---
slug: expose-kubernetes-pods-externally-ingress-tls
title: Exposing Kubernetes Pods externally with Ingress and TLS
description: Learn how to expose Kubernetes pods externally with Services, Ingress, and TLS using BGP, NGINX, and Cert-Manager in a homelab setup.
date: 2025-08-19
draft: false
tags:
  - kubernetes
  - helm
  - bgp
  - opnsense
  - cilium
  - nginx-ingress-controller
  - cert-manager
categories:
  - homelab
---

## Intro

After building my own Kubernetes cluster in my homelab using `kubeadm` in [that post]({{< ref "post/8-create-manual-kubernetes-cluster-kubeadm" >}}), my next challenge is to expose a simple pod externally, reachable with an URL and secured with a TLS certificate verified by Let's Encrypt.

To achieve this, I needed to configure several components:
- **Service**: Expose the pod inside the cluster and provide an access point.
- **Ingress**: Define routing rules to expose HTTP(S) services externally.
- **Ingress Controller**: Listen to Ingress resources and handles actual traffic routing.
- **TLS Certificates**: Secure traffic with HTTPS using certificates from Let’s Encrypt.

This post guides you through each step to understand how external access works in Kubernetes in a homelab environment.

Let’s dive in.

---
## Helm

I use **Helm**, the de facto package manager for Kubernetes, to install external components like the Ingress controller or cert-manager.

### Why Helm

Helm simplifies the deployment and management of Kubernetes applications. Instead of writing and maintaining large YAML manifests, Helm lets you install applications with a single command, using versioned and configurable charts.

### Install Helm

I install Helm on my LXC bastion host, which already has access to the Kubernetes cluster:
```bash
curl https://baltocdn.com/helm/signing.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg > /dev/null
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg] https://baltocdn.com/helm/stable/debian/ all main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helm-stable-debian.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install helm
```

---
## Kubernetes Services

Before we can expose a pod externally, we need a way to make it reachable inside the cluster. That’s where Kubernetes Services come in.

Services act as the bridge between pods and the network, making sure applications remain reachable even as pods are rescheduled.

There are several types of Kubernetes Services, each serving a different purpose:
- **ClusterIP** exposes the Service on a cluster-internal IP, only accessible inside the cluster.
- **NodePort** exposes the Service on a static port on each node’s IP, accessible from outside the cluster.
- **LoadBalancer** exposes the Service on an external IP, typically using cloud integrations (or BGP in a homelab).

---
## Expose a `LoadBalancer` Service with BGP

Initially, I considered using **MetalLB** to expose service IPs to my home network. That’s what I used in the past when relying on my ISP box as the main router. But after reading this post, [Use Cilium BGP integration with OPNsense](https://devopstales.github.io/kubernetes/cilium-opnsense-bgp/), I realize I can achieve the same (or even better) using BGP with my **OPNsense** router and **Cilium**, my CNI.
### What Is BGP?

BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) is a routing protocol used to exchange network routes between systems. In the Kubernetes homelab context, BGP allows your Kubernetes nodes to advertise IPs directly to your network router or firewall. Your router then knows how to reach the IPs managed by your cluster.

So instead of MetalLB managing IP allocation and ARP replies, your nodes directly tell your router: « Hey, I own 192.168.1.240 ».
### Legacy MetalLB Approach

Without BGP, MetalLB in Layer 2 mode works like this:
- Assigns a `LoadBalancer` IP (e.g., `192.168.1.240`) from a pool.
- One node responds to ARP for that IP on your LAN.

Yes, MetalLB can also work with BGP, but what if my CNI (Cilium) can handle it out of the box?
### BGP with Cilium

With Cilium + BGP, you get:
- Cilium’s agent on the node advertises LoadBalancer IPs over BGP.
- Your router learns that IP and routes to the correct node.
- No need for MetalLB.

### BGP Setup

BGP is disabled by default on both OPNsense and Cilium. Let’s enable it on both ends.

#### On OPNsense

According to the [official OPNsense documentation](https://docs.opnsense.org/manual/dynamic_routing.html#bgp-section), enabling BGP requires installing a plugin.

