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MetalLB

MetalLB is a load-balancer implementation for bare metal Kubernetes clusters, using standard routing protocols.

MetalLB

MetalLB Reviews and Details

This page is designed to help you find out whether MetalLB is good and if it is the right choice for you.

Screenshots and images

  • MetalLB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-30

Features & Specs

  1. Load Balancing

    MetalLB provides a load balancing solution for bare metal Kubernetes clusters, allowing them to handle network traffic efficiently.

  2. Ease of Deployment

    Installation and configuration of MetalLB is straightforward, making it easy for users to deploy in their clusters without complex setup processes.

  3. Cost-Effective

    Since MetalLB doesnโ€™t require expensive, dedicated load balancers, it offers a cost-effective solution for managing network traffic.

  4. Compatibility

    MetalLB is compatible with standard Kubernetes networking components and works with existing network setups without requiring extensive modifications.

  5. Protocol Support

    MetalLB supports both Layer 2 and BGP modes, providing flexibility in how the network and IP address management are configured.

  6. Community Support

    As an open-source project, MetalLB has an active community, which can be beneficial for troubleshooting issues and contributing to future enhancements.

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Social recommendations and mentions

We have tracked the following product recommendations or mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you see what people think about MetalLB and what they use it for.
  • Building a Kubernetes Cluster from Scratch With K3s And MetalLB
    Kubernetes does not provide network load balancers for bare-metal clusters out of the box. To configure load balancers in cloud environments like AWS, Azure and GCP, Kubernetes makes an API call to the cloud providerโ€™s API to provision a load balancer and external IP. Once the load balancer is provisioned, it populates the โ€œExternal IPโ€ information in load balancer. When running Kubernetes in a bare-metal cluster,... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Let's Make a k3s Cluster with Raspberry Pi and Cloudflare Tunnel
    The very first step for this project is to have your Raspberry Pi up and running. This also includes SSH set up. If you already have a running one (or more) you can skip this step. One thing I want to note here is that I personally recommend you to not use WiFi connection, instead utilize wired connection which is more reliable and fast. I occasionally experienced unexpected disconnection and had to reboot my k3s... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Tailscale Kubernetes Operator
    As I mentioned earlier, I'm running an Ergo instance for local IRC development. I have an Service of type LoadBalancer to expose it to my LAN via MetalLB. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Self hosted kubernetes
    Hey guys, I want to share a guide Iโ€™m pretty proud of which is talking about setting up kubernetes which leverages https://kubespray.io/#/ and https://metallb.universe.tf/ so you can host this yourself most people when spinning up kubernetes opt for k3s or get stuck with all the options or unable to setup the external ips for their services so these tools will eliminate the problem. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Trouble with RKE2 HA Setup: Part 2
    To avoid that, you can use a combination of haproxy and keepalived, an enterprise grade load balancer like the one from F5 or Citrix. Besides that you can also work with https://kube-vip.io or https://metallb.universe.tf. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Kubernetes and feeling defeated
    Not sure if klipper is usable in a cluster with multiple nodes, as it binds to one port only. You may want to use MetalLB instead: https://metallb.universe.tf/. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Own kubernetes cluster
    What issue do you see with the load balancer? For self hosted clusters, one can use MetalLB for example to have such single outfacing IP which will failover to another node keeping the same IP if a node dies. Source: about 3 years ago
  • PaperLB: A Kubernetes Network Load Balancer Implementation
    Not to take anything away from OP but MetalLB also provides local load balancing. Source: about 3 years ago
  • libvirt-k8s-provisioner - Ansible and terraform to build a cluster from scratch in less than 10 minutes ok KVM - Updated for 1.26
    MetalLB to manage bare-metal LoadBalancer services - WIP - Only L2 configuration can be set-up via playbook. Source: about 3 years ago
  • How hard is it to deploy kubernetes on bare metal in 2022 ?
    Set up MetalLB https://metallb.universe.tf/ either via helm or simple manifest. Pick a range of ips to allocate, and assign via manifest https://metallb.universe.tf/configuration/. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Question: How does Kubernetes know what IPs to use for a NodePort Service
    MetalLB is good for the use case you point out. Source: over 3 years ago
  • libvirt-k8s-provisioner - Ansible and terraform to build a cluster from scratch in less than 10 minutes ok KVM - Updated for 1.25
    MetalLB to manage bare-metal LoadBalancer services - WIP - Only L2 configuration can be set-up via playbook. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Is it possible to access the service with <loadbalancer IP>:<nodeport>
    Use an ingress controller and LoadBalancer type as expected, if running on bare metal use something like [MetalLB](https://metallb.universe.tf/) to create a routable IP using DHCP and then use DNS with a hostname pointing to that routable IP for the ingress controller to work. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Configuring Ingress on-premise
    In k8s you need a load balancer. In cloud setups, the ingress will create one for you. In bare metal setups you can use something like MetalLB (https://metallb.universe.tf/). Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Ask HN: What is your Kubernetes nightmare?
    > Kubernetes on bare metal is actually pretty easy. I would not call it easy at all. Last time I tried that a year ago you still needed a special load balancer to get it going (https://metallb.universe.tf). Has this changed? - Source: Hacker News / almost 4 years ago
  • doyouneedkubernetes.com
    K8s was built to run on cloud hosted services, so you would normally use their load balancer. There's two ways that I know of to avoid using a cloud LB. One use metallb or two you can use something like calico to communicate with your networking equipmen through bgp. Source: almost 4 years ago

External sources with reviews and comparisons of MetalLB

10 Awesome Open Source Load Balancers
MetalLB is another CNCF incubated project. It is a bare-metal implementation of the LoadBalancer network balancer resource type in Kubernetes. It is designed to bring the seamless experience of cloud network balancers to bare-metal Kubernetes deployments integrating with standard network equipment. For routing services, it uses standard routing protocols such as ARP, NDP, and BGP. It has a special Layer 2 load...

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Is MetalLB good? This is an informative page that will help you find out. Moreover, you can review and discuss MetalLB here. The primary details have not been verified within the last quarter, and they might be outdated. If you think we are missing something, please use the means on this page to comment or suggest changes. All reviews and comments are highly encouranged and appreciated as they help everyone in the community to make an informed choice. Please always be kind and objective when evaluating a product and sharing your opinion.