mirror of https://github.com/hashicorp/consul
704 lines
33 KiB
Markdown
704 lines
33 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: "docs"
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page_title: "ACL System"
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sidebar_current: "docs-guides-acl"
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description: |-
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Consul provides an optional Access Control List (ACL) system which can be used to control access to data and APIs. The ACL system is a Capability-based system that relies on tokens which can have fine grained rules applied to them. It is very similar to AWS IAM in many ways.
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---
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# ACL System
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Consul provides an optional Access Control List (ACL) system which can be used to control
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access to data and APIs. The ACL is
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[Capability-based](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability-based_security), relying
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on tokens to which fine grained rules can be applied. It is very similar to
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[AWS IAM](http://aws.amazon.com/iam/) in many ways.
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## ACL System Overview
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The ACL system is designed to be easy to use, fast to enforce, and flexible to new policies,
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all while providing administrative insight.
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#### ACL Tokens
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The ACL system is based on tokens, which are managed by Consul operators via Consul's
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[ACL API](/api/acl.html), or systems like
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[HashiCorp's Vault](https://www.vaultproject.io/docs/secrets/consul/index.html).
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Every token has an ID, name, type, and rule set. The ID is a randomly generated
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UUID, making it infeasible to guess. The name is opaque to Consul and human readable.
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The type is either "client" (meaning the token cannot modify ACL rules) or "management"
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(meaning the token is allowed to perform all actions).
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The token ID is passed along with each RPC request to the servers. Consul's
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[HTTP endpoints](http://localhost:4567/api/index.html) can accept tokens via the `token`
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query string parameter, or the `X-Consul-Token` request header. Consul's
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[CLI commands](http://localhost:4567/docs/commands/index.html) can accept tokens via the
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`token` argument, or the `CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN` environment variable.
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If no token is provided, the rules associated with a special, configurable anonymous
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token are automatically applied. The anonymous token is managed using the
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[ACL API](/api/acl.html) like any other ACL token, but using `anonymous` for the ID.
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#### ACL Rules and Scope
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Tokens are bound to a set of rules that control which Consul resources the token
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has access to. Policies can be defined in either a whitelist or blacklist mode
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depending on the configuration of
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[`acl_default_policy`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_default_policy). If the default
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policy is to "deny all" actions, then token rules can be set to whitelist specific
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actions. In the inverse, the "allow all" default behavior is a blacklist where rules
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are used to prohibit actions. By default, Consul will allow all actions.
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The following table summarizes the ACL policies that are available for constructing
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rules:
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| Policy | Scope |
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| ------------------------ | ----- |
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| [`agent`](#agent-rules) | Utility operations in the [Agent API](/api/agent.html), other than service and check registration |
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| [`event`](#event-rules) | Listing and firing events in the [Event API](/api/event.html) |
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| [`key`](#key-value-rules) | Key/value store operations in the [KV Store API](/api/kv.html) |
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| [`keyring`](#keyring-rules) | Keyring operations in the [Keyring API](/api/operator/keyring.html) |
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| [`node`](#node-rules) | Node-level catalog operations in the [Catalog API](/api/catalog.html), [Health API](/api/health.html), [Network Coordinate API](/api/coordinate.html), and [Agent API](/api/agent.html) |
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| [`operator`](#operator-rules) | Cluster-level operations in the [Operator API](/api/operator.html), other than the [Keyring API](/api/operator/keyring.html) |
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| [`query`](#prepared-query-rules) | Prepared query operations in the [Prepared Query API](/api/query.html)
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| [`service`](#service-rules) | Service-level catalog operations in the [Catalog API](/api/catalog.html), [Health API](/api/health.html), and [Agent API](/api/agent.html) |
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| [`session`](#session-rules) | Session operations in the [Session API](/api/session.html) |
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Since Consul snapshots actually contain ACL tokens, the
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[Snapshot API](/api/snapshot.html) requires a management token for snapshot operations
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and does not use a special policy.
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The following resources are not covered by ACL policies:
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1. The [Status API](/api/status.html) is used by servers when bootstrapping and exposes
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basic IP and port information about the servers, and does not allow modification
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of any state.
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2. The datacenter listing operation of the
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[Catalog API](/api/catalog.html#list-datacenters) similarly exposes the names of known
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Consul datacenters, and does not allow modification of any state.
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Constructing rules from these policies is covered in detail in the
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[Rule Specification](#rule-specification) section below.
