Setting ``enable_nodelocaldns`` to ``true`` will make pods reach out to the dns (core-dns) caching agent running on the same node, thereby avoiding iptables DNAT rules and connection tracking. The local caching agent will query core-dns (depending on what main DNS plugin is configured in your cluster) for cache misses of cluster hostnames(cluster.local suffix by default).
More information on the rationale behind this implementation can be found [here](https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/blob/master/keps/sig-network/0030-nodelocal-dns-cache.md).
More information on the rationale behind this implementation can be found [here](https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/blob/master/keps/sig-network/1024-nodelocal-cache-dns/README.md).
**As per the 2.10 release, Nodelocal DNS cache is enabled by default.**