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Why OpenShift VPC Private Subnet Proxy Deployment Matters

Andrios Robert

• 1 min read

The pods were ready, the cluster was live, but nothing left the private subnet. You had built an OpenShift environment inside a VPC. All nodes, all services, fenced behind private IPs. Now the challenge: deploy a proxy that connects your workloads to the outside while keeping the network secure and hidden.

Why OpenShift VPC Private Subnet Proxy Deployment Matters
Running OpenShift in a VPC isolates resources from public exposure. A private subnet gives full control over ingress and egress traffic. But most applications need secure access to APIs, registries, and update channels. A proxy inside the private subnet solves this without opening direct routes to the internet.

Core Architecture

  1. VPC Private Subnet – No direct internet gateway, only local routing. Nodes and pods operate without public IPs.
  2. Proxy Node or Pod – Acts as the controlled bridge to external services. Deployed as a sidecar, dedicated pod, or node-level service.
  3. Security Group Rules – Restrict outbound traffic only to proxy endpoints. Block all other direct access paths.
  4. Routing Configuration – Static routes or NAT Gateway configured to forward through the proxy only.

Deployment Steps in OpenShift

  • Provision a private subnet within your VPC, ensuring no internet gateway attachment.
  • Deploy OpenShift with control plane and worker nodes bound to that subnet.
  • Create a proxy pod using squid, envoy, or an HTTP CONNECT-capable service. Containerize it for OpenShift.
  • Assign the proxy pod placement on a node with approved outbound connectivity.
  • Configure cluster-wide HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, and NO_PROXY environment variables for builds and workloads.
  • Add egress network policies to force all traffic through the proxy pod.
  • Test outbound traffic with curl or wget from inside a workload pod; confirm logs in the proxy service.

Best Practices

  • Keep the proxy stateless where possible; use external storage only for logs.
  • Rotate proxy credentials and TLS certificates on a schedule.
  • Monitor outbound traffic patterns to detect leaks or misconfigurations.
  • Version control proxy configuration alongside application manifests.

With OpenShift VPC private subnet proxy deployment done right, your cluster stays isolated, compliant, and functional without compromising security. Every outgoing packet goes through your rules, not the wild.

See it live in minutes. Visit hoop.dev and run your secure proxy deployment workflow end-to-end without manual setup.