<p>I have a MySql RDS database that is not publicly exposed. I also have a pod that can act as a bastion with <code>kubectl exec</code>. How would I be able to connect my local MySql Workbench to this RDS database?</p>

Mike
<p>You can connect to your DB from local machine using kubectl port-forward command.
If you don't already have a pod running in the cluster, you can create it with the command:</p>
<pre><code>kubectl run ${NAME} --image=alpine/socat  -it --tty --rm --expose=true --port=${DB_PORT} tcp-listen:${DB_PORT},fork,reuseaddr tcp-connect:${DB_ENDPOINT}:${DB_PORT}
</code></pre>
<p>Once the pod is up and running, use command:</p>
<pre><code>kubectl port-forward service/&lt;NAME&gt; ${DB_PORT}:${DB_PORT}
</code></pre>
<p>In your MySql Workbench, replace DB_URL with localhost and connection should be forwarded from your machine to the database, with the pod acting as bastion.</p>