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#### ACL Datacenter
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All nodes (clients and servers) must be configured with an
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[`acl_datacenter`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_datacenter) which enables ACL
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enforcement but also specifies the authoritative datacenter. Consul relies on
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[RPC forwarding](/docs/internals/architecture.html) to support multi-datacenter
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configurations. However, because requests can be made across datacenter boundaries,
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ACL tokens must be valid globally. To avoid consistency issues, a single datacenter
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is considered authoritative and stores the canonical set of tokens.
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When a request is made to an agent in a non-authoritative datacenter, it must be
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resolved into the appropriate policy. This is done by reading the token from the
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authoritative server and caching the result for a configurable
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[`acl_ttl`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_ttl). The implication of caching is that
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the cache TTL is an upper bound on the staleness of policy that is enforced. It is
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possible to set a zero TTL, but this has adverse performance impacts, as every
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request requires refreshing the policy via an RPC call.
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#### Enabling ACLs
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Enabling ACLs is done by setting up the following configuration options. These are
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marked as to whether they are set on servers, clients, or both.
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| Configuration Option | Servers | Clients | Purpose |
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| -------------------- | ------- | ------- | ------- |
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| [`acl_datacenter`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_datacenter) | `REQUIRED` | `REQUIRED` | Master control that enables ACLs by defining the authoritative Consul datacenter for ACLs |
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| [`acl_default_policy`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_default_policy) | `OPTIONAL` | `N/A` | Determines whitelist or blacklist mode |
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| [`acl_down_policy`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_down_policy) | `OPTIONAL` | `OPTIONAL` | Determines what to when the ACL datacenter is offline |
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| [`acl_ttl`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_ttl) | `OPTIONAL` | `OPTIONAL` | Determines time-to-live for cached ACLs |
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There are some additional configuration items related to [ACL replication](#replication) and
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[Version 8 ACL support](#version_8_acls). These are discussed in those respective sections
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below.
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A number of special tokens can also be configured which allow for bootstrapping the ACL
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system, or accessing Consul in special situations:
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| Special Token | Servers | Clients | Purpose |
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| ------------- | ------- | ------- | ------- |
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| [`acl_agent_master_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_agent_master_token) | `OPTIONAL` | `OPTIONAL` | Special token that can be used to access [Agent API](/api/agent.html) when the ACL datacenter isn't available, or servers are offline (for clients); used for setting up the cluster such as doing initial join operations |
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| [`acl_agent_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_agent_token) | `OPTIONAL` | `OPTIONAL` | Special token that is used for an agent's internal operations with the [Catalog API](/api/catalog.html); this needs to have at least `node` policy access so the agent can self update its registration information |
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| [`acl_master_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_master_token) | `REQUIRED` | `N/A` | Special token used to bootstrap the ACL system, see details below. |
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| [`acl_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_token) | `OPTIONAL` | `OPTIONAL` | Default token to use for client requests where no token is supplied; this is often configured with read-only access to services to enable DNS service discovery on agents |
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Bootstrapping the ACL system is done by providing an initial
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[`acl_master_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_master_token) which will be created
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as a "management" type token if it does not exist. The
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[`acl_master_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_master_token) is only installed when
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a server acquires cluster leadership. If you would like to install or change the
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[`acl_master_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_master_token), set the new value for
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[`acl_master_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_master_token) in the configuration
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for all servers. Once this is done, restart the current leader to force a leader election.
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Once the ACL system is bootstrapped, ACL tokens can be managed through the
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[ACL API](/api/acl.html).
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## Rule Specification
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A core part of the ACL system is the rule language which is used to describe the policy
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that must be enforced. Most of the ACL rules are prefix-based, allowing operators to
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define different namespaces within Consul's resource areas like the catalog and key/value
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store, in order to delegate responsibility for these namespaces. Policies can have several
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dispositions:
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* `read`: allow the resource to be read but not modified
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* `write`: allow the resource to be read and modified
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* `deny`: do not allow the resource to be read or modified
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With prefix-based rules, the most specific prefix match determines the action. This
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allows for flexible rules like an empty prefix to allow read-only access to all
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resources, along with some specific prefixes that allow write access or that are
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denied all access.
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We make use of the
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[HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL)](https://github.com/hashicorp/hcl/) to specify
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rules. This language is human readable and interoperable with JSON making it easy to
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machine-generate. Rules can make use of one or more policies.
