---
layout: docs
page_title: Internals Overview
description: >-
Consul is a complex system that relies on a number of protocols and concepts to work. Learn about Consul's internal properties and how it works under the hood.
---

# Consul Internals Overview

This section covers some of the internals of Consul. Understanding the internals of Consul is necessary to successfully
use it in production.

Please review the following documentation to understand how Consul works.

- [Architecture](/docs/architecture)
- [Consensus Protocol](/docs/architecture/consensus)
- [Gossip Protocol](/docs/architecture/gossip)
- [Network Coordinates](/docs/architecture/coordinates)
- [Sessions](/docs/security/acl/auth-methods/oidc)
- [Anti-Entropy](/docs/architecture/anti-entropy)
- [Security Model](/docs/security)
- [Discovery Chain](/docs/connect/l7-traffic/discovery-chain)

You should also be familiar with [Jepsen testing](/docs/architecture/jepsen), before deploying
a production datacenter.