You have a frontend service that communicates with a backend service. To minimize network latency and inter-zone bandwidth costs, you want the frontend pod to only route traffic to backend pods running on the exact same node, returning a connection error if no local backend pod is available. Which Service spec field should you configure?

Direct Answer (Verified)Reviewed by Sunny (Senior Cloud Engineer)

Correct Answer: Set internalTrafficPolicy to Local in the Service spec

Setting internalTrafficPolicy: Local on a Kubernetes Service tells the kube-proxy to only route cluster-internal traffic to endpoints on the same node. If no endpoints exist on tha...

Real Exam ScenarioKubernetes Networking

You have a frontend service that communicates with a backend service. To minimize network latency and inter-zone bandwidth costs, you want the frontend pod to only route traffic to backend pods running on the exact same node, returning a connection error if no local backend pod is available. Which Service spec field should you configure?

✓ Correct Answer & ExplanationKubernetes Networking

Correct Answer

Set internalTrafficPolicy to Local in the Service spec

Why This Answer Is Correct

Setting internalTrafficPolicy: Local on a Kubernetes Service tells the kube-proxy to only route cluster-internal traffic to endpoints on the same node. If no endpoints exist on that node, the traffic is dropped rather than routed to pods on other nodes.

📚 What This Question Tests

This question evaluates your knowledge of Kubernetes Networking — a core concept tested in cloud certification exams. Understanding Kubernetes Networking is essential for designing scalable, secure, and cost-effective cloud architectures. Mastery of this topic will help you answer scenario-based questions confidently on exam day.

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