Head to `System` > `Firmware` > `Plugins` and install the `os-frr` plugin:  
![  ](images/opnsense-add-os-frr-plugin.png)
Install `os-frr` plugin in OPNsense

Once installed, enable the plugin under `Routing` > `General`:  
![  ](images/opnsense-enable-routing-frr-plugin.png)
Enable routing in OPNsense

Then navigate to the `BGP` section. In the **General** tab:
- Tick the box to enable BGP.
- Set your **BGP ASN**. I used `64512`, the first private ASN from the reserved range (see [ASN table](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_system_\(Internet\)#ASN_Table)):
![  ](images/opnsense-enable-bgp.png)
General BGP configuration in OPNsense

Now create your BGP neighbors. I’m only peering with my **worker nodes** (since only they run workloads). For each neighbor:
- Set the node’s IP in `Peer-IP`
- Use `64513` as the **Remote AS** (Cilium’s ASN)
- Set `Update-Source Interface` to `Lab`
- Tick `Next-Hop-Self`:  
![  ](images/opnsense-bgp-create-neighbor.png)
BGP neighbor configuration in OPNsense

Here’s how my neighbors list looks once complete:  
![  ](images/opnsense-bgp-neighbor-list.png)
BGP neighbor list

Don’t forget to create a firewall rule allowing BGP (port `179/TCP`) from the **Lab** VLAN to the firewall:  
![  ](images/opnsense-create-firewall-rule-bgp-peering.png)
Allow TCP/179 from Lab to OPNsense

#### In Cilium

I already have Cilium installed and couldn’t find a way to enable BGP with the CLI, so I simply reinstall it with the BGP option:

```bash
cilium uninstall
cilium install --set bgpControlPlane.enabled=true
```

I configure only worker nodes to establish BGP peering by labeling them for the `nodeSelector`:
```bash
kubectl label node apex-worker node-role.kubernetes.io/worker=""
kubectl label node vertex-worker node-role.kubernetes.io/worker=""
kubectl label node zenith-worker node-role.kubernetes.io/worker=""
```
```plaintext
NAME            STATUS   ROLES           AGE    VERSION
apex-master     Ready    control-plane   5d4h   v1.32.7
apex-worker     Ready    worker          5d1h   v1.32.7
vertex-master   Ready    control-plane   5d1h   v1.32.7
vertex-worker   Ready    worker          5d1h   v1.32.7
zenith-master   Ready    control-plane   5d1h   v1.32.7
zenith-worker   Ready    worker          5d1h   v1.32.7
```

For the entire BGP configuration, I need:
- **CiliumBGPClusterConfig**: BGP settings for the Cilium cluster, including its local ASN and its peer
- **CiliumBGPPeerConfig**: Sets BGP timers, graceful restart, and route advertisement settings.
- **CiliumBGPAdvertisement**: Defines which Kubernetes services should be advertised via BGP.
- **CiliumLoadBalancerIPPool**: Configures the range of IPs assigned to Kubernetes LoadBalancer services.

```yaml
---
apiVersion: cilium.io/v2alpha1
kind: CiliumBGPClusterConfig
metadata:
  name: bgp-cluster
spec:
  nodeSelector:
    matchLabels:
      node-role.kubernetes.io/worker: "" # Only for worker nodes
  bgpInstances:
  - name: "cilium-bgp-cluster"
    localASN: 64513 # Cilium ASN
    peers:
    - name: "pfSense-peer"
      peerASN: 64512 # OPNsense ASN
      peerAddress: 192.168.66.1  # OPNsense IP
      peerConfigRef:
        name: "bgp-peer"
---
apiVersion: cilium.io/v2alpha1
kind: CiliumBGPPeerConfig
metadata:
  name: bgp-peer
spec:
  timers:
    holdTimeSeconds: 9
    keepAliveTimeSeconds: 3
  gracefulRestart:
    enabled: true
    restartTimeSeconds: 15
  families:
    - afi: ipv4
      safi: unicast
      advertisements:
        matchLabels:
          advertise: "bgp"
---
apiVersion: cilium.io/v2alpha1
kind: CiliumBGPAdvertisement
metadata:
  name: bgp-advertisement
  labels:
    advertise: bgp
spec:
  advertisements:
    - advertisementType: "Service"
      service:
        addresses:
          - LoadBalancerIP
      selector:
        matchExpressions:
          - { key: somekey, operator: NotIn, values: [ never-used-value ] }
---
apiVersion: "cilium.io/v2alpha1"
kind: CiliumLoadBalancerIPPool
metadata:
  name: "dmz"
spec:
  blocks:
  - start: "192.168.55.20" # LB Range Start IP
    stop: "192.168.55.250" # LB Range End IP
```

