PureLB

What it does

Address pools

PureLB supports local, remote, and Netbox address pools, with each ServiceGroup configured for exactly one type.checked 4 Oct 2026

Address types

Local addresses are added to host interfaces, while remote addresses use a dummy interface and can be advertised through BGP.checked 11 Oct 2026

BGP

The default installation includes a k8gobgp sidecar for advertising remote addresses to upstream BGP routers; BGP can be disabled during installation.checked 11 Oct 2026

Configuration

PureLB uses Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions with schema validation to configure address pools, node agents, and BGP peering.checked 11 Oct 2026

Installation

PureLB can be installed using kubectl manifests or Helm, and its documentation recommends Helm for production installations.checked 11 Oct 2026

Integration

PureLB can request IP addresses from Netbox, but its documentation says this integration is currently unsupported and may not work with recent Netbox versions.checked 4 Oct 2026

Intended users

PureLB is designed for operators running Kubernetes clusters on bare-metal Linux nodes who need external reachability for LoadBalancer services.checked 11 Oct 2026

IP support

PureLB supports IPv4, IPv6, and dual-stack deployments.checked 11 Oct 2026

IPv4 and IPv6

ServiceGroups can include both IPv4 and IPv6 pools, and PureLB supports dual-stack deployments.checked 4 Oct 2026

License

PureLB is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.checked 11 Oct 2026

Local addresses

For local addresses, a Kubernetes Lease based election chooses one node to announce each address, and a new node can take over if the winner fails.checked 4 Oct 2026

Monitoring

PureLB exposes Prometheus metrics for the allocator and node agent and documents Prometheus Operator ServiceMonitors, alert rules, and a Grafana dashboard.checked 11 Oct 2026

NetBox integration

PureLB documents NetBox IP address management integration, but says the integration is currently unsupported, untested against recent NetBox versions, and may not work correctly.checked 11 Oct 2026

Operations

The optional kubectl-purelb plugin provides commands for pool utilization, service status, election state, BGP sessions, data-plane health, and configuration validation.checked 11 Oct 2026

Purpose

PureLB provides Kubernetes LoadBalancer services for bare-metal deployments by allocating IP addresses from configured pools and announcing them through Linux networking or optional BGP.checked 11 Oct 2026

Remote addresses

Remote addresses are added to a dummy interface on every node and advertised through BGP; an upstream router can distribute traffic across nodes using ECMP.checked 4 Oct 2026

Requirements

PureLB requires a Kubernetes cluster with a working CNI and Linux nodes; BGP use also requires TCP port 179 connectivity to an upstream router.checked 11 Oct 2026

Security

The allocator runs as non-root UID 65534 with a read-only filesystem, while the node agent and k8gobgp run as root with networking capabilities and host networking.checked 11 Oct 2026

Support

The project lists its Kubernetes Slack #purelb-users channel and GitHub Issues as ways to get help.checked 4 Oct 2026