<p>What is the use of external IP address option in kubernetes service when the service is of type <code>ClusterIP</code></p>

<p><a href="https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/service/#publishing-services-service-types" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ClusterIP</a> is the default service type in Kubernetes which allows you to reach your service only <strong>within</strong> the cluster. </p>

<p>If your service type is set as <a href="https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/service/#loadbalancer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">LoadBalancer</a> or <a href="https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/service/#nodeport" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NodePort</a>, <code>ClusterIP</code> is automatically created and <code>LoadBalancer</code> or <code>NodePort</code> service will route to this <code>ClusterIP</code> IP address.</p>

<p>The new external IP addresses are only allocated with <code>LoadBalancer</code> type.</p>

<p>You can also use the node's external IP addresses when you set your service as <code>NodePort</code>. But in this case you will need extra firewall rules for your nodes to allow ingress traffic for your exposed node ports.</p>
