Kube-VIP

By using kube-vip in the homelab I can implement a floating IP functionality. This has a real impact on the availability of services running in Kubernetes.

Cloud provider

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kube-vip/kube-vip-cloud-provider/main/manifest/kube-vip-cloud-controller.yaml

After running the command, the kube-vip-cloud-provider pod should appear in the list.

🖥️ kubectl get pods -n kube-system | grep kube-vip

kube-vip-cloud-provider-7b895b4b98-jshsk   1/1     Running     0             3m14s
kube-vip-ds-4ww75                          1/1     Running     0             10h
kube-vip-ds-b99sh                          1/1     Running     0             9h
kube-vip-ds-xglx4                          1/1     Running     0             9h
kube-vip-ds-xr8f5                          1/1     Running     0             10h

IP range

We need to create a configuration that defines the range of IP addresses kube-vip can use when assigning them to services. These must be addresses that have not yet been used in the network segment. You also need to exclude them from the DHCP server configuration on the network devices (if applicable) and add reservations in your IPAM system.

kubectl create configmap --namespace kube-system kubevip --from-literal range-global=192.168.3.yy-192.168.3.zz

Configmap

When creating the configmap, an error may appear:

error: failed to create configmap: configmaps "kubevip" already exists

In that case, update the configmap:

kubectl edit configmap kubevip -n kube-system

During editing, create the data key with range-global.

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: "2026-06-15T04:47:25Z"
  name: kubevip
  namespace: kube-system
  resourceVersion: "167275"
  uid: 11df55a1-68bd-4a0c-80c8-e87a82c0bb7a
data:
  range-global: 192.168.3.yy-192.168.3.zz

Verification (optional)

To confirm everything is working, deploy nginx. If it all went correctly, you will see nginx's welcome page in the browser.

kubectl create deployment nginx --image nginx --namespace default
kubectl expose deployment nginx --port=80 --type=LoadBalancer --name=nginx

Deployment

Pod creation may take a moment. Kubernetes needs to pull the Docker image from the internet and start it.
You can confirm this with: kubectl get pods. The nginx pod should have a Running status.

Check the IP address assigned by kube-vip:

🖥️ kubectl get svc

NAME         TYPE           CLUSTER-IP     EXTERNAL-IP    PORT(S)        AGE
kubernetes   ClusterIP      10.43.0.1      <none>         443/TCP        11h
nginx        LoadBalancer   10.43.50.221   192.168.3.yy   80:31852/TCP   7m47s

The assigned address is in the EXTERNAL-IP column.