GCP Couldn't reach Kubernetes External Load Balancer IP from outside - kubernetes

Question

I have a cluster created in the GCP cloud having a simple k8s YAML file.
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: lb-svc
labels:
app: lb-demo
spec:
type: LoadBalancer
ports:
- port: 8080
selector:
app: np-demo
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: np-deploy
spec:
replicas: 3
selector:
matchLabels:
app: np-demo
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: np-demo
spec:
containers:
- name: np-pod
image: nigelpoulton/k8s-deep-dive:0.1
imagePullPolicy: Always
ports:
- containerPort: 8080
Now; this YAML configuration has a LoadBalancer service which in return exposes an external IP address to the public.
thus we can see the external IP address using:
kubectl get svc
The issue is, I can easily access the load balancer using curl within the cloud shell but couldn't reach it when trying to access it from outside (example browser).
Tried:
curl external-ip:8080
Any help?

Answer 1

Your service ip only accessible to local VPC, if you need to expose service or ingress you need reserve a static ip, read here to reserve a static ip https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/ip-addresses/reserve-static-external-ip-address
To assign your static ip to service, you need set loadBalancerIP on your service configuration
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: lb-svc
labels:
app: lb-demo
spec:
type: LoadBalancer
loadBalancerIP: <your reserved ip>
ports:
- port: 8080
selector:
app: np-demo
To assign your ip to ingress
apiVersion: extensions/v1beta1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
name: my-ingress
annotations:
kubernetes.io/ingress.global-static-ip-name: <name of reserved static ip>
labels:
app: my-app
spec:
backend:
serviceName: lb-svc
servicePort: 8080
read more here