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Specification in the HCL format looks like:
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```text
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# These control access to the key/value store.
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key "" {
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policy = "read"
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}
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key "foo/" {
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policy = "write"
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}
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key "foo/private/" {
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policy = "deny"
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}
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# This controls access to cluster-wide Consul operator information.
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operator = "read"
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```
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This is equivalent to the following JSON input:
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```javascript
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{
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"key": {
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"": {
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"policy": "read"
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},
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"foo/": {
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"policy": "write"
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},
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"foo/private": {
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"policy": "deny"
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}
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},
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"operator": "read"
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}
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```
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The [ACL API](/api/acl.html) allows either HCL or JSON to be used to define the content
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of the rules section.
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Here's a sample request using the HCL form:
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```text
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$ curl \
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--request PUT \
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--data \
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'{
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"Name": "my-app-token",
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"Type": "client",
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"Rules": "key \"\" { policy = \"read\" } key \"foo/\" { policy = \"write\" } key \"foo/private/\" { policy = \"deny\" } operator = \"read\""
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}' https://consul.rocks/v1/acl/create?token=<management token>
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```
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Here's an equivalent request using the JSON form:
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```text
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$ curl \
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--request PUT \
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--data \
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'{
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"Name": "my-app-token",
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"Type": "client",
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"Rules": "{\"key\":{\"\":{\"policy\":\"read\"},\"foo/\":{\"policy\":\"write\"},\"foo/private\":{\"policy\":\"deny\"}},\"operator\":\"read\"}"
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}' https://consul.rocks/v1/acl/create?token=<management token>
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```
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On success, the token ID is returned:
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```json
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{
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"ID": "adf4238a-882b-9ddc-4a9d-5b6758e4159e"
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}
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```
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This token ID can then be passed into Consul's HTTP APIs via the `token`
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query string parameter, or the `X-Consul-Token` request header, or Consul's
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CLI commands via the `token` argument, or the `CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN` environment
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variable.
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#### Agent Rules
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The `agent` policy controls access to the utility operations in the [Agent API](/api/agent.html),
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such as join and leave. All of the catalog-related operations are covered by the [`node`](#node-rules)
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and [`service`](#service-rules) policies instead.
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Agent rules look like this:
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```text
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agent "" {
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policy = "read"
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}
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agent "foo" {
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policy = "write"
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}
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agent "bar" {
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policy = "deny"
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}
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```
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Agent rules are keyed by the node name prefix they apply to, using the longest prefix match rule. In
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the example above, the rules allow read-only access to any node name with the empty prefix, allow
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read-write access to any node name that starts with "foo", and deny all access to any node name that
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starts with "bar".
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Since [Agent API](/api/agent.html) utility operations may be required before an agent is joined to
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a cluster, or during an outage of the Consul servers or ACL datacenter, a special token may be
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configured with [`acl_agent_master_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_agent_master_token) to allow
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write access to these operations even if no ACL resolution capability is available.
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#### Event Rules
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The `event` policy controls access to event operations in the [Event API](/api/event.html), such as
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firing events and listing events.
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Event rules look like this:
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```text
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event "" {
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policy = "read"
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}
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event "deploy" {
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policy = "write"
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}
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```
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Event rules are keyed by the event name prefix they apply to, using the longest prefix match rule.
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In the example above, the rules allow read-only access to any event, and firing of any event that
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starts with "deploy".
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The [`consul exec`](/docs/commands/exec.html) command uses events with the "_rexec" prefix during
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operation, so to enable this feature in a Consul environment with ACLs enabled, you will need to
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give agents a token with access to this event prefix, in addition to configuring
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[`disable_remote_exec`](/docs/agent/options.html#disable_remote_exec) to `false`.
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#### Key/Value Rules
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The `key` policy controls access to key/value store operations in the [KV API](/api/kv.html]. Key
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rules look like this:
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```text
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key "" {
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policy = "read"
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}
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key "foo" {
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policy = "write"
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}
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key "bar" {
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policy = "deny"
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}
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```
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Key rules are keyed by the key name prefix they apply to, using the longest prefix match rule. In
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the example above, the rules allow read-only access to any key name with the empty prefix, allow
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read-write access to any key name that starts with "foo", and deny all access to any key name that
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starts with "bar".
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#### Keyring Rules
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The `keyring` policy controls access to keyring operations in the
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[Keyring API](/api/operator/keyring.html).
