aphorise/hashicorp.vagrant_consul

A Vagrantfile of a Consul cluster with 3 server nodes & 2 client nodes using some secure configuration settings.

HashiCorp vagrant mock of consul

This repo contains a Vagrantfile mocking an example of a Consul cluster / setup consisting of three (3) server VM's as well as another three (2) client VM instances. Official documentation, guides and documentation may be found at: learn.hashicorp.com or consul.io/docs

Makeup & Concept

A depiction below shows network connectivity and overall PRC, Gossip, UDP/TCP ports (8300-8302, 8500, 8600) expected to be produced. Consul servers are configured with recommended hardening setting of agent-encryption & TLS certificates.

CONSUL SERVER AGENTS: ._________________.252
      (HA Mode)       | consul-server1  |               CONSUL CLIENT AGENTS:
                      | leader at start |                    ._________________.
                      |_________________|                    | consul-client1  |
                      ▲                 ▲               <----|_________________|
                     /                   \                           
                    /                     \                      ._________________.
     ._____________▼___.251            .___▼_____________.250    | consul-client2  |
     | consul-server2  |               | consul-server3  |  <----|_________________|
     |    follower     |◄-------------►|    follower     |
     |_________________|               |_________________|  ... + other nodes ...

Prerequisites

Ensure that you already have the following hardware & software requirements:

HARDWARE

• RAM 5+ Gb Free at least (ensure you're not hitting SWAP either or are < 100Mb)
• CPU 5+ Cores Free at least (2 or more per instance better)
• Network interface allowing IP assignment and interconnection in VirtualBox bridged mode for all instances.
• • adjust sNET='en0: Wi-Fi (Wireless)' in Vagrantfile to match your system.

SOFTWARE

• Virtualbox
• Virtualbox Guest Additions (VBox GA)

• MacOS (aka OSX) - VirtualBox 6.x+ is expected to be shipped with the related .iso present under (eg): /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso You may however need to download the .iso specific to your version (mount it) and execute the VBoxDarwinAdditions.pkg

• Vagrant
• Few (2-5) shell or screen sessions to allow for multiple SSH sessions.

Usage & Workflow

Refer to the contents of Vagrantfile for the number of instances, resources, Network, IP and provisioning steps.

The provided .sh script are installer helpers that download the latest binaries (or specific versions) and can install server / client mode systemd services.

Inline Environment Variables can be set for specific versions, modes (server / client), license and other settings that are part of 2.install_consul.sh.

vagrant up ; # or 'vagrant reload' when adjusting Vagrantfile.
 # // ... output of provisioning steps.

vagrant global-status --prune ; # should show running nodes
 # id       name           provider   state   directory
 # -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # 1dab856  consul-server1 virtualbox running /home/auser/hashicorp.vagrant_consul
 # 4cf4a84  consul-server2 virtualbox running /home/auser/hashicorp.vagrant_consul
 # 44f02f0  consul-server3 virtualbox running /home/auser/hashicorp.vagrant_consul
 # a406fd4  consul-client1 virtualbox running /home/auser/hashicorp.vagrant_consul
 # 1d165d0  consul-client2 virtualbox running /home/auser/hashicorp.vagrant_consul

vagrant ssh consul-server1 ;

# vagrant@consul-server1:~$ \
consul members list ;
 # Node            Address              Status  Type    Build  Protocol  DC   Segment
 # consul-server1  192.168.77.1:8301    alive   server  1.5.1  2         dc1  <all>
 # consul-server2  192.168.77.2:8301    alive   server  1.5.1  2         dc1  <all>
 # consul-server3  192.168.77.3:8301    alive   server  1.5.1  2         dc1  <all>
 # consul-client1  192.168.77.253:8301  alive   client  1.5.1  2         dc1  <default>
 # consul-client2  192.168.77.252:8301  alive   client  1.5.1  2         dc1  <default>

# vagrant@consul-server1:~$ \
consul operator raft list-peers ;
 # Node            ID                                    Address            State     Voter  RaftProtocol
 # consul-server1  eff2053c-50d6-ec34-e83a-e3ca2c258b18  192.168.77.1:8300  leader    true   3
 # consul-server2  7fb6abf8-a529-5c88-ab8b-d790ff7eab3e  192.168.77.2:8300  follower  true   3
 # consul-server3  b11bf00e-c84f-fdce-5dab-b3bd00d94cc4  192.168.77.3:8300  follower  true   3
# vagrant@consul-server1:~$ \
exit ;  # // CTRL+d to exit.


# // attempt some function from client1
vagrant ssh consul-client1 ;
# vagrant@consul-client1:~$ \
consul kv put test/write_test "SOME_RANDOM_VALUE_${RANDOM}" ;
 # Success! Data written to: test/write_test
# vagrant@consul-client1:~$ \
consul kv get test/write_test ;
 # SOME_RANDOM_VALUE_14578
exit ;  # // CTRL+d to exit when done

# // can attempt other scenarios of stopping nodes and seeing change in leaders
# // or enable ACL ...

# // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# when completely done:
vagrant destroy -f consul-server1 consul-server2 consul-server3 consul-client1 consul-client2 consul-client3 ; # ... destroy al
# vagrant box remove -f debian/buster64 --provider virtualbox ; # ... delete box images

Notes

This is intended as a mere practise / training exercise & may also be used toward setting up Consul ACL

Reference:

• aphorise/hashicorp.vagrant_vault_consul
• Consul Configuration

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