Terminal.skills
Skills/external-dns
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external-dns

ExternalDNS for automatic DNS record management in Kubernetes. Use when the user needs to synchronize Kubernetes Ingress and Service resources with DNS providers like Route 53, CloudDNS, or Cloudflare automatically.

#external-dns#dns#kubernetes#route53#cloudflare
terminal-skillsv1.0.0
Works with:claude-codeopenai-codexgemini-clicursor
Source

Usage

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✓ Installed external-dns v1.0.0

Getting Started

  1. Install the skill using the command above
  2. Open your AI coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or Cursor)
  3. Reference the skill in your prompt
  4. The AI will use the skill's capabilities automatically

Example Prompts

  • "Deploy the latest build to the staging environment and run smoke tests"
  • "Check the CI pipeline status and summarize any recent failures"

Information

Version
1.0.0
Author
terminal-skills
Category
DevOps
License
Apache-2.0

Documentation

ExternalDNS synchronizes Kubernetes Services and Ingresses with DNS providers, automatically creating and updating DNS records.

Installation with Helm

bash
# Install ExternalDNS via Helm
helm repo add external-dns https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/external-dns/
helm repo update

helm install external-dns external-dns/external-dns \
  --namespace external-dns \
  --create-namespace \
  --values values.yaml

AWS Route 53 Configuration

yaml
# values-aws.yaml — Helm values for AWS Route 53 provider
provider:
  name: aws

env:
  - name: AWS_DEFAULT_REGION
    value: us-east-1

extraArgs:
  - --source=service
  - --source=ingress
  - --domain-filter=example.com
  - --aws-zone-type=public
  - --policy=upsert-only
  - --registry=txt
  - --txt-owner-id=my-cluster

serviceAccount:
  annotations:
    eks.amazonaws.com/role-arn: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/external-dns
json
// iam-policy.json — IAM policy for ExternalDNS Route 53 access
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["route53:ChangeResourceRecordSets"],
      "Resource": ["arn:aws:route53:::hostedzone/Z1234567890"]
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["route53:ListHostedZones", "route53:ListResourceRecordSets", "route53:ListTagsForResource"],
      "Resource": ["*"]
    }
  ]
}

Google Cloud DNS Configuration

yaml
# values-gcp.yaml — Helm values for Google Cloud DNS provider
provider:
  name: google

extraArgs:
  - --source=service
  - --source=ingress
  - --domain-filter=example.com
  - --google-project=my-gcp-project
  - --google-zone-visibility=public
  - --policy=sync
  - --registry=txt
  - --txt-owner-id=my-cluster

Cloudflare Configuration

yaml
# values-cloudflare.yaml — Helm values for Cloudflare provider
provider:
  name: cloudflare

env:
  - name: CF_API_TOKEN
    valueFrom:
      secretKeyRef:
        name: cloudflare-api-token
        key: api-token

extraArgs:
  - --source=service
  - --source=ingress
  - --domain-filter=example.com
  - --cloudflare-proxied
  - --policy=sync
yaml
# cloudflare-secret.yaml — Cloudflare API token secret
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: cloudflare-api-token
  namespace: external-dns
type: Opaque
stringData:
  api-token: "your-cloudflare-api-token"

Service Annotations

yaml
# service-lb.yaml — LoadBalancer service with DNS annotations
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: web-app
  annotations:
    external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/hostname: app.example.com
    external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/ttl: "300"
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  selector:
    app: web-app
  ports:
    - port: 80
      targetPort: 8080
yaml
# service-multi.yaml — Service with multiple DNS hostnames
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: api-service
  annotations:
    external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/hostname: "api.example.com,api-v2.example.com"
    external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/ttl: "60"
    external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/cloudflare-proxied: "true"
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  selector:
    app: api
  ports:
    - port: 443
      targetPort: 8443

Ingress Annotations

yaml
# ingress-dns.yaml — Ingress with ExternalDNS auto-registration
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: web-app
  annotations:
    external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/ttl: "120"
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-prod
spec:
  ingressClassName: nginx
  tls:
    - hosts:
        - app.example.com
      secretName: app-tls
  rules:
    - host: app.example.com
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: web-app
                port:
                  number: 80

Istio Gateway Source

yaml
# values-istio.yaml — ExternalDNS with Istio Gateway source
extraArgs:
  - --source=istio-gateway
  - --source=istio-virtualservice
  - --domain-filter=example.com
  - --policy=sync

Full Deployment Manifest

yaml
# external-dns-deploy.yaml — ExternalDNS deployment without Helm
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: external-dns
  namespace: external-dns
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: external-dns
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: external-dns
    spec:
      serviceAccountName: external-dns
      containers:
        - name: external-dns
          image: registry.k8s.io/external-dns/external-dns:v0.14.0
          args:
            - --source=service
            - --source=ingress
            - --domain-filter=example.com
            - --provider=aws
            - --policy=sync
            - --registry=txt
            - --txt-owner-id=my-cluster
            - --interval=1m
            - --log-level=info
          env:
            - name: AWS_DEFAULT_REGION
              value: us-east-1

Common Commands

bash
# Check ExternalDNS logs
kubectl logs -n external-dns deploy/external-dns -f

# Verify DNS records were created
dig app.example.com
nslookup app.example.com

# Check TXT ownership records
dig TXT app.example.com

# Dry-run mode (add to args)
# --dry-run  — logs changes without applying