Create a Service in Kubernetes Using a Manifest File

Creating a Kubernetes service is the first step in exposing your application to the world. A Kubernetes service defines how an application is exposed to the outside world. It also defines how load balancing and routing are handled for that application. In this article, we will create a Kubernetes service a web application running Nginx.

To create a Kubernetes service, you will need to have the kubectl command-line tool installed on your machine and configured with your Kubernetes cluster.

Configuration

Using a manifest file to create a service is always better than creating a service using a kubectl command.

In the following YAML configuration file, I’m creating a deployment and service at the same time. the — is a sign that a new configuration kind is starting. The service configuration exposes port 80.

If you look at the service configuration (2nd section) you will notice that I’m using a LoadBalancer service to route the traffic to the application.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx-deployment
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: web-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: web-app
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: web-app
          image: nginx
      restartPolicy: Always  
---
      
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service 
metadata:
  name: web-app
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  selector:
    app: web-app
  ports:
    - port: 80