2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
---
layout: docs
page_title: Federation Between VMs and Kubernetes
description: >-
Federating Kubernetes clusters and VMs.
---
# Federation Between VMs and Kubernetes
-> **1.8.0+:** This feature is available in Consul versions 1.8.0 and higher
2020-08-18 22:22:29 +00:00
~> This topic requires familiarity with [Mesh Gateways](/docs/connect/mesh-gateway) and [WAN Federation Via Mesh Gateways](/docs/connect/gateways/wan-federation-via-mesh-gateways).
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
Consul datacenters running on non-kubernetes platforms like VMs or bare metal can
be federated with Kubernetes datacenters. Just like with Kubernetes, one datacenter
2020-09-01 15:14:13 +00:00
must be the [primary](/docs/k8s/installation/multi-cluster/kubernetes#primary-datacenter).
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
## Kubernetes as the Primary
If your primary datacenter is running on Kubernetes, use the Helm config from the
[Primary Datacenter](/docs/k8s/installation/multi-cluster/kubernetes#primary-datacenter) section to install Consul.
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
Once installed on Kubernetes, and with the `ProxyDefaults` [resource created](/docs/k8s/installation/multi-cluster/kubernetes#proxydefaults),
2021-02-17 19:01:52 +00:00
you'll need to export the following information from the primary Kubernetes cluster:
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
- Certificate authority cert and key (in order to create SSL certs for VMs)
- External addresses of Kubernetes mesh gateways
- Replication ACL token
- Gossip encryption key
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
The following sections detail how to export this data.
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
### Certificates
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
1. Retrieve the certificate authority cert:
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
```sh
kubectl get secrets/consul-ca-cert --template='{{index .data "tls.crt" }}' |
2021-07-28 15:40:35 +00:00
base64 --decode > consul-agent-ca.pem
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
```
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
1. And the certificate authority signing key:
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
```sh
kubectl get secrets/consul-ca-key --template='{{index .data "tls.key" }}' |
2021-07-28 15:40:35 +00:00
base64 --decode > consul-agent-ca-key.pem
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
```
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
1. With the `consul-agent-ca.pem` and `consul-agent-ca-key.pem` files you can
create certificates for your servers and clients running on VMs that share the
same certificate authority as your Kubernetes servers.
You can use the `consul tls` commands to generate those certificates:
```sh
# NOTE: consul-agent-ca.pem and consul-agent-ca-key.pem must be in the current
# directory.
$ consul tls cert create -server -dc=vm-dc -node <node_name>
==> WARNING: Server Certificates grants authority to become a
server and access all state in the cluster including root keys
and all ACL tokens. Do not distribute them to production hosts
that are not server nodes. Store them as securely as CA keys.
==> Using consul-agent-ca.pem and consul-agent-ca-key.pem
==> Saved vm-dc-server-consul-0.pem
==> Saved vm-dc-server-consul-0-key.pem
```
2021-03-01 22:39:46 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
-> Note the `-node` option in the above command. This should be same as the node name of the [Consul Agent](https://www.consul.io/docs/agent#running-an-agent). This is a [requirement](https://www.consul.io/docs/connect/gateways/mesh-gateway/wan-federation-via-mesh-gateways#tls) for Consul Federation to work. Alternatively, if you plan to use the same certificate and key pair on all your Consul server nodes, or you don't know the nodename in advance, use `-node "*"` instead.
Not satisfying this requirement would result in the following error in the Consul Server logs:
`[ERROR] agent.server.rpc: TLS handshake failed: conn=from= error="remote error: tls: bad certificate"`
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
See the help for output of `consul tls cert create -h` to see more options
for generating server certificates.
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
1. These certificates can be used in your server config file:
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-07-31 01:37:33 +00:00
<CodeBlockConfig filename="server.hcl">
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
```hcl
cert_file = "vm-dc-server-consul-0.pem"
key_file = "vm-dc-server-consul-0-key.pem"
ca_file = "consul-agent-ca.pem"
```
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-07-31 01:37:33 +00:00
</CodeBlockConfig>
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
1. For clients, you can generate TLS certs with:
```shell-session
$ consul tls cert create -client
==> Using consul-agent-ca.pem and consul-agent-ca-key.pem
==> Saved dc1-client-consul-0.pem
==> Saved dc1-client-consul-0-key.pem
```
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
Or use the [auto_encrypt](/docs/agent/options#auto_encrypt) feature.
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
### Mesh Gateway Addresses
Retrieve the WAN addresses of the mesh gateways:
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2020-05-19 18:32:38 +00:00
```shell-session
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
$ kubectl exec statefulset/consul-server -- sh -c \
'curl -sk https://localhost:8501/v1/catalog/service/mesh-gateway | jq ".[].ServiceTaggedAddresses.wan"'
{
"Address": "1.2.3.4",
"Port": 443
}
{
"Address": "1.2.3.4",
"Port": 443
}
```
In this example, the addresses are the same because both mesh gateway pods are
fronted by the same Kubernetes load balancer.
These addresses will be used in the server config for the `primary_gateways`
setting:
```hcl
primary_gateways = ["1.2.3.4:443"]
```
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
### Replication ACL Token
If ACLs are enabled, you'll also need the replication ACL token:
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2020-05-19 18:32:38 +00:00
```shell-session
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
$ kubectl get secrets/consul-acl-replication-acl-token --template='{{.data.token}}'
e7924dd1-dc3f-f644-da54-81a73ba0a178
```
This token will be used in the server config for the replication token.
