When you are first starting out with Kubernetes running in Azure, pod networking is probably not the first thing you think about. Nevertheless, there are many choices and decisions to be made, and understanding the pros and cons of each can be bewildering. AKS, for example, supports 4 different networking options out of the box. So while you don’t need to be a networking expert, it’s well worth investing a few minutes to gain a basic understanding of the choices so you can select the best option for your needs.

To help, we created this short video that explains how Kubernetes networking on Azure works, using examples to illustrate, including Kubenet, Azure CNI, and Calico.

In the video you’ll learn:
* Some essential background on Azure networking and Kubernetes pod networking.

* The differences between the four networking options supported by AKS (which you can also use in your own selfmanaged clusters) and how they work under the covers.

* What is Network Address Translation (NAT) and when is it used in a Kubernetes cluster.

* Scale considerations that may be important to you when trying to decide on the best networking option.

* What an overlay network is, why you might want to use one, and the building blocks used to implement one.

* Where Kubernetes Network Policy fits into all of this, which is essential to consider for the security of your cluster.