Support multiple LoadBalancer services on Kubernetes by using 127.0.0.0/8

[jpetazzo]

Tell us about your request

With Kubernetes on Docker Desktop, we can currently create only one Service with type LoadBalancer. It gets assigned 127.0.0.1 as its external IP. If we create another Service with type LoadBalancer, it remains "pending" until we remove the first one. By using the whole loopback range, it would be possible to have multiple LoadBalancer services; using 127.0.0.2, then 127.0.0.3, etc.

Which service(s) is this request for?

Docker Desktop

Tell us about the problem you're trying to solve. What are you trying to do, and why is it hard?

When giving instructions to run a web service (or anything accepting connections) on Kubernetes, we generally have to differentiate between:

• "real" clusters with a CCM that can provision LoadBalancer services
• clusters without the ability to provision LoadBalancer services, typically falling back on NodePort
• local development clusters (some of them can do NodePort, some of them can only do kubectl port-forward, some of them like Docker Desktop will support one LoadBalancer)

It would be great to push towards universal support of LoadBalancer services, since that's the nicer workflow for the user.

Are you currently working around the issue?

Yes, see previous point - NodePort services, kubectl port-forward, etc.

[christophermclellan]

Hi @jpetazzo,

Thanks a lot for posting this issue and the detail that you’ve provided. We’ve reviewed as a team and when we have some capacity will look a little deeper at universal support of LoadBalancer services, though this is unlikely to be within next couple of months due to existing commitments.

Thanks and we’ll keep you posted,

Chris