Introduction

When deploying a Kubernetes Service of type LoadBalancer to an EKS cluster, you may notice that no Network Load Balancer (NLB) is provisioned, or that it’s missing expected attributes like a custom name or security group assignments. This usually indicates the AWS Load Balancer Controller is not installed, which is required for NLB and ALB support in EKS.

Prerequisites

• An EKS cluster running.
• kubectl and Helm access.
• AWS CLI credentials with permissions to create IAM roles and policies.

Instructions

1. Step 1 - Check if the aws-load-balancer-controller is installed:

   • kubectl get deployment -n kube-system aws-load-balancer-controller

   • If it’s not found, EKS won't handle NLB provisioning beyond basic CLB behavior.
2. Step 2 - Install the AWS Load Balancer Controller:
   

   • The controller must be installed manually. It enables full NLB/ALB support, including setting names and security groups via annotations.

   • AWS installation instructions: Route internet traffic with AWS Load Balancer Controller

Outcome

Once installed, your Service with type LoadBalancer and appropriate annotations will correctly register an NLB with the desired configuration.

Additional Resources

• Github: AWS load balancer controller
• Service annotations reference
• EKS load balancing overview