How to target specific pods

By default probe: all probes every pod-to-pod pair in the target namespace. When you only care about certain connections — or want to skip noisy ones — use include and exclude.

Probe everything (the default)

spec:
  namespace: default
  probe: all

Probe nothing except what you list

Set probe: none and add include entries. Only the listed connections are probed:

spec:
  namespace: default
  probe: none
  include:
    - fromPodSelector: { matchLabels: { app: web } }
      toPodSelector:   { matchLabels: { app: api } }
      port: "80"
      protocol: TCP

Skip specific connections

Keep probe: all but carve out connections you don't want probed with exclude:

spec:
  namespace: default
  probe: all
  exclude:
    - fromPodSelector: { matchLabels: { app: web } }
      toPodSelector:   { matchLabels: { app: metrics } }
      port: "9090"
      protocol: TCP

Entry fields

Each include / exclude entry accepts:

Field	Default	Description
fromPodSelector	—	Label selector for the source pods.
toPodSelector	—	Label selector for the destination pods.
port	80	Destination port to probe.
protocol	TCP	Transport protocol.
expected	—	(include only) Assert the outcome: Allow or Deny. See assert outcomes.

See the full Kubesonde resource reference for the authoritative schema.

TIP

Selectors follow standard Kubernetes label-selector semantics, so matchLabels and matchExpressions both work. Target a single pod by selecting a label that is unique to it.