An agent can run in both client and server mode. Server nodes are responsible
for running the consensus protocol and storing the cluster state. Before a
Consul cluster can begin to service requests, a server node must be elected
leader. Thus, the first nodes that are started are generally the server nodes.
Bootstrapping is the process of joining these server nodes into a cluster.
Bootstrapping a datacenter is the initial deployment process in Consul that starts server agents and joins them together. Learn how to automatically or manually join servers in a cluster.
Consul supports automatically joining a Consul datacenter using cloud metadata
on various providers.
Configure servers to auto-join clusters on startup. Use the CLI or an agent configuration file to specify either an IP address or a cloud provider for the server to join.
This page collects brief definitions of some of the technical terms used in
the documentation.
The glossary is a list of technical terms with a specific meaning in Consul. Use the glossary to understand Consul concepts and study for the certification exam.
When deploying Consul to a datacenter for the first time, there is an initial
bootstrapping that must be done. As of Consul 0.4, an automatic bootstrapping
is available and is the recommended approach. However, older versions only
support a manual bootstrap that is documented here.
Manually bootstrap a datacenter to deploy your Consul servers and join them together for the first time. As of Consul v0.4, automatic bootstrapping is recommended instead.
Consul requires different amounts of compute resources, depending on cluster
size and expected workload. This guide provides guidance on choosing compute
resources.
Consul servers require computing resources to communicate and process data quickly. Learn about Consul's minimum server requirements and recommendations for different workloads.
Before starting Consul it is important to have the necessary bind ports
accessible.
Consul requires bind ports for directing DNS, HTTP, gRPC, Serf, and proxy requests. Learn about these reserved ports and how Consul uses them for specific communication functions.
boruszak
2 years ago