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Keyring rules look like this:
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```text
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keyring = "write"
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```
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There's only one keyring policy allowed per rule set, and its value is set to one of the policy
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dispositions. In the example above, the keyring may be read and updated.
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#### Node Rules
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The `node` policy controls node-level registration and read access to the [Catalog API](/api/catalog.html),
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service discovery with the [Health API](/api/health.html), and filters results in [Agent API](/api/agent.html)
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operations like fetching the list of cluster members.
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Node rules look like this:
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```text
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node "" {
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policy = "read"
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}
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node "app" {
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policy = "write"
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}
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node "admin" {
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policy = "deny"
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}
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```
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Node rules are keyed by the node name prefix they apply to, using the longest prefix match rule. In
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the example above, the rules allow read-only access to any node name with the empty prefix, allow
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read-write access to any node name that starts with "app", and deny all access to any node name that
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starts with "admin".
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Agents need to be configured with an [`acl_agent_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_agent_token)
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with at least "write" privileges to their own node name in order to register their information with
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the catalog, such as node metadata and tagged addresses. If this is configured incorrectly, the agent
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will print an error to the console when it tries to sync its state with the catalog.
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Consul's DNS interface is also affected by restrictions on node rules. If the
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[`acl_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_token) used by the agent does not have "read" access to a
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given node, then the DNS interface will return no records when queried for it.
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When reading from the catalog or retrieving information from the health endpoints, node rules are
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used to filter the results of the query. This allows for configurations where a token has access
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to a given service name, but only on an allowed subset of node names.
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Node rules come into play when using the [Agent API](/api/agent.html) to register node-level
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checks. The agent will check tokens locally as a check is registered, and Consul also performs
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periodic [anti-entropy](/docs/internals/anti-entropy.html) syncs, which may require an
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ACL token to complete. To accommodate this, Consul provides two methods of configuring ACL tokens
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to use for registration events:
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1. Using the [acl_token](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_token) configuration
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directive. This allows a single token to be configured globally and used
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during all check registration operations.
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2. Providing an ACL token with service and check definitions at
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registration time. This allows for greater flexibility and enables the use
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of multiple tokens on the same agent. Examples of what this looks like are
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available for both [services](/docs/agent/services.html) and
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[checks](/docs/agent/checks.html). Tokens may also be passed to the
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[HTTP API](/api/index.html) for operations that require them.
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#### Operator Rules
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The `operator` policy controls access to cluster-level operations in the
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[Operator API](/api/operator.html), other than the [Keyring API](/api/operator/keyring.html).
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Operator rules look like this:
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```text
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operator = "read"
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```
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There's only one operator policy allowed per rule set, and its value is set to one of the policy
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dispositions. In the example above, the token could be used to query the operator endpoints for
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diagnostic purposes but not make any changes.
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#### Prepared Query Rules
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The `query` policy controls access to create, update, and delete prepared queries in the
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[Prepared Query API](/api/query.html). Executing queries is subject to `node` and `service`
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policies, as will be explained below.
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Query rules look like this:
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```text
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query "" {
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policy = "read"
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}
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query "foo" {
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policy = "write"
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}
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```
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Query rules are keyed by the query name prefix they apply to, using the longest prefix match rule. In
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the example above, the rules allow read-only access to any query name with the empty prefix, and allow
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read-write access to any query name that starts with "foo". This allows control of the query namespace
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to be delegated based on ACLs.
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There are a few variations when using ACLs with prepared queries, each of which uses ACLs in one of two
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ways: open, protected by unguessable IDs or closed, managed by ACL policies. These variations are covered
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here, with examples:
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* Static queries with no `Name` defined are not controlled by any ACL policies.
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These types of queries are meant to be ephemeral and not shared to untrusted
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clients, and they are only reachable if the prepared query ID is known. Since
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these IDs are generated using the same random ID scheme as ACL Tokens, it is
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infeasible to guess them. When listing all prepared queries, only a management
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token will be able to see these types, though clients can read instances for
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which they have an ID. An example use for this type is a query built by a
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startup script, tied to a session, and written to a configuration file for a
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process to use via DNS.
