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Port Forwarding

Port forwarding lets you access services running inside containers or Kubernetes pods from your local machine.

Common use cases​

  • Open a local web app running in a container
  • Access API endpoints for testing
  • Connect local tools to in-cluster services

Port forwarding in Sulla dashboard​

From the Sulla container/dashboard view, you can:

  • Identify the container service port (for example 3000, 8080, 5432)
  • Map it to a local host port
  • Open/test the forwarded address locally

Example result:

  • Container port 3000 -> Host port 3000
  • Access in browser: http://localhost:3000

Docker CLI port forwarding​

When starting a container, publish ports with -p:

docker run -p 3000:3000 <image_name>

Format:

  • -p <host_port>:<container_port>

Inspect active mappings:

docker ps

Kubernetes port forwarding (kubectl)​

For pod-level access:

kubectl port-forward pod/<pod_name> 8080:8080 -n <namespace>

For service-level access:

kubectl port-forward svc/<service_name> 8080:80 -n <namespace>

Then access locally at:

  • http://localhost:8080

Troubleshooting​

If forwarding does not work, check:

  1. Service/container is running
  2. You used the correct internal port
  3. Host port is not already in use
  4. App is listening on the expected interface/port inside container
  5. Namespace/resource name is correct for kubectl commands

AI-assisted debugging​

If forwarding fails, ask Sulla to debug by sharing:

  • Which container/pod/service you are forwarding
  • Local and target ports
  • Error output

Sulla can help identify bad mappings, blocked ports, or service configuration issues.