How to Expose a Kubernetes MetalLB Load Balancer in a Virtual Network

Problem

How do you make a MetalLB load balancer service in a PCD-K cluster reachable from outside the cluster's virtual (tenant) network?

By default, MetalLB assigns external IPs from an address pool within the cluster's virtual network. Those IPs are not directly routable from the physical network. To expose a service externally, you must bridge the virtual and physical networks using OpenStack floating IPs.

Environment

• Platform9 Private Cloud Director (PCD) with PCD-K clusters deployed on virtual (Neutron) networks
• MetalLB add-on enabled on the cluster (L2 mode)
• An OpenStack router connecting the virtual network to the physical/external network

How it works

The virtual and physical networks do not connect at Layer 2. OpenStack bridges them at Layer 3 using NAT via a floating IP:

Component	Network	Role
Floating IP (e.g. 10.10.17.140)	Physical / provider	Neutron port on external network; the public address
Fixed port (e.g. 192.168.1.233)	Virtual / tenant	Reserves the MetalLB VIP in IPAM; anchors the floating IP
Floating IP association	Router	DNAT 10.10.17.140 → 192.168.1.233, SNAT on return

When a packet reaches the physical floating IP, the Neutron router DNATs it to the virtual network IP. MetalLB (in L2 mode) makes a worker node answer ARP for that IP on the tenant network. kube-proxy on that node then forwards the packet to the target pod.

The Expose LB configuration in PCD handles the OpenStack port security requirements that allow MetalLB's L2 ARP announcements to work on Neutron.

Procedure

Prerequisites

• MetalLB add-on is enabled on the cluster and Expose LB is configured with the MetalLB VIP in the Allowed Addresses field. See Set up Load Balancers using MetalLB. Wait for all worker nodes to return to Ready before proceeding.
• The MetalLB VIP must be in the same subnet as the worker nodes. MetalLB L2 mode relies on ARP, which is scoped to a single broadcast domain — if the VIP is in a different subnet, the Neutron router will never ARP for it on the worker node segment and the service will be unreachable.
• A virtual network IP from the worker nodes' subnet (e.g. 192.168.1.233) is reserved for the MetalLB VIP — it must not conflict with existing VM IPs, podCIDR, or serviceCIDR.
• An OpenStack router is already configured to connect the virtual network to the physical/external network.
• You have OpenStack CLI access (openstack CLI or equivalent API access).

Step 1: Configure the MetalLB IPAddressPool and L2Advertisement

Apply an IPAddressPool containing the virtual network IP and a corresponding L2Advertisement in the cluster:

apiVersion: metallb.io/v1beta1
kind: IPAddressPool
metadata:
  name: virtual-net-pool
  namespace: metallb-system
spec:
  addresses:
  - 192.168.1.233-192.168.1.233

apiVersion: metallb.io/v1beta1
kind: L2Advertisement
metadata:
  name: virtual-net-l2
  namespace: metallb-system
spec:
  ipAddressPools:
  - virtual-net-pool

Step 2: Create an OpenStack port for the MetalLB VIP

This port reserves the VIP in Neutron's IPAM and provides an attachment point for the floating IP.

openstack port create \
  --network <VIRTUAL_NETWORK_NAME_OR_UUID> \
  --fixed-ip subnet=<VIRTUAL_SUBNET_NAME_OR_UUID>,ip-address=192.168.1.233 \
  metallb-vip-port

Note the port UUID from the output — you will need it in the next step.

Step 3: Assign a floating IP to the MetalLB VIP port

Map an existing floating IP (or allocate a new one) to the port created in the previous step:

# Allocate a new floating IP if you don't have one
openstack floating ip create <EXTERNAL_NETWORK_NAME>

# Associate it with the MetalLB VIP port
openstack floating ip set \
  --port <METALLB_VIP_PORT_UUID> \
  --fixed-ip-address 192.168.1.233 \
  <FLOATING_IP_ADDRESS>

Assigning a floating IP to an unbound port (one not attached to a VM) is currently only possible via the OpenStack CLI or API. UI support is planned.

Step 4: Deploy a service and verify

Create a LoadBalancer service in the cluster. MetalLB should assign the VIP from the pool:

kubectl create deployment nginx --image=nginx
kubectl expose deployment nginx \
  --port=80 --target-port=80 \
  --type=LoadBalancer \
  --name=nginx-lb

Confirm the external IP is assigned:

kubectl get svc nginx-lb
# NAME       TYPE           CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP    PORT(S)        AGE
# nginx-lb   LoadBalancer   10.96.130.137   192.168.1.233  80:32456/TCP   1m

Test access via the floating IP from outside the virtual network:

curl http://<FLOATING_IP_ADDRESS>:80 -I
# HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Additional Information

• The floating IP to port association (Step 3) is currently only possible via the OpenStack CLI.