---
title: Installing behind a proxy
description: Canonical makes open source secure, reliable and easy to use, providing
  support for Ubuntu and a portfolio of enterprise-grade technologies. Founded in
  2004, Canonical operates globally with team members in over 80 countries.
url: https://canonical.com/microk8s/docs/install-proxy?format=md
---

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# Installing behind a proxy

## [Configuring the proxy environment variables](https://canonical.com/microk8s/docs/install-proxy?format=md#p-19998-configuring-the-proxy-environment-variables)

MicroK8s packages a number of utilities (eg curl, helm) that may need to fetch resources from the internet. Having our environment (`/etc/environment`) properly configured allows such utilities to function properly. We need to configure `HTTPS_PROXY`, `HTTP_PROXY`, `https_proxy` and `http_proxy` variables with the proxy endpoint as well as `NO_PROXY` and `no_proxy` with the IP ranges the pods and services occupy. For instance assuming our proxy is at `http://squid.internal:3128`, `/etc/environment` should set the following environment variables:

```
HTTPS_PROXY=http://squid.internal:3128
HTTP_PROXY=http://squid.internal:3128
NO_PROXY=10.0.0.0/8,192.168.0.0/16,127.0.0.1,172.16.0.0/16,.svc,localhost
https_proxy=http://squid.internal:3128
http_proxy=http://squid.internal:3128
no_proxy=10.0.0.0/8,192.168.0.0/16,127.0.0.1,172.16.0.0/16,.svc,localhost
```

## [Host configuration and clustering behind a proxy](https://canonical.com/microk8s/docs/install-proxy?format=md#p-19998-host-configuration-and-clustering-behind-a-proxy)

Any nodes where MicroK8s is installed need to be included in the `no_proxy` environment variable of the host. Usually this can be be done by editing `/etc/environment`.

## [DNS configuration](https://canonical.com/microk8s/docs/install-proxy?format=md#p-19998-dns-configuration)

By default the DNS addon (available with `microk8s enable dns`) points to Google’s 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 servers for resolving addresses outside the cluster. If these forward DNS endpoints are not reachable you may want to reconfigure CoreDNS as described in the [addon’s documentation](https://canonical.com/microk8s/docs/addon-dns) page.

## [Configuring containerd only](https://canonical.com/microk8s/docs/install-proxy?format=md#p-19998-configuring-containerd-only)

Containerd uses the proxy configuration set in `/etc/environment`, therefore no extra configuration is typically required. However, we have the option to set the proxy settings only for containerd. To do so we need to enter the proxy details in

`${SNAP_DATA}/args/containerd-env` (normally `/var/snap/microk8s/current/args/containerd-env`). The `containerd-env` file holds the environment variables containerd runs with. Setting the `HTTPS_PROXY` to our proxy endpoint enables containerd to fetch conatiner images from the web. We may also want to set the `NO_PROXY` environment variable with the cluster-cidr and the services-cidr as specified in the respective configuration files `/var/snap/microk8s/current/args/kube-proxy` and `/var/snap/microk8s/current/args/kube-apiserver`.

Here is an example where `HTTPS_PROXY` environment variable is set to `http://squid.internal:3128` and `NO_PROXY` to `10.0.0.0/8,192.168.0.0/16,127.0.0.0/8,172.16.0.0/16,.svc,localhost`:

```
HTTPS_PROXY=http://squid.internal:3128
NO_PROXY=10.0.0.0/8,192.168.0.0/16,127.0.0.1,172.16.0.0/16,.svc,localhost
#
# Some additional environment variables
#
ulimit -n 65536 || true
ulimit -l 16384 || true
```

For the changes to take effect we need to restart MicroK8s:

```
sudo snap restart microk8s
```

Last updated 2 years ago. [Help improve this document in the forum](https://discuss.kubernetes.io/t/installing-behind-a-proxy/11275).