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* Static queries with a `Name` defined are controlled by the `query` ACL policy.
|
||
Clients are required to have an ACL token with a prefix sufficient to cover
|
||
the name they are trying to manage, with a longest prefix match providing a
|
||
way to define more specific policies. Clients can list or read queries for
|
||
which they have "read" access based on their prefix, and similar they can
|
||
update any queries for which they have "write" access. An example use for
|
||
this type is a query with a well-known name (eg. `prod-master-customer-db`)
|
||
that is used and known by many clients to provide geo-failover behavior for
|
||
a database.
|
||
|
||
* [Template queries](/api/query.html#templates)
|
||
queries work like static queries with a `Name` defined, except that a catch-all
|
||
template with an empty `Name` requires an ACL token that can write to any query
|
||
prefix.
|
||
|
||
When prepared queries are executed via DNS lookups or HTTP requests, the ACL
|
||
checks are run against the service being queried, similar to how ACLs work with
|
||
other service lookups. There are several ways the ACL token is selected for this
|
||
check:
|
||
|
||
* If an ACL Token was captured when the prepared query was defined, it will be
|
||
used to perform the service lookup. This allows queries to be executed by
|
||
clients with lesser or even no ACL Token, so this should be used with care.
|
||
|
||
* If no ACL Token was captured, then the client's ACL Token will be used to
|
||
perform the service lookup.
|
||
|
||
* If no ACL Token was captured and the client has no ACL Token, then the
|
||
anonymous token will be used to perform the service lookup.
|
||
|
||
In the common case, the ACL Token of the invoker is used
|
||
to test the ability to look up a service. If a `Token` was specified when the
|
||
prepared query was created, the behavior changes and now the captured
|
||
ACL Token set by the definer of the query is used when looking up a service.
|
||
|
||
Capturing ACL Tokens is analogous to
|
||
[PostgreSQL’s](http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-createfunction.html)
|
||
`SECURITY DEFINER` attribute which can be set on functions, and using the client's ACL
|
||
Token is similar to the complementary `SECURITY INVOKER` attribute.
|
||
|
||
Prepared queries were originally introduced in Consul 0.6.0, and ACL behavior remained
|
||
unchanged through version 0.6.3, but was then changed to allow better management of the
|
||
prepared query namespace.
|
||
|
||
These differences are outlined in the table below:
|
||
|
||
<table class="table table-bordered table-striped">
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<th>Operation</th>
|
||
<th>Version <= 0.6.3 </th>
|
||
<th>Version > 0.6.3 </th>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>Create static query without `Name`</td>
|
||
<td>The ACL Token used to create the prepared query is checked to make sure it can access the service being queried. This token is captured as the `Token` to use when executing the prepared query.</td>
|
||
<td>No ACL policies are used as long as no `Name` is defined. No `Token` is captured by default unless specifically supplied by the client when creating the query.</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>Create static query with `Name`</td>
|
||
<td>The ACL Token used to create the prepared query is checked to make sure it can access the service being queried. This token is captured as the `Token` to use when executing the prepared query.</td>
|
||
<td>The client token's `query` ACL policy is used to determine if the client is allowed to register a query for the given `Name`. No `Token` is captured by default unless specifically supplied by the client when creating the query.</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>Manage static query without `Name`</td>
|
||
<td>The ACL Token used to create the query, or a management token must be supplied in order to perform these operations.</td>
|
||
<td>Any client with the ID of the query can perform these operations.</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>Manage static query with a `Name`</td>
|
||
<td>The ACL token used to create the query, or a management token must be supplied in order to perform these operations.</td>
|
||
<td>Similar to create, the client token's `query` ACL policy is used to determine if these operations are allowed.</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>List queries</td>
|
||
<td>A management token is required to list any queries.</td>
|
||
<td>The client token's `query` ACL policy is used to determine which queries they can see. Only management tokens can see prepared queries without `Name`.</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>Execute query</td>
|
||
<td>Since a `Token` is always captured when a query is created, that is used to check access to the service being queried. Any token supplied by the client is ignored.</td>
|
||
<td>The captured token, client's token, or anonymous token is used to filter the results, as described above.</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
</table>
|
||
|
||
#### Service Rules
|
||
|
||
The `service` policy controls service-level registration and read access to the [Catalog API](/api/catalog.html)
|
||
and service discovery with the [Health API](/api/health.html).
|
||
|
||
Service rules look like this:
|
||
|
||
```text
|
||
service "" {
|
||
policy = "read"
|
||
}
|
||
service "app" {
|
||
policy = "write"
|
||
}
|
||
service "admin" {
|
||
policy = "deny"
|
||
}
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Service rules are keyed by the service name prefix they apply to, using the longest prefix match rule. In
|
||
the example above, the rules allow read-only access to any service name with the empty prefix, allow
|
||
read-write access to any service name that starts with "app", and deny all access to any service name that
|
||
starts with "admin".
