How a Kubernetes Service Actually Works (and All 5 Types You Need)

A pod gets created. It gets an IP. Then it dies. A new pod replaces it. New IP. Now imagine you have ten pods of the same app, and they restart all the time. Which IP do you call? You can't. That's the problem Services solve, and the answer is more interesting than "Kubernetes assigns a stable IP." This post walks the full picture in five parts: why Services have to exist, what happens when you create one, what happens when traffic actually calls one, all five Service types (most posts stop at t