The Autonomous Operator version 1.2.0 introduces new network features to address the limitations of previous versions, allowing for wider audience support and diverse network architectures. The Kubernetes networking options include routed networks and overlay networks, which encapsulate pod-to-pod messages in protocols such as GRE or VXLAN. Node ports provide a generic mechanism to address a pod regardless of whether an overlay network is used. Establishing Cross-Datacenter Replication (XDCR) connections between two Couchbase clusters in different Kubernetes clusters relies on node ports and load balancer services. The new enhancements also include external client access, UI access, end-to-end encryption, and simplified network configuration through the use of load balancer services and DNS resource records.