Working with Kubernetes NetworkPolicies

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Working with Kubernetes NetworkPolicies

By default, Kubernetes pods have unrestricted network access both inside and outside the cluster. However, it is often desirable to restrict network access to and from pods, particularly for security reasons. Kubernetes NetworkPolicies provide a flexible way to implement these networking restrictions, giving you control over all of the network traffic involving your pods. In this lab, walk through NetworkPolicies concepts, and examine some existing policies to determine how we can properly apply them to a pod.

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Lab Info

Level

Intermediate

Last updated

Sep 20, 2025

Duration

1h 0m

Challenge

Provide the `web-gateway` Pod with Network Access to the Pods Associated with the `inventory-svc` Service
First, get a list of existing NetworkPolicies:
```
kubectl get networkpolicy
```
Examine inventory-policy more closely:
```
kubectl describe networkpolicy inventory-policy
```
Note that the policy selects pods with the label app: inventory, and provides incoming and outgoing network access to all pods with the label inventory-access: true.

Modify the web-gateway pod with kubectl edit pod web-gateway.

Add the inventory-access: "true" label to the pod under metdadata.labels.
```
...
metdadata:
  labels:
    inventory-access: "true"
...
```
Test access to the inventory-svc like so:
```
kubectl exec web-gateway -- curl -m 3 inventory-svc
```
Challenge

Provide the `web-gateway` Pod with Network Access to the Pods Associated with the `customer-data-svc` Service
Examine customer-data-policy more closely:
```
kubectl describe networkpolicy customer-data-policy
```
Note that the policy selects pods with the label app: customer-data, and provides incoming and outgoing network access to all pods with the label customer-data-access: true.

Modify the web-gateway pod with kubectl edit pod web-gateway.

Add the customer-data-access: "true" label to the pod under metadadata.labels:
```
...
metdadata:
  labels:
    inventory-access: "true"
    customer-data-access: "true"
...
```
Test access to the customer-data-svc like so:
```
kubectl exec web-gateway -- curl -m 3 customer-data-svc
```

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