---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Commands: Keyring"
sidebar_current: "docs-commands-keyring"
---

# Consul Keyring

Command: `consul keyring`

The `keyring` command is used to examine and modify the encryption keys used in
Consul's [Gossip Pools](/docs/internals/gossip.html). It is capable of
distributing new encryption keys to the cluster, retiring old encryption keys,
and changing the keys used by the cluster to encrypt messages.

Consul allows multiple encryption keys to be in use simultaneously. This is
intended to provide a transition state while the cluster converges. It is the
responsibility of the operator to ensure that only the required encryption keys
are installed on the cluster. You can review the installed keys using the
`-list` argument, and remove unneeded keys with `-remove`.

With the exception of the `-init` argument, all operations performed by this
command can only be run against server nodes, and affect both the LAN and
WAN keyrings in lock-step.

All variations of the `keyring` command, unless otherwise specified below, will
return 0 if all nodes reply and there are no errors. If any node fails to reply
or reports failure, the exit code will be 1.

## Usage

Usage: `consul keyring [options]`

Only one actionable argument may be specified per run, including `-init`,
`-list`, `-install`, `-remove`, and `-use`.

The list of available flags are:

* `-init` - Creates the keyring file(s). This is useful to configure initial
  encryption keyrings, which can later be mutated using the other arguments in
  this command. This argument accepts an ASCII key, which can be generated using
  the [keygen command](/docs/commands/keygen.html). Requires the `-data-dir`
  argument.

  This operation can be run on both client and server nodes and requires no
  network connectivity.

  Returns 0 if the key is successfully configured, or 1 if there were any
  problems.

* `-install` - Install a new encryption key. This will broadcast the new key to
  all members in the cluster.

* `-use` - Change the primary encryption key, which is used to encrypt messages.
  The key must already be installed before this operation can succeed.

* `-remove` - Remove the given key from the cluster. This operation may only be
  performed on keys which are not currently the primary key.

* `-list` - List all keys currently in use within the cluster.

* `-data-dir` - The path to Consul's data directory. Used with `-init` only.

* `-rpc-addr` - RPC address of the Consul agent.

## Output

The output of the `consul keyring -list` command consolidates information from
all nodes and all datacenters to provide a simple and easy to understand view of
the cluster. The following is some example output from a cluster with two
datacenters, each which consist of one server and one client:

```
==> Gathering installed encryption keys...
==> Done!

WAN:
  a1i101sMY8rxB+0eAKD/gw== [2/2]

dc2 (LAN):
  a1i101sMY8rxB+0eAKD/gw== [2/2]

dc1 (LAN):
  a1i101sMY8rxB+0eAKD/gw== [2/2]
```

As you can see, the output above is divided first by gossip pool, and then by
encryption key. The indicator to the right of each key displays the number of
nodes the key is installed on over the total number of nodes in the pool.

## Errors

If any errors are encountered while performing a keyring operation, no key
information is displayed, but instead only error information. The error
information is arranged in a similar fashion, organized first by datacenter,
followed by a simple list of nodes which had errors, and the actual text of the
error. Below is sample output from the same cluster as above, if we try to do
something that causes an error; in this case, trying to remove the primary key:

```
==> Removing gossip encryption key...

dc1 (LAN) error: 2/2 nodes reported failure
  server1: Removing the primary key is not allowed
  client1: Removing the primary key is not allowed

WAN error: 2/2 nodes reported failure
  server1.dc1: Removing the primary key is not allowed
  server2.dc2: Removing the primary key is not allowed

dc2 (LAN) error: 2/2 nodes reported failure
  server2: Removing the primary key is not allowed
  client2: Removing the primary key is not allowed
```

As you can see, each node with a failure reported what went wrong.