https://support.tools/tags/lb-ipam/Recent content in LB-IPAM on Support ToolsHugoen-USTue, 10 Feb 2026 09:00:00 -0500https://support.tools/cilium-bgp-control-plane-kubernetes-enterprise-guide/Tue, 10 Feb 2026 09:00:00 -0500https://support.tools/cilium-bgp-control-plane-kubernetes-enterprise-guide/<p>Bare-metal and on-premises Kubernetes clusters face a fundamental networking challenge that cloud providers solve transparently: making Services and Pods reachable from outside the cluster. In cloud environments, a LoadBalancer Service automatically provisions an external IP and programs the cloud provider&rsquo;s network fabric. On bare metal, that integration does not exist. <strong>Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)</strong> fills this gap by enabling Kubernetes nodes to advertise routes for Pod CIDRs, LoadBalancer IPs, and custom prefixes directly to the upstream network infrastructure.</p> <p>Cilium&rsquo;s <strong>BGP Control Plane</strong> integrates this capability directly into the CNI layer. Built on the <strong>GoBGP</strong> routing library, the BGP Control Plane runs a BGP speaker on each selected node, advertising routes to configured peers without requiring an external component like MetalLB. Combined with Cilium&rsquo;s <strong>LB-IPAM</strong> (LoadBalancer IP Address Management), this provides a complete, single-stack solution for bare-metal service exposure — from IP allocation through route advertisement to eBPF-accelerated packet forwarding.</p>