the traffic and networks. Identify node addresses, Pod prefixes, Service address ranges, any separate storage network, and the external clients that need access. Decide which prefixes should be advertised and which must remain internal.
- Select the route advertiser and Service implementation. Confirm whether one component handles both Pod and Service reachability or whether separate implementations are needed. Establish who allocates external Service addresses and which component announces them.
- Define BGP relationships and policy. Coordinate peer addresses, address families, permitted prefixes, route filtering, and any route attributes with the data-center routing team. Apply explicit import and export policy rather than assuming peers will accept every route.
- Choose the forwarding and failure model. Confirm the router’s multipath limits, ECMP hashing behavior, next-hop tracking, and handling of route withdrawal and graceful restart. Decide how external traffic should reach nodes and how Service traffic policy affects eligible nodes.
- Separate API availability from application reachability. For kubeadm control-plane HA planning, Kubernetes recommends a shared
--control-plane-endpoint, which can be a DNS name or load-balancer address. Plan and test that endpoint independently of Pod or Service prefix advertisements. - Validate before production. Check the installed routes and next hops on the routers, confirm the intended addresses are reachable from outside, and test node, agent, and link failures. Observe both route changes and established application connections; route convergence alone does not prove that sessions survive.
Kubernetes documents that converting a single-control-plane cluster created without a shared --control-plane-endpoint into an HA cluster is unsupported. Treat the endpoint as an initial architecture decision, not as an application route to add later.
What happens when a node or BGP speaker fails?
Failure behavior depends on how quickly a failure is detected, whether routes are withdrawn or retained, and what the forwarding plane does with existing flows. Cilium’s BGP Control Plane operation guide says its BGP speaker is integrated into the Cilium agent: if the agent stops, its BGP session is lost and the advertised routes are removed. The guide describes Graceful Restart as a way for a peer to retain routes temporarily while the datapath remains active.
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After a node loss, route withdrawal or ECMP rehash can redirect traffic, but ongoing connections may reset. Review these factors together rather than treating a BGP session staying up as proof of application availability:
- How failures are detected and how long route withdrawal takes.
- Whether a router retains stale routes during a restart, and for how long.
- How ECMP changes affect established flows and whether the replacement path can serve them.
- How the Service’s external traffic policy constrains which nodes can receive or forward traffic.
- Whether router and CNI versions support compatible address families, multipath behavior, and graceful-restart features.
What should you verify on your equipment?
The architecture sources do not establish site-specific switch settings or a universal convergence target. Confirm these details against the exact software and hardware versions in your network:
- Maximum installed multipath routes and how the router selects ECMP next hops.
- Hash inputs and behavior when a next hop is added, removed, or becomes unreachable.
- Accepted prefixes, route filtering, and address-family configuration on each BGP peer.
- Graceful Restart behavior and timers on both the cluster speaker and router.
- Whether the chosen CNI and Service implementation support the routes and traffic policies you intend to use.
Test route visibility and application behavior separately. An external route can be present while a Service datapath, node, or Pod is unable to serve traffic; conversely, a working in-cluster Pod path does not prove that external routers have learned a route.
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