|
||
|
||
Consul's DNS interface is affected by restrictions on service rules. If the
|
||
[`acl_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_token) used by the agent does not have "read" access to a
|
||
given service, then the DNS interface will return no records when queried for it.
|
||
|
||
When reading from the catalog or retrieving information from the health endpoints, service rules are
|
||
used to filter the results of the query.
|
||
|
||
Service rules come into play when using the [Agent API](/api/agent.html) to register services or
|
||
checks. The agent will check tokens locally as a service or check is registered, and Consul also
|
||
performs periodic [anti-entropy](/docs/internals/anti-entropy.html) syncs, which may require an
|
||
ACL token to complete. To accommodate this, Consul provides two methods of configuring ACL tokens
|
||
to use for registration events:
|
||
|
||
1. Using the [acl_token](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_token) configuration
|
||
directive. This allows a single token to be configured globally and used
|
||
during all service and check registration operations.
|
||
2. Providing an ACL token with service and check definitions at
|
||
registration time. This allows for greater flexibility and enables the use
|
||
of multiple tokens on the same agent. Examples of what this looks like are
|
||
available for both [services](/docs/agent/services.html) and
|
||
[checks](/docs/agent/checks.html). Tokens may also be passed to the
|
||
[HTTP API](/api/index.html) for operations that require them.
|
||
|
||
#### Session Rules
|
||
|
||
The `session` policy controls access to [Session API](/api/session.html)] operations.
|
||
|
||
Session rules look like this:
|
||
|
||
```text
|
||
session "" {
|
||
policy = "read"
|
||
}
|
||
session "app" {
|
||
policy = "write"
|
||
}
|
||
session "admin" {
|
||
policy = "deny"
|
||
}
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Session rules are keyed by the node name prefix they apply to, using the longest prefix match rule. In
|
||
the example above, the rules allow read-only access to sessions on node name with the empty prefix, allow
|
||
creating sessions on any node name that starts with "app", and deny all access to any sessions on a node
|
||
name that starts with "admin".
|
||
|
||
## Advanced Topics
|
||
|
||
<a name="replication"></a>
|
||
#### Outages and ACL Replication
|
||
|
||
The Consul ACL system is designed with flexible rules to accommodate for an outage
|
||
of the [`acl_datacenter`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_datacenter) or networking
|
||
issues preventing access to it. In this case, it may be impossible for
|
||
agents in non-authoritative datacenters to resolve tokens. Consul provides
|
||
a number of configurable [`acl_down_policy`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_down_policy)
|
||
choices to tune behavior. It is possible to deny or permit all actions or to ignore
|
||
cache TTLs and enter a fail-safe mode. The default is to ignore cache TTLs
|
||
for any previously resolved tokens and to deny any uncached tokens.
|
||
|
||
Consul 0.7 added an ACL Replication capability that can allow non-authoritative
|
||
datacenter agents to resolve even uncached tokens. This is enabled by setting an
|
||
[`acl_replication_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_replication_token) in the
|
||
configuration on the servers in the non-authoritative datacenters. With replication
|
||
enabled, the servers will maintain a replica of the authoritative datacenter's full
|
||
set of ACLs on the non-authoritative servers. The ACL replication token needs to be
|
||
a valid ACL token with management privileges, it can also be the same as the master
|
||
ACL token.
|
||
|
||
Replication occurs with a background process that looks for new ACLs approximately
|
||
every 30 seconds. Replicated changes are written at a rate that's throttled to
|
||
100 updates/second, so it may take several minutes to perform the initial sync of
|
||
a large set of ACLs.
|
||
|
||
If there's a partition or other outage affecting the authoritative datacenter,
|
||
and the [`acl_down_policy`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_down_policy)
|
||
is set to "extend-cache", tokens will be resolved during the outage using the
|
||
replicated set of ACLs. An [ACL replication status](/api/acl.html#acl_replication_status)
|
||
endpoint is available to monitor the health of the replication process.
|
||
|
||
Locally-resolved ACLs will be cached using the [`acl_ttl`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_ttl)
|
||
setting of the non-authoritative datacenter, so these entries may persist in the
|
||
cache for up to the TTL, even after the authoritative datacenter comes back online.
