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Consul logo Consul on Kubernetes

We're looking for feedback on how folks are using Consul on Kubernetes. Please fill out our brief survey!

Warning
Please read the following issue to learn more about upcoming breaking changes that will be implemented by Q4 2022 for the default deployment of Consul on Kubernetes: Enabling of service mesh by default and disabling of node-level client agents from Consul Service Mesh on Kubernetes and Catalog Sync

Overview

The consul-k8s-control-plane binary includes first-class integrations between Consul and Kubernetes. The project encapsulates multiple use cases such as syncing services, injecting Consul sidecars, and more. The Kubernetes integrations with Consul are documented directly on the Consul website.

This README will present a basic overview of use cases and installing the Helm charts, but for full documentation please reference the Consul website.

This project is versioned separately from Consul. Supported Consul versions for each feature will be noted below. By versioning this project separately, we can iterate on Kubernetes integrations more quickly and release new versions without forcing Consul users to do a full Consul upgrade.

Note
We take Consul's security and our users' trust very seriously. If you believe you have found a security issue in Consul K8s, please responsibly disclose by contacting us at security@hashicorp.com.

Features

  • Consul Service Mesh: Run Consul Service Mesh on Kubernetes. This feature injects Envoy sidecars and registers your Pods with Consul.

  • Catalog Sync: Sync Consul services into first-class Kubernetes services and vice versa. This enables Kubernetes to easily access external services and for non-Kubernetes nodes to easily discover and access Kubernetes services.

Installation

consul-k8s is distributed in multiple forms:

  • The recommended installation method is the official Consul Helm chart. This will automatically configure the Consul and Kubernetes integration to run within an existing Kubernetes cluster.

  • A Docker image hashicorp/consul-k8s-control-plane is available. This can be used to manually run consul-k8s-control-plane within a scheduled environment.

  • Consul K8s CLI, distributed as consul-k8s, can be used to install and uninstall Consul Kubernetes. See the Consul K8s CLI Reference for more details on usage.

  • Raw binaries are available in the HashiCorp releases directory. These can be used to run consul-k8s directly or build custom packages.

Helm

Within the 'charts/consul' directory is the official HashiCorp Helm chart for installing and configuring Consul on Kubernetes. This chart supports multiple use cases of Consul on Kubernetes, depending on the values provided.

For full documentation on this Helm chart along with all the ways you can use Consul with Kubernetes, please see the Consul and Kubernetes documentation.

Prerequisites

  • Helm 3.2+ (Helm 2 is not supported)
  • Kubernetes 1.21-1.24 - This is the earliest version of Kubernetes tested. It is possible that this chart works with earlier versions, but it is untested.

Usage

Detailed installation instructions for Consul on Kubernetes are found here.

  1. Add the HashiCorp Helm repository:

    helm repo add hashicorp https://helm.releases.hashicorp.com

  2. Ensure you have access to the Consul Helm chart and you see the latest chart version listed. If you have previously added the HashiCorp Helm repository, run helm repo update.

    helm search repo hashicorp/consul

  3. Now you're ready to install Consul! To install Consul with the default configuration using Helm 3.2 run the following command below. This will create a consul Kubernetes namespace if not already present, and install Consul on the dedicated namespace.

    helm install consul hashicorp/consul --set global.name=consul --create-namespace -n consul

Please see the many options supported in the values.yaml file. These are also fully documented directly on the Consul website.

Tutorials

You can find examples and complete tutorials on how to deploy Consul on Kubernetes using Helm on the HashiCorp Learn website.