diff --git a/pkg/controller/nodeipam/ipam/range_allocator.go b/pkg/controller/nodeipam/ipam/range_allocator.go
index f5704a6882d10..ef0a335b02e11 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/nodeipam/ipam/range_allocator.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/nodeipam/ipam/range_allocator.go
@@ -124,6 +124,12 @@ func NewCIDRRangeAllocator(client clientset.Interface, nodeInformer informers.No
 				continue
 			}
 
+			// Do not allocate PodCIDR for external nodes
+			if nodeutil.IsExternalKubelet(&node) {
+				klog.V(4).Infof("No need to process external node %s", node.Name)
+				continue
+			}
+
 			if len(node.Spec.PodCIDRs) == 0 {
 				klog.V(4).Infof("Node %v has no CIDR, ignoring", node.Name)
 				continue
@@ -152,6 +158,17 @@ func NewCIDRRangeAllocator(client clientset.Interface, nodeInformer informers.No
 				klog.V(4).Infof("No need to allocate PodCIDR for virtual node %s", newNode.Name)
 				return nil
 			}
+
+			// Node should not be changed from external to non-external, neither vice-versa
+			if nodeutil.IsExternalKubelet(oldNode) != nodeutil.IsExternalKubelet(newNode) {
+				return fmt.Errorf("Node %s should not be changed from external to non-external, neither vice-versa", newNode.Name)
+			}
+
+			// Do not allocate PodCIDR for external nodes
+			if nodeutil.IsExternalKubelet(newNode) {
+				klog.V(4).Infof("No need to allocate PodCIDR for external node %s", newNode.Name)
+				return nil
+			}
 			// If the PodCIDRs list is not empty we either:
 			// - already processed a Node that already had CIDRs after NC restarted
 			//   (cidr is marked as used),
@@ -272,6 +289,12 @@ func (r *rangeAllocator) AllocateOrOccupyCIDR(node *v1.Node) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	// Do not allocate PodCIDR for external nodes
+	if nodeutil.IsExternalKubelet(node) {
+		klog.V(4).Infof("No need to allocate PodCIDR for external node %s", node.Name)
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	if !r.insertNodeToProcessing(node.Name) {
 		klog.V(2).Infof("Node %v is already in a process of CIDR assignment.", node.Name)
 		return nil
diff --git a/pkg/controller/util/node/controller_utils.go b/pkg/controller/util/node/controller_utils.go
index 041b72585c4ac..7c14dba36fda6 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/util/node/controller_utils.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/util/node/controller_utils.go
@@ -41,10 +41,10 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	// Label ant value to identify virtual kubelet node
-	virtualKubeletLabelBeta  = "beta.kubernetes.io/instance-type"
-	virtualKubeletLabel      = "node.kubernetes.io/instance-type"
-	virtualKubeletLabelValue = "eklet"
+	// EKS virutal node
+	InstanceTypeVirtual = "eklet"
+	// External IDC node
+	InstanceTypeExternal = "external"
 )
 
 // DeletePods will delete all pods from master running on given node,
@@ -320,15 +320,40 @@ func IsVirtualKubelet(node *v1.Node) bool {
 		return false
 	}
 
-	v, ok := nodeLabels[virtualKubeletLabelBeta]
-	if ok && v == virtualKubeletLabelValue {
+	v, ok := nodeLabels[v1.LabelInstanceType]
+	if ok && v == InstanceTypeVirtual {
 		return true
 	}
 
-	v, ok = nodeLabels[virtualKubeletLabel]
+	v, ok = nodeLabels[v1.LabelInstanceTypeStable]
 	if !ok {
 		return false
 	}
 
-	return v == virtualKubeletLabelValue
+	return v == InstanceTypeVirtual
+}
+
+// IsExternalKubelet checks whether a node is external running in IDC, based on the "instance-type" label
+// Return true if the value of instance-type label equals to "external"
+func IsExternalKubelet(node *v1.Node) bool {
+	if node == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	nodeLabels := node.Labels
+
+	if nodeLabels == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	v, ok := nodeLabels[v1.LabelInstanceType]
+	if ok && v == InstanceTypeExternal {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	v, ok = nodeLabels[v1.LabelInstanceTypeStable]
+	if !ok {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	return v == InstanceTypeExternal
 }
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/cloud-provider/controllers/route/route_controller.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/cloud-provider/controllers/route/route_controller.go
index 89e1883ddbca2..f3b2ad346da25 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/cloud-provider/controllers/route/route_controller.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/cloud-provider/controllers/route/route_controller.go
@@ -157,8 +157,8 @@ func (rc *RouteController) reconcile(nodes []*v1.Node, routes []*cloudprovider.R
 			continue
 		}
 
-		// Skip virtual nodes
-		if nodeutil.IsVirtualKubelet(node) {
+		// Skip virtual/external nodes
+		if nodeutil.IsVirtualKubelet(node) || nodeutil.IsExternalKubelet(node) {
 			continue
 		}
 
@@ -266,8 +266,8 @@ func (rc *RouteController) reconcile(nodes []*v1.Node, routes []*cloudprovider.R
 	// after all routes have been created (or not), we start updating
 	// all nodes' statuses with the outcome
 	for _, node := range nodes {
-		// Skip virtual nodes
-		if nodeutil.IsVirtualKubelet(node) {
+		// Skip virtual/external nodes
+		if nodeutil.IsVirtualKubelet(node) || nodeutil.IsExternalKubelet(node) {
 			continue
 		}