AWS Load Balancer Controller - External DNS & Service for PeakPulse Retail

Deploying External DNS and LoadBalancer Service for PeakPulse Retail

AMJ Cloud Technologies partnered with PeakPulse Retail, an e-commerce company, to enhance their AWS Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) cluster by deploying a Kubernetes LoadBalancer Service integrated with External DNS. This project automated Route 53 DNS record creation for a single DNS name (externaldns-k8s-service-demo.peakpulseretail.com) to expose PeakPulse’s frontend microservice using an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The solution replaced manual DNS management, improved scalability, and ensured secure access for their e-commerce platform.

Situation

PeakPulse Retail needed to expose their frontend microservice with a custom DNS name to handle growing customer traffic. Their existing setup relied on manual Route 53 DNS configurations, which were error-prone and time-consuming. AMJ was tasked with automating DNS registration using External DNS and a Kubernetes LoadBalancer Service, ensuring seamless integration with the AWS Load Balancer Controller for secure, scalable access to their e-commerce application.

Task

The objectives were to:

• Create a Kubernetes Service of type LoadBalancer for the frontend microservice.
• Annotate the Service with an External DNS hostname (externaldns-k8s-service-demo.peakpulseretail.com) for Route 53 integration.
• Deploy and verify Kubernetes manifests.
• Automate Route 53 DNS record creation using External DNS.
• Test application access via the registered DNS name.
• Complete the project within one month.

Action

Our team executed the following steps, adhering to AWS and Kubernetes best practices:

Prerequisites

• Used PeakPulse’s EKS cluster (ecommerce-cluster, version 1.31) with the AWS Load Balancer Controller (v2.8.0) installed:

  helm install load-balancer-controller eks/aws-load-balancer-controller -n kube-system --set clusterName=ecommerce-cluster --set image.tag=v2.8.0
  

• Installed External DNS on the EKS cluster:

  helm install external-dns external-dns/external-dns -n kube-system --set provider=aws --set aws.region=us-east-1
  

Deploy Frontend Microservice

• Deployed PeakPulse’s frontend microservice with a ClusterIP Service and Deployment:

  apiVersion: apps/v1
  kind: Deployment
  metadata:
    name: frontend-deployment
  spec:
    replicas: 1
    selector:
      matchLabels:
        app: frontend
    template:
      metadata:
        labels:
          app: frontend
      spec:
        containers:
          - name: frontend
            image: nginx:latest
            ports:
              - containerPort: 80
  

• Configured a LoadBalancer Service with External DNS annotations:

  apiVersion: v1
  kind: Service
  metadata:
    name: frontend-loadbalancer-service
    annotations:
      external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/hostname: externaldns-k8s-service-demo.peakpulseretail.com
      service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-type: external
      service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-scheme: internet-facing
      alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/healthcheck-path: /frontend/index.html
  spec:
    type: LoadBalancer
    selector:
      app: frontend
    ports:
      - port: 80
        targetPort: 80
  

• Applied manifests:

  kubectl apply -f manifests/
  

Deploy and Verify

• Verified Kubernetes resources:

  kubectl get deploy,pods,svc
  

• Checked External DNS logs for Route 53 record creation:

  kubectl logs -f $(kubectl get po -n kube-system | egrep -o 'external-dns[A-Za-z0-9-]+')
  

• Confirmed Route 53 record set for externaldns-k8s-service-demo.peakpulseretail.com in the AWS Console.
• Verified ALB settings in the AWS Console (EC2 > Load Balancers).

Test Application Access

• Performed DNS resolution test:

  nslookup externaldns-k8s-service-demo.peakpulseretail.com
  

• Verified HTTP access to the frontend microservice:

  http://externaldns-k8s-service-demo.peakpulseretail.com/frontend/index.html
  

Result

The project delivered an automated, scalable solution for PeakPulse Retail:

• Scalability Achievement: Handled high traffic for PeakPulse’s frontend microservice with an ALB-backed LoadBalancer Service.
• Automation Level: Fully automated DNS and LoadBalancer Service setup via External DNS and Kubernetes manifests.
• Security Improvement: Enhanced access with health checks and secure DNS registration.

Technologies Used

• AWS EKS
• AWS Load Balancer Controller
• Kubernetes Service
• External DNS
• Application Load Balancer
• AWS Route 53

Key Takeaways

This case study highlights AMJ Cloud Technologies’ expertise in automating DNS management for PeakPulse Retail’s e-commerce platform. The External DNS integration with a Kubernetes LoadBalancer Service streamlined Route 53 record creation, ensuring scalable and secure access, offering a model for similar industries.