Apply it:
```bash
kubectl apply -f bgp.yaml 

ciliumbgpclusterconfig.cilium.io/bgp-cluster created
ciliumbgppeerconfig.cilium.io/bgp-peer created
ciliumbgpadvertisement.cilium.io/bgp-advertisement created
ciliumloadbalancerippool.cilium.io/dmz created
```

If everything works, you should see the BGP sessions **established** with your workers:
```bash
cilium bgp peers

Node            Local AS   Peer AS   Peer Address   Session State   Uptime   Family         Received   Advertised
apex-worker     64513      64512     192.168.66.1   established     6m30s    ipv4/unicast   1          2    
vertex-worker   64513      64512     192.168.66.1   established     7m9s     ipv4/unicast   1          2    
zenith-worker   64513      64512     192.168.66.1   established     6m13s    ipv4/unicast   1          2
```

### Deploying a `LoadBalancer` Service with BGP

Let’s quickly validate that the setup works by deploying a test `Deployment` and `LoadBalancer` `Service`:
```yaml
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: test-lb
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 80
    protocol: TCP
    name: http
  selector:
    svc: test-lb
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      svc: test-lb
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        svc: test-lb
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: web
        image: nginx
        imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
        readinessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /
            port: 80
```

Check if it gets an external IP:
```bash
kubectl get services test-lb

NAME         TYPE           CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP     PORT(S)        AGE
test-lb      LoadBalancer   10.100.167.198   192.168.55.20   80:31350/TCP   169m
```

The service got the first IP from our defined pool: `192.168.55.20`.

Now from any device on the LAN, try to reach that IP on port 80:
![Test LoadBalancer service with BGP](images/k8s-test-loadbalancer-service-with-bgp.png)

✅ Our pod is reachable through BGP-routed `LoadBalancer` IP, first step successful!

---
## Kubernetes Ingress

We managed to expose a pod externally using a `LoadBalancer` service and a BGP-assigned IP address. This approach works great for testing, but it doesn't scale well.

Imagine having 10, 20, or 50 different services, would I really want to allocate 50 IP addresses, and clutter my firewall and routing tables with 50 BGP entries? Definitely not.

That’s where **Ingress** kicks in.

### What Is a Kubernetes Ingress?

A Kubernetes **Ingress** is an API object that manages **external access to services** in a cluster, typically HTTP and HTTPS, all through a single entry point.

Instead of assigning one IP per service, you define routing rules based on:
- **Hostnames** (`app1.vezpi.me`, `blog.vezpi.me`, etc.)
- **Paths** (`/grafana`, `/metrics`, etc.)

With Ingress, I can expose multiple services over the same IP and port (usually 443 for HTTPS), and Kubernetes will know how to route the request to the right backend service.

Here is an example of a simple `Ingress`, routing traffic of `test.vezpi.me` to the `test-lb` service on port 80:
```yaml
---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: test-ingress
spec:
  rules:
    - host: test.vezpi.me
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: test-lb
                port:
                  number: 80
```

### Ingress Controller

On its own, an Ingress is just a set of routing rules. It doesn’t actually handle traffic. To bring it to life, I need an **Ingress Controller**, which will:
- Watches the Kubernetes API for `Ingress` resources.
- Opens HTTP(S) ports on a `LoadBalancer` or `NodePort` service.
- Routes traffic to the correct `Service` based on the `Ingress` rules.

Popular controllers include NGINX, Traefik, HAProxy, and more. Since I was looking for something simple, stable, and widely adopted, I picked the **NGINX Ingress Controller**.

