Question

Are Pods always assigned to `10.244.0.0/16`?

Posted on October 4, 2023
DigitalOcean Managed Kubernetes Networking
Asked by caffeinestorm

I’ve been able to spin up a managed Kubernetes cluster and can deploy workloads as pods. 🎉

Running doctl kubernetes cluster get <UUID> -o json reports, among other things, that the cluster_subnet is 10.244.0.0/16. According to the documentation, cluster_subnet is The range of IP addresses in the overlay network of the Kubernetes cluster in CIDR notation. That means that all my pods will be assigned an IP from that range, right?

Question: is the cluster_subnet always 10.244.0.0/16? If I spin up a new cluster, am I guaranteed a cluster_subnet of 10.244.0.0/16? Is there a way for me to choose a different cluster_subnet, say, during cluster creation?

Thanks!

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Bobby Iliev

Site Moderator

• October 5, 2023

Accepted Answer

Hello @caffeinestorm,

Firstly, congratulations on spinning up a managed Kubernetes cluster and deploying your workloads! 🎉

To address your question on the cluster_subnet:

Is the cluster_subnet always 10.244.0.0/16?
- As of now, the overlay network does utilize the 10.244.0.0/16 CIDR. However, it’s crucial to understand that this is an implementation detail that can change based on the needs or updates in the platform. Thus, it’s not advisable to rely on this specific range for any of your configurations or operations.
If I spin up a new cluster, am I guaranteed a cluster_subnet of 10.244.0.0/16?
- There’s no guarantee. While currently the clusters are being assigned this range, future versions or updates might differ. Relying on this specific CIDR might cause issues during potential upgrades.
Can I choose a different cluster_subnet during cluster creation?
- Currently, there isn’t an option for users to specify a custom cluster_subnet range during the cluster creation process.

A significant point to remember is that in DOKS (DigitalOcean Managed Kubernetes), there are more efficient and robust mechanisms to identify workloads beyond just IPs. It’s advisable to leverage those mechanisms to ensure the resilience and stability of your deployments.

For example, one option here is to use a service. A Kubernetes Service is an abstraction that defines a logical set of pods and a way to access them. When creating a service, Kubernetes will allocate a unique IP address (ClusterIP) which remains static for the lifecycle of the service. This means that you don’t have to rely on the individual IPs of pods, but rather on the Service’s ClusterIP or its DNS name.

I hope this clarifies your queries. Please let us know if you have any other questions or need further assistance!

Best,

Bobby

KFSys

Site Moderator

• October 6, 2023

Heya,

In Kubernetes, the 10.244.0.0/16 range is a common default for pod networking, but it is not immutable and may vary depending on the setup or the cloud provider. In DigitalOcean Kubernetes (DOKS), 10.244.0.0/16 is the default range, if I am not mistaken.

If I spin up a new cluster, am I guaranteed a cluster_subnet of 10.244.0.0/16? Yes, but it’s always a good idea to check after creating the cluster or consulting DigitalOcean’s latest documentation as there is no guaratnee that is the case.

Is there a way for me to choose a different cluster_subnet, say, during cluster creation? As of now, users are not allowed to specify custom pod or service CIDR ranges during cluster creation.