Communications methods and apparatus for migrating a network interface and/or IP address from one Pod to another Pod in a Kubernetes system

A Kubernetes system comprising:

• one or more processors, said one or more processors controlling said Kubernetes system to:
• establish a first service, said first service including a first Pod and a second Pod, said first Pod being located on a first Kubernetes node of the Kubernetes system and said second Pod being located on a second Kubernetes node of the Kubernetes system, said establish a first service including initializing said first Pod and initializing said second Pod;
• said initializing said first Pod including allocating, by the Kubernetes system, a first network interface of the Kubernetes system for use by the first Pod to communicate with entities within the Kubernetes system, said first network interface including a first Internet Protocol address, said allocation of the first network interface to the first Pod being known to a first Kubelet managing said first node;
• establish, on said first Kubernetes node, a first Interface Cleanup Service Pod;
• allocate, after initialization of said first Pod, a second network interface including a second Internet Protocol address for use by the first Pod, the allocation of said second network interface for use by the first Pod being unknown to the first Kubelet managing said first node, the second network interface being an external network interface;
• upon failure of the first Pod, change allocation of said second network interface from said first Pod to said second Pod;
• and
• wherein said changing allocation of said second network interface from said first Pod to said second Pod includes:
• operating the first Interface Cleanup Service Pod to delete or de-allocate the second network interface from being allocated to the first Pod.

A non-transitory computer readable medium including a first set of computer executable instructions which when executed by one or more processors of a Kubernetes system cause the Kubernetes system to:

• establish a first service, said first service including a first Pod and a second Pod, said first Pod being located on a first Kubernetes node of the Kubernetes system and said second Pod being located on a second Kubernetes node of the Kubernetes system, said establish a first service including initializing said first Pod and initializing said second Pod, said initializing said first Pod including allocating by the Kubernetes system a first network interface of the Kubernetes system for use by the first Pod to communicate with entities within the Kubernetes system, said first network interface including a first Internet Protocol address, said allocation of the first network interface to the first Pod being known to a first Kubelet managing said first node;
• establish, on said first Kubernetes node, a first Interface Cleanup Service Pod;
• allocate, after initialization of said first Pod, a second external network interface including a second Internet Protocol address for use by the first Pod, the allocation of said second network interface for use by the first Pod being unknown to the first Kubelet managing said first node, said second Internet Protocol address being for an external network interface;
• upon failure of the first Pod, change allocation of said second network interface from said first Pod to said second Pod;
• and
• wherein said changing allocation of said second external network interface from said first Pod to said second Pod includes:
• operating the first Interface Cleanup Service Pod to delete or de-allocate the second external network interface from being allocated to the first Pod.