### Install NGINX Ingress Controller

I use Helm to install the controller, and I set `controller.ingressClassResource.default=true` so that all my future ingresses use it by default:
```bash
helm install ingress-nginx \
  --repo=https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx \
  --namespace=ingress-nginx \
  --create-namespace ingress-nginx \
  --set controller.ingressClassResource.default=true \
  --set controller.config.strict-validate-path-type=false
```

The controller is deployed and exposes a `LoadBalancer` service. In my setup, it picks the second available IP in the BGP range:
```bash
NAME                       TYPE           CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP     PORT(S)                      AGE   SELECTOR
ingress-nginx-controller   LoadBalancer   10.106.236.13   192.168.55.21   80:31195/TCP,443:30974/TCP   75s   app.kubernetes.io/component=controller,app.kubernetes.io/instance=ingress-nginx,app.kubernetes.io/name=ingress-nginx
```

### Reserving a Static IP for the Controller

I want to make sure the Ingress Controller always receives the same IP address. To do this, I created two separate Cilium IP pools:
- One dedicated for the Ingress Controller with a single IP.
- One for everything else.
```yaml
---
# Pool for Ingress Controller
apiVersion: cilium.io/v2alpha1
kind: CiliumLoadBalancerIPPool
metadata:
  name: ingress-nginx
spec:
  blocks:
    - cidr: 192.168.55.55/32
  serviceSelector:
    matchLabels:
      app.kubernetes.io/name: ingress-nginx
      app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
---
# Default pool for other services
apiVersion: cilium.io/v2alpha1
kind: CiliumLoadBalancerIPPool
metadata:
  name: default
spec:
  blocks:
    - start: 192.168.55.100
      stop: 192.168.55.250
  serviceSelector:
    matchExpressions:
      - key: app.kubernetes.io/name
        operator: NotIn
        values:
          - ingress-nginx
```

After replacing the previous shared pool with these two, the Ingress Controller gets the desired IP `192.168.55.55`, and the `test-lb` service picks `192.168.55.100` as expected:
```bash
NAMESPACE       NAME                                 TYPE           CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP      PORT(S)                      AGE
default         test-lb                              LoadBalancer   10.100.167.198   192.168.55.100   80:31350/TCP                 6h34m
ingress-nginx   ingress-nginx-controller             LoadBalancer   10.106.236.13    192.168.55.55    80:31195/TCP,443:30974/TCP   24m
```

### Associate a Service to an Ingress

Now let’s wire up a service to this controller.

First, I update the original `LoadBalancer` service and convert it into a `ClusterIP` (since the Ingress Controller will now expose it externally):
```yaml
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: test-lb
spec:
  ports:
    - port: 80
      targetPort: 80
      protocol: TCP
      name: http
  selector:
    svc: test-lb
---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: test-ingress
spec:
  rules:
    - host: test.vezpi.me
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: test-lb
                port:
                  number: 80  
```

Then I apply the `Ingress` manifest as shown earlier to expose the service over HTTP.

Since I'm using the Caddy plugin on OPNsense, I still need a local Layer 4 route to forward traffic for `test.vezpi.me` to the NGINX Ingress Controller IP (`192.168.55.55`). I simply create a new rule in the Caddy plugin.

![Create Layer4 router in Caddy plugin for OPNsense](images/opnsense-caddy-create-layer4-route-http.png)

Now let’s test it in the browser:
![  ](images/ingress-controller-nginx-test-simple-webserver.png)
Test Ingress on HTTP

✅ Our pod is now reachable on its HTTP URL using an Ingress. Second step complete!

---
## Secure Connection with TLS

Exposing services over plain HTTP is fine for testing, but in practice we almost always want **HTTPS**. TLS certificates encrypt traffic and provide authenticity and trust to users.

### Cert-Manager

To automate certificate management in Kubernetes, we use **Cert-Manager**. It can request, renew, and manage TLS certificates without manual intervention.

