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---
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layout: docs
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page_title: Consul Enterprise
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description: >-
Consul Enterprise features a number of capabilities beyond the open source
offering that may be beneficial in certain workflows.
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---
# Consul Enterprise
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[Consul Enterprise](https://www.hashicorp.com/products/consul/)
features address the organizational complexities of collaboration, operations, scale, and governance
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and are [available in several forms of Consul Enterprise](#consul-enterprise-feature-availability).
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If you have purchased Consul Enterprise, refer to
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[how to gain access to enterprise features](#gain-access-to-enterprise-features).
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Enterprise features include:
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#### Multi-Tenancy
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- [Admin Partitions](/docs/enterprise/admin-partitions): define administrative boundaries between tenants within a single Consul datacenter
- [Namespaces](/docs/enterprise/namespaces): define resource boundaries within a single admin partition for further organizational flexibility
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#### Resiliency
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- [Automated Backups](/docs/enterprise/backups): configure the automatic backup of Consul state
- [Redundancy Zones](/docs/enterprise/redundancy): deploy backup voting Consul servers to efficiently improve Consul fault tolerance
#### Scalability
- [Read Replicas](/docs/enterprise/read-scale): deploy non-voting Consul servers to enhance the scalability of read requests
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#### Operational Simplification
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- [Automated Upgrades](/docs/enterprise/upgrades): ease upgrades by automating the transition from existing to newly deployed Consul servers
- [Consul-Terraform-Sync Enterprise](/docs/nia/enterprise): leverage the enhanced network infrastructure automation capabilities of the enterprise version of Consul-Terraform-Sync
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#### Complex Network Topology Support
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- [Network Areas](/docs/enterprise/federation): support complex network topologies between federated Consul datacenters with pairwise federation rather than full mesh federation
- [Network Segments](/docs/enterprise/network-segments): support complex network topologies within a Consul datacenter by enforcing boundaries in Consul client gossip traffic
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#### Governance
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- [OIDC Auth Method](/docs/security/acl/auth-methods/oidc): manage user access to Consul through an OIDC identity provider instead of Consul ACL tokens directly
- [Audit Logging](/docs/enterprise/audit-logging): understand Consul access and usage patterns by reviewing access to the Consul HTTP API
- [Sentinel for KV](/docs/enterprise/sentinel): policy-as-code framework for defining advanced key-value storage access control policies
# Gain Access to Enterprise Features
### Self-Managed Consul
To gain access to Consul Enterprise features in a self-managed installation,
[apply a purchased license](/docs/enterprise/license/overview)
to the Consul Enterprise binary that grants access to the desired features.
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You can also try out Consul Enterprise before purchasing by
[requesting a 30-day trial license](https://consul.io/trial).
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### HCP Consul
No action is required to gain access to Consul Enterprise features in a
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[HashiCorp Cloud Platform](https://cloud.hashicorp.com/products/consul) installation.
You can try out HCP Consul for free. Refer to the
[HCP Consul product page](https://cloud.hashicorp.com/products/consul) for more details.
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# Consul Enterprise Feature Availability
Consul Enterprise is offered in several forms that provide a different mix of enterprise features.
Choose the form that best suits the needs of your organization.
Available enterprise features per Consul form and license include:
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| Feature | [HashiCorp Cloud Platform (HCP) Consul] | [Consul Enterprise] | Legacy Consul Enterprise (module-based) |
| -------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Consul servers as a managed service | Yes | No (self-managed) | No (self-managed) |
| [Admin Partitions](/docs/enterprise/admin-partitions) | All tiers | Yes | With Governance and Policy module |
| [Namespaces](/docs/enterprise/namespaces) | All tiers | Yes | With Governance and Policy module |
| [Automated Backups](/docs/enterprise/backups) | All tiers | Yes | Yes |
| [Redundancy Zones](/docs/enterprise/redundancy) | Not applicable | Yes | With Global Visibility, Routing, and Scale module |
| [Read Replicas](/docs/enterprise/read-scale) | | Yes | With Global Visibility, Routing, and Scale module |
| [Automated Upgrades](/docs/enterprise/upgrades) | All tiers | Yes | Yes |
| [Consul-Terraform-Sync Enterprise](/docs/nia/enterprise) | | Yes | Yes |
| [Network Areas](/docs/enterprise/federation) | | Yes | With Global Visibility, Routing, and Scale module |
| [Network Segments](/docs/enterprise/network-segments) | | Yes | With Global Visibility, Routing, and Scale module |
| [OIDC Auth Method](/docs/acl/auth-methods/oidc) | | Yes | Yes |
| [Audit Logging](/docs/enterprise/audit-logging) | Standard tier and above | Yes | With Governance and Policy module |
| [Sentinel for KV](/docs/enterprise/sentinel) | All tiers | Yes | With Governance and Policy module |
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[HashiCorp Cloud Platform (HCP) Consul]: https://cloud.hashicorp.com/products/consul
[Consul Enterprise]: https://www.hashicorp.com/products/consul/