|
||
|
||
ACL replication can also be used to migrate ACLs from one datacenter to another
|
||
using a process like this:
|
||
|
||
1. Enable ACL replication in all datacenters to allow continuation of service
|
||
during the migration, and to populate the target datacenter. Verify replication
|
||
is healthy and caught up to the current ACL index in the target datacenter
|
||
using the [ACL replication status](/api/acl.html#acl_replication_status)
|
||
endpoint.
|
||
2. Turn down the old authoritative datacenter servers.
|
||
3. Rolling restart the agents in the target datacenter and change the
|
||
`acl_datacenter` servers to itself. This will automatically turn off
|
||
replication and will enable the datacenter to start acting as the authoritative
|
||
datacenter, using its replicated ACLs from before.
|
||
3. Rolling restart the agents in other datacenters and change their `acl_datacenter`
|
||
configuration to the target datacenter.
|
||
|
||
<a name="version_8_acls"></a>
|
||
#### Complete ACL Coverage in Consul 0.8
|
||
|
||
Consul 0.8 added many more ACL policy types and brought ACL enforcement to Consul
|
||
agents for the first time. To ease the transition to Consul 0.8 for existing ACL
|
||
users, there's a configuration option to disable these new features. To disable
|
||
support for these new ACLs, set the
|
||
[`acl_enforce_version_8`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_enforce_version_8) configuration
|
||
option to `false` on Consul clients and servers.
|
||
|
||
Here's a summary of the new features:
|
||
|
||
* Agents now check [`node`](#node-rules) and [`service`](#service-rules) ACL policies
|
||
for catalog-related operations in `/v1/agent` endpoints, such as service and check
|
||
registration and health check updates.
|
||
* Agents enforce a new [`agent`](#agent-rules) ACL policy for utility operations in
|
||
`/v1/agent` endpoints, such as joins and leaves.
|
||
* A new [`node`](#node-rules) ACL policy is enforced throughout Consul, providing a
|
||
mechanism to restrict registration and discovery of nodes by name. This also applies
|
||
to service discovery, so provides an additional dimension for controlling access to
|
||
services.
|
||
* A new [`session`](#session-rules) ACL policy controls the ability to create session
|
||
objects by node name.
|
||
* Anonymous prepared queries (non-templates without a `Name`) now require a valid
|
||
session, which ties their creation to the new [`session`](#session-rules) ACL policy.
|
||
* The existing [`event`](#event-rules) ACL policy has been applied to the
|
||
`/v1/event/list` endpoint.
|
||
|
||
Two new configuration options are used once version 8 ACLs are enabled:
|
||
|
||
* [`acl_agent_master_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_agent_master_token) is used as
|
||
a special access token that has `agent` ACL policy `write` privileges on each agent where
|
||
it is configured. This token should only be used by operators during outages when Consul
|
||
servers aren't available to resolve ACL tokens. Applications should use regular ACL
|
||
tokens during normal operation.
|
||
* [`acl_agent_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_agent_token) is used internally by
|
||
Consul agents to perform operations to the service catalog when registering themselves
|
||
or sending network coordinates to the servers. This token must at least have `node` ACL
|
||
policy `write` access to the node name it will register as in order to register any
|
||
node-level information like metadata or tagged addresses.
|
||
|
||
Since clients now resolve ACLs locally, the [`acl_down_policy`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_down_policy)
|
||
now applies to Consul clients as well as Consul servers. This will determine what the
|
||
client will do in the event that the servers are down.
|
||
|
||
Consul clients must have [`acl_datacenter`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_datacenter) configured
|
||
in order to enable agent-level ACL features. If this is set, the agents will contact the Consul
|
||
servers to determine if ACLs are enabled at the cluster level. If they detect that ACLs are not
|
||
enabled, they will check at most every 2 minutes to see if they have become enabled, and will
|
||
start enforcing ACLs automatically. If an agent has an `acl_datacenter` defined, operators will
|
||
need to use the [`acl_agent_master_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_agent_master_token) to
|
||
perform agent-level operations if the Consul servers aren't present (such as for a manual join
|
||
to the cluster), unless the [`acl_down_policy`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_down_policy) on the
|
||
agent is set to "allow".
|
||
|
||
Non-server agents do not need to have the
|
||
[`acl_master_token`](/docs/agent/options.html#acl_agent_master_token) configured; it is not
|
||
used by agents in any way.
|