#### Install Cert-Manager

We deploy it with Helm on the cluster:
```bash
helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io
helm repo update
helm install cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager \
  --namespace cert-manager \
  --create-namespace \
  --set crds.enabled=true
```

#### Setup Cert-Manager

Next, we configure a **ClusterIssuer** for Let’s Encrypt. This resource tells Cert-Manager how to request certificates:
```yaml
---
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt-staging
spec:
  acme:
    server: https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    email: <email>
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: letsencrypt-staging-key
    solvers:
    - http01:
        ingress:
          ingressClassName: nginx
```

ℹ️ Here I define the **staging** Let’s Encrypt ACME server for testing purposes. Staging certificates are not trusted by browsers, but they prevent hitting Let’s Encrypt’s strict rate limits during development.

Apply it:
```bash
kubectl apply -f clusterissuer.yaml
```

Verify if your `ClusterIssuer` is `Ready`:
```bash
kubectl get clusterissuers.cert-manager.io                                                    
NAME                  READY   AGE
letsencrypt-staging   True    14m
```

If it doesn’t become `Ready`, use `kubectl describe` on the resource to troubleshoot.

### Add TLS in an Ingress

Now we can secure our service with TLS by adding a `tls` section in the `Ingress` spec and referencing the `ClusterIssuer`:
```yaml
---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: test-ingress-https
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-staging
spec:
  tls:
    - hosts:
      - test.vezpi.me
      secretName: test-vezpi-me-tls
  rules:
    - host: test.vezpi.me
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: test-lb
                port:
                  number: 80
```

Behind the scenes, Cert-Manager goes through this workflow to issue the certificate:
- Detects the `Ingress` with `tls` and the `ClusterIssuer`.
- Creates a Certificate CRD that describes the desired cert + Secret storage.
- Creates an Order CRD to represent one issuance attempt with Let’s Encrypt.
- Creates a Challenge CRD (e.g., HTTP-01 validation).
- Provisions a temporary solver Ingress/Pod to solve the challenge.
- Creates a CertificateRequest CRD and sends the CSR to Let’s Encrypt.
- Receives the signed certificate and stores it in a Kubernetes Secret.
- The Ingress automatically uses the Secret to serve HTTPS.

✅ Once this process completes, your Ingress is secured with a TLS certificate.
![TLS certificate verified with the staging Let's Encrypt server](images/k8s-test-deploy-service-tls-certificate-staging-lets-encrypt.png)

### Switch to Production Certificates

Once staging works, we can safely switch to the **production** ACME server to get a trusted certificate from Let’s Encrypt:
```yaml
---
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt
spec:
  acme:
    server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    email: <email>
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: letsencrypt-key
    solvers:
    - http01:
        ingress:
          ingressClassName: nginx
```

Update the `Ingress` to reference the new `ClusterIssuer`:
```yaml
---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: test-ingress-https
  annotations:
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt
spec:
  tls:
    - hosts:
      - test.vezpi.me
      secretName: test-vezpi-me-tls
  rules:
    - host: test.vezpi.me
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: test-lb
                port:
                  number: 80
```

Since the staging certificate is still stored in the Secret, I delete it to trigger a fresh request against production:
```bash
kubectl delete secret test-vezpi-me-tls
```

🎉 My `Ingress` is now secured with a valid TLS certificate from Let’s Encrypt. Requests to `https://test.vezpi.me` are encrypted end-to-end and routed by the NGINX Ingress Controller to my `nginx` pod:
![Ingress HTTPS with certificate verified by Let's Encrypt](images/k8s-deploy-test-service-tls-certificate-lets-encrypt.png)


---
## Conclusion

In this journey, I started from the basics, exposing a single pod with a `LoadBalancer` service, and step by step built a production-ready setup:
- Learned about **Kubernetes Services** and their different types.
- Used **BGP with Cilium** and OPNsense to assign external IPs directly from my network.
- Introduced **Ingress** to scale better, exposing multiple services through a single entry point.
- Installed the **NGINX Ingress Controller** to handle routing.
- Automated certificate management with **Cert-Manager**, securing my services with Let’s Encrypt TLS certificates.

🚀 The result: my pod is now reachable at a real URL, secured with HTTPS, just like any modern web application.

This is a huge milestone in my homelab Kubernetes journey. In the next article, I want to explore persistent storage and connect my Kubernetes cluster to my **Ceph** setup on **Proxmox**.