Consul + Kubernetes (consul-k8s)

⚠️ Please note: This repository has recently been merged with consul-helm. For more information on this change, please see PR #1051.

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Overview

The consul-k8s binary includes first-class integrations between Consul and Kubernetes. The project encapsulates multiple use cases such as syncing services, injecting Connect 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.

⚠️ Please 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 (Connect): Run Consul Service Mesh (aka Consul Connect) 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 is available. This can be used to manually run consul-k8s within a scheduled environment.

• 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 3.0+ (Helm 2 is not supported)
• Kubernetes 1.17+ - 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
    "hashicorp" has been added to your repositories
   

2. Ensure you have access to the consul chart:

    $ helm search repo hashicorp/consul
    NAME                CHART VERSION   APP VERSION DESCRIPTION
    hashicorp/consul    0.33.0          1.10.0      Official HashiCorp Consul Chart
   

3. Now you're ready to install Consul! To install Consul with the default configuration using Helm 3 run:

    $ helm install consul hashicorp/consul --set global.name=consul
    NAME: 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.