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[Feature] Support nftables kube-proxy mode #5061

Description

@jemag

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

As per the documentation https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/configure-kube-proxy#kube-proxy-configuration-options, currently only IPTABLES and IPVS kube-proxy modes are supported.

nftables has similar to better performance compared to IPVS while addressing most of its downsides. The future of IPVS for Kubernetes is also uncertain:

The future of the IPVS mode of kube-proxy is less certain: its main advantage over iptables was that it was faster, but certain aspects of the IPVS architecture and APIs were awkward for kube-proxy's purposes [...]
Taken from: https://kubernetes.io/blog/2025/02/28/nftables-kube-proxy/

There is also potential for nftables to eventually become the default mode for kube-proxy.

Describe the solution you'd like

Provide the nftables kube-proxy mode.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Iptables does not scale well and IPVS has its own issues and uncertain future. EBPF solutions without kube-proxy is a potential alternative but does come with increased complexity and less straightforward debugging.

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