Try It Out
In this example we will deploy ExternalDNS on a Kubernetes cluster using the Minimus ExternalDNS Advanced Helm chart. ExternalDNS will automatically create DNS records for Services and Ingresses based on annotations.
Step 1: Start Cluster
If you have a cluster to work with, skip this step. Otherwise, start a Minikube cluster. Deployment instructions
Step 2: Create Namespace
Create a namespace:
kubectl create ns external-dns-advanced
Step 3: Save Values File Locally
Go to the Values tab and save a copy of it locally. You will need to add the flag -f values.yaml to override the defaults when you deploy the chart in the next step.
For testing with the inmemory provider, update your values.yaml to include:
external-dns:
provider:
name: inmemory
txtOwnerId: external-dns-test
interval: 5s
domainFilters:
- internal.example.org
Step 4: Deploy the Helm Chart
Deploy the Minimus Helm chart with the values.yaml file you saved in the previous step:
helm install my-external-dns-advanced oci://helm.mini.dev/external-dns-advanced \
--version 0.1.0 \
-f values.yaml \
-n external-dns-advanced \
--wait
Step 5: Verify ExternalDNS is Running
To check that the pod was successfully created run:
kubectl get pods -n external-dns-advanced -l app.kubernetes.io/name=external-dns
You should see output similar to:
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
my-external-dns-advanced-xxxxxxxxx 1/1 Running 0 2m
Step 6: Create a Test Service
Create a test-service and discover its IP:
kubectl create service clusterip test-service --tcp=80:80 -n external-dns-advanced
TEST_SERVICE_IP=$(kubectl get svc test-service -o jsonpath='{.spec.clusterIP}' -n external-dns-advanced)
echo TEST_SERVICE_IP=${TEST_SERVICE_IP}
Step 7: Make the Service Discoverable
First, add variables:
TEST_DOMAIN="internal.example.org"
TEST_SERVICE_NAME="test-service"
INTERNAL_SERVICE_NAME="${TEST_SERVICE_NAME}.${TEST_DOMAIN}"
Annotate the test-service to make it discoverable by external-dns:
kubectl annotate service test-service \
-n external-dns-advanced \
external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/internal-hostname="${INTERNAL_SERVICE_NAME}"
Step 8: Verify DNS Record Creation
Wait 5-10 seconds for ExternalDNS to discover and process the test-service.
Since we deployed ExternalDNS with the inmemory provider in the values.yaml file, it will not interact with a real DNS provider. To confirm that a service has been processed, check the pod's logs:
kubectl logs deployment/my-external-dns-advanced -n external-dns-advanced | \
grep "CREATE: ${INTERNAL_SERVICE_NAME} 0 IN A" | \
grep ${TEST_SERVICE_IP} && echo Success
The logs should print the URL of the internal test-service: test-service.internal.example.org, for example:
time="2025-09-26T11:35:54Z" level=info msg="CREATE: test-service.internal.example.org 0 IN A 10.96.209.17 []"
Step 9: Clean Up
Uninstall the chart and delete the namespace to remove all resources, including Pods, Deployments, Services, Secrets, ConfigMaps, etc.:
helm uninstall my-external-dns-advanced -n external-dns-advanced
kubectl delete namespace external-dns-advanced
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