IP Leases | Akash Network - Your Guide to Decentralized Cloud

Don’t need IP leases? This is an optional feature. Skip if you don’t have available public IP addresses.

This guide shows how to enable IP leases on your Akash provider, allowing deployments to request static public IP addresses.

Time: 20-30 minutes

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

Provider installed and running (see Provider Installation)
Pool of public IP addresses available for allocation
Layer 2 network access to broadcast ARP for IP addresses

Important: IP leases require you have unallocated public IP addresses and the ability to use them with your provider’s network infrastructure.

STEP 1 - Install MetalLB

MetalLB provides load-balancing and IP address management for Kubernetes clusters.

Create Namespace

kubectl create namespace metallb-system

Install via Helm

helm repo add metallb https://metallb.github.io/metallb
helm repo update

helm install metallb metallb/metallb \
  --namespace metallb-system \
  --version 0.14.9

Verify Installation

kubectl -n metallb-system get pods

Expected output:

NAME                                  READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
metallb-controller-xxx                1/1     Running   0          2m
metallb-speaker-xxx                   1/1     Running   0          2m
metallb-speaker-yyy                   1/1     Running   0          2m

STEP 2 - Configure IP Address Pool

Create a configuration file defining your public IP address pool.

Create Configuration

Replace the IP addresses with your actual public IP pool:

cat > metallb-config.yaml << 'EOF'
---
apiVersion: metallb.io/v1beta1
kind: IPAddressPool
metadata:
  name: default
  namespace: metallb-system
spec:
  addresses:
  - 203.0.113.0/28          # CIDR notation
  - 203.0.113.20-203.0.113.30  # Range notation
  - 203.0.113.50/32         # Single IP
  autoAssign: true
  avoidBuggyIPs: false
---
apiVersion: metallb.io/v1beta1
kind: L2Advertisement
metadata:
  name: l2advertisement
  namespace: metallb-system
spec:
  ipAddressPools:
  - default
EOF

Configuration options:

addresses: List of IP ranges in CIDR, range, or single IP format
autoAssign: Automatically assign IPs from this pool (default: true)
avoidBuggyIPs: Avoid .0 and .255 addresses (default: false)

Apply Configuration

kubectl apply -f metallb-config.yaml

Verify Configuration

kubectl -n metallb-system get ipaddresspool
kubectl -n metallb-system get l2advertisement

STEP 3 - Enable Strict ARP

MetalLB requires strictARP mode in kube-proxy for Layer 2 operation.

kubectl get configmap kube-proxy -n kube-system -o yaml | \
sed -e "s/strictARP: false/strictARP: true/" | \
kubectl apply -f - -n kube-system

Restart kube-proxy

kubectl -n kube-system rollout restart daemonset kube-proxy

STEP 4 - Expose MetalLB Controller

The Akash IP Operator needs access to the MetalLB controller:

kubectl -n metallb-system expose deployment metallb-controller \
  --name=controller \
  --overrides='{"spec":{"ports":[{"protocol":"TCP","name":"monitoring","port":7472}]}}'

Verify Service

kubectl -n metallb-system get svc controller

STEP 5 - Install Akash IP Operator

Add Akash Helm Repository (if not already added)

helm repo add akash https://akash-network.github.io/helm-charts
helm repo update

Install IP Operator

helm install akash-ip-operator akash/akash-ip-operator \
  --namespace akash-services

Verify IP Operator

kubectl -n akash-services get pods -l app=akash-ip-operator

Expected output:

NAME                                 READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
akash-ip-operator-xxx                1/1     Running   0          2m

STEP 6 - Update Provider Configuration

Add IP lease capabilities to your provider attributes.

Edit provider.yaml

nano /root/provider/provider.yaml

Add the following attributes:

attributes:
  # ... existing attributes ...
  - key: ip-lease
    value: "true"

Update Provider

cd /root/provider

helm upgrade akash-provider akash/provider \
  -n akash-services \
  -f provider.yaml \
  --set bidpricescript="$(cat price_script.sh | openssl base64 -A)"

STEP 7 - Verify IP Leases

Check IP Operator Logs

kubectl -n akash-services logs -l app=akash-ip-operator

Look for successful initialization messages.

Test with Deployment

Deploy a test workload that requests an IP:

---
version: "2.0"

services:
  web:
    image: nginx:1.25.3
    expose:
      - port: 80
        as: 80
        to:
          - global: true
        ip_name: myip

profiles:
  compute:
    web:
      resources:
        cpu:
          units: 0.5
        memory:
          size: 512Mi
        storage:
          size: 512Mi
  placement:
    akash:
      pricing:
        web:
          denom: uakt
          amount: 1000

deployment:
  web:
    akash:
      profile: web
      count: 1

After deployment, check if an IP was assigned:

kubectl -n lease get svc

Troubleshooting

MetalLB Speaker Not Running

Check speaker logs:

kubectl -n metallb-system logs -l app.kubernetes.io/component=speaker

Ensure nodes have the correct network permissions for Layer 2 ARP.

IPs Not Assigning

Check IP address pool:

kubectl -n metallb-system describe ipaddresspool default

Verify the IP range is correct and not already in use.

IP Operator Errors

kubectl -n akash-services logs -l app=akash-ip-operator --tail=100

Common issues:

MetalLB controller service not accessible
IP pool exhausted
Network configuration blocking ARP

Next Steps

Your provider now supports IP leases!

Optional enhancements:

TLS Certificates - Automatic SSL certificates for deployments

Resources:

MetalLB Documentation - Official MetalLB docs
Provider Verification - Health checks and verification

Monitor IP usage:

# Check allocated IPs
kubectl -n metallb-system get ipaddresspool default -o yaml

# View IP operator status
kubectl -n akash-services logs -l app=akash-ip-operator -f