How Kubernetes Routes Traffic Between Pods Across Different Nodes
Kubernetes enforces a networking model where every Pod can communicate with every other Pod without manual route management. When two Pods reside on the same node, traffic flows through virtual ethernet pairs and the node's internal networking stack. Cross-node communication is more complex: the source node must know how to route packets destined for Pod IP ranges hosted on other nodes. CNI plugins address this routing challenge using different approaches, including overlay networking with VXLAN encapsulation or direct routing via BGP. The article traces a packet's full journey from Pod A on Node 1 to Pod B on Node 2, highlighting why the underlying network complexity remains hidden from applications.
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