Kubernetes configuration ports explained

When starting to work with Kubernetes there are many port declarations in configuration files and it can be easy to forget which port is responsible for which traffic, I hope this post can be a reference for you when those situations arise.

Ports defined in deployment configuration:

1. spec.containers.ports.containerPort - This is the port at which the pod/container is reachable.

Ports defined in service configuration:

1. spec.ports.nodePort - This is the port of the node(s) in the cluster. It is the port at which the node can be reached from external traffic.
2. spec.ports.port - This is the port of the cluster service itself. After receiving a valid request the traffic will be forwarded to the pod/containers targetPort
3. spec.ports.targetPort - This is the port the service will forward requests to. It is the port your pod/container is listening for requests on.