Kubernetes makes it easy to distribute container replicas across multiple compute Nodes, improving redundancy and performance. However, this also results in networking challenges: How can your apps reliably communicate when you’re constantly adding and removing Pod replicas and Services? The Kubernetes DNS service is the answer. This core cluster component implements name resolution and service discovery for your Pods and Services, letting you connect to predictable hostnames instead of unreliable IP addresses that could change at any time. Kubernetes automatically assigns each Service a DNS name in the format `<service-name>.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local>`, which can be resolved using the `kube-dns` Service seen above. This allows the Pod that made the request to connect to the target Service reliably, even after Pods are scaled or Services are recreated. Using IP addresses instead of DNS names is a Kubernetes anti-pattern that can lead to several problems, including static IP address issues and configuration complexity. The in-cluster Kubernetes DNS service provides automatic service discovery, simplified networking, scalability, health monitoring, and ease of configuration, making it an essential component of the Kubernetes environment. CoreDNS is a more flexible and extensible DNS server that has replaced KubeDNS as the default DNS service in Kubernetes, providing better performance and integration with modern Kubernetes environments. The Kubernetes DNS system enables seamless service discovery for workloads running in your cluster, allowing Pods to communicate with Services using predictable domain names instead of numerical IP addresses.