True or False: An ExternalName service represents an external host.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. ExternalName services are used to map to an internal host
• D. ExternalName services are deprecated

Answer: (A)

ExternalName services are designed to map a service inside the cluster to an external DNS name, effectively representing an external host. When you create such a service, Kubernetes doesn’t allocate a cluster IP or endpoints within the cluster. Instead, DNS resolution for the service returns the external name you configured, so traffic from inside the cluster is directed toward that external host. This lets you reuse the cluster’s service discovery while reaching services that live outside the cluster.

For example, a service named something like myservice with externalName set to external.example.com will resolve to that external host, enabling internal pods to reach it as if it were a normal service. It’s not mapping to an internal host, and ExternalName is a supported, not deprecated, feature.