[simiones]

The fact that each pod has an IP is a core assumption of Kubernetes. Sure, the CNIs are responsible for actually implementing this, but it is a required part of their contract to provide 1 unique IP per pod (or, more precisely, either 1 IPv4 or 1 IPv6 or both per virtual NIC per pod - to cover dual-stack support in 1.24+ and Multus).

[411111111111111]

That's probably true, but also irrelevant to the question wherever kubernetes virtualizes IPs. But now that I'm rereading my comment: it does look as if I'm also talking about each pod having one IP. That was bad quoting / phrasing on my part, as I wasn't contesting that at all.

With flannel you could provision the IP through DHCP by bridging the network adapter of the pod to the physical interface to get an IP from a router appliance for example.

It's probably also possible to dedicate actual network adapters to the pod, but I've never attempted that... And that obviously wouldn't scale as it's hardware

[simiones]

Oh, you were focusing on the explicit notion of virtualizing IPs. I thought you were pointing out that Kubernetes itself is not the one generating the IPs, since it's the CNIs that do so, which are not built-in...

Either way, we are in agreement I believe. Kubernetes mandates for CNIs that they must allocate unique IPs, but they do so through a variety of mechanisms, sometimes even using external infrastructure.