```hcl
acls {
tokens {
replication = "e7924dd1-dc3f-f644-da54-81a73ba0a178"
}
}
```
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
-> **NOTE:** You'll also need to set up additional ACL tokens as needed by the
ACL system. See tutorial [Secure Consul with Access Control Lists (ACLs)](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/consul/access-control-setup-production#apply-individual-tokens-to-agents)
for more information.
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
### Gossip Encryption Key
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
If gossip encryption is enabled, you'll need the key as well. The command
to retrieve the key will depend on which Kubernetes secret you've stored it in.
This key will be used in server and client configs for the `encrypt` setting:
```hcl
encrypt = "uF+GsbI66cuWU21kiXLze5JLEX5j4iDFlDTb0ZWNpDI="
```
### Final Configuration
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
A final example server config file might look like:
```hcl
# From above
cert_file = "vm-dc-server-consul-0.pem"
key_file = "vm-dc-server-consul-0-key.pem"
ca_file = "consul-agent-ca.pem"
primary_gateways = ["1.2.3.4:443"]
acl {
enabled = true
default_policy = "deny"
down_policy = "extend-cache"
tokens {
agent = "e7924dd1-dc3f-f644-da54-81a73ba0a178"
replication = "e7924dd1-dc3f-f644-da54-81a73ba0a178"
}
}
encrypt = "uF+GsbI66cuWU21kiXLze5JLEX5j4iDFlDTb0ZWNpDI="
# Other server settings
server = true
datacenter = "vm-dc"
data_dir = "/opt/consul"
enable_central_service_config = true
primary_datacenter = "dc1"
connect {
enabled = true
enable_mesh_gateway_wan_federation = true
}
verify_incoming_rpc = true
verify_outgoing = true
verify_server_hostname = true
ports {
https = 8501
http = -1
grpc = 8502
}
```
## Kubernetes as the Secondary
If you're running your primary datacenter on VMs then you'll need to manually
2020-09-01 15:14:13 +00:00
construct the [Federation Secret](/docs/k8s/installation/multi-cluster/kubernetes#federation-secret) in order to federate
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
Kubernetes clusters as secondaries.
-> Your VM cluster must be running mesh gateways, and have mesh gateway WAN
2020-08-18 22:57:52 +00:00
federation enabled. See [WAN Federation via Mesh Gateways](/docs/connect/gateways/wan-federation-via-mesh-gateways).
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
You'll need:
1. The root certificate authority cert placed in `consul-agent-ca.pem`.
1. The root certificate authority key placed in `consul-agent-ca-key.pem`.
1. The IP addresses of the mesh gateways running in your VM datacenter. These must
2020-05-19 18:32:38 +00:00
be routable from the Kubernetes cluster.
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
1. If ACLs are enabled you must create an ACL replication token with the following rules:
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
```hcl
acl = "write"
operator = "write"
agent_prefix "" {
policy = "read"
}
node_prefix "" {
policy = "write"
}
service_prefix "" {
policy = "read"
intentions = "read"
}
```
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
This token is used for ACL replication and for automatic ACL management in Kubernetes.
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
If you're running Consul Enterprise you'll need the rules:
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
```hcl
acl = "write"
operator = "write"
agent_prefix "" {
policy = "read"
}
node_prefix "" {
policy = "write"
}
namespace_prefix "" {
2021-09-02 22:26:41 +00:00
acl="write"
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
service_prefix "" {
policy = "read"
intentions = "read"
}
}
```
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
1. If gossip encryption is enabled, you'll need the key.
With that data ready, you can create the Kubernetes federation secret:
```sh
kubectl create secret generic consul-federation \
--from-literal=caCert=$(cat consul-agent-ca.pem) \
--from-literal=caKey=$(cat consul-agent-ca-key.pem)
# If ACLs are enabled uncomment.
# --from-literal=replicationToken="<your acl replication token>" \
# If using gossip encryption uncomment.
# --from-literal=gossipEncryptionKey="<your gossip encryption key>"
```
Then use the following Helm config file:
```yaml
global:
name: consul
datacenter: dc2
tls:
enabled: true
caCert:
secretName: consul-federation
secretKey: caCert
caKey:
secretName: consul-federation
secretKey: caKey
# Delete this acls section if ACLs are disabled.
acls:
manageSystemACLs: true
replicationToken:
secretName: consul-federation
secretKey: replicationToken
federation:
enabled: true
# Delete this gossipEncryption section if gossip encryption is disabled.
gossipEncryption:
secretName: consul-federation
secretKey: gossipEncryptionKey
connectInject:
enabled: true
2021-02-17 19:01:52 +00:00
controller:
enabled: true
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
meshGateway:
enabled: true
server:
extraConfig: |
{
"primary_datacenter": "<your VM datacenter name>",
"primary_gateways": ["<ip of your VM mesh gateway>", "<other ip>", ...]
}
```
-> **NOTE: ** You must fill out the `server.extraConfig` section with the datacenter
name of your primary datacenter running on VMs and with the IPs of your mesh
gateways running on VMs.
2020-09-15 16:01:47 +00:00
With your config file ready to go, follow our [Installation Guide](/docs/k8s/installation/install)
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
to install Consul on your secondary cluster(s).
2021-02-17 19:01:52 +00:00
After installation, if you're using consul-helm 0.30.0+, [create the
`ProxyDefaults` resource](/docs/k8s/installation/multi-cluster/kubernetes#proxydefaults)
to allow traffic between datacenters.
2021-05-13 17:20:12 +00:00
## Next Steps
In both cases (Kubernetes as primary or secondary), after installation, follow the [Verifying Federation](/docs/k8s/installation/multi-cluster/kubernetes#verifying-federation)
2020-05-11 21:15:59 +00:00
section to verify that federation is working as expected.