diff --git a/website/source/intro/getting-started/agent.html.markdown b/website/source/intro/getting-started/agent.html.markdown index 78a44ef85..2a3cc186d 100644 --- a/website/source/intro/getting-started/agent.html.markdown +++ b/website/source/intro/getting-started/agent.html.markdown @@ -3,24 +3,26 @@ layout: "intro" page_title: "Run the Agent" sidebar_current: "gettingstarted-agent" description: |- - After Consul is installed, the agent must be run. The agent can either run in a server or client mode. Each datacenter must have at least one server, although 3 or 5 is recommended. A single server deployment is highly discouraged as data loss is inevitable in a failure scenario. + After Consul is installed, the agent must be run. The agent can either run in server or client mode. Each datacenter must have at least one server, though a cluster of 3 or 5 servers is recommended. A single server deployment is highly discouraged as data loss is inevitable in a failure scenario. --- # Run the Consul Agent After Consul is installed, the agent must be run. The agent can run either in server or client mode. Each datacenter must have at least one server, -although 3 or 5 is recommended. A single server deployment is _**highly**_ discouraged -as data loss is inevitable in a failure scenario. [This guide](/docs/guides/bootstrapping.html) -covers bootstrapping a new datacenter. +though a cluster of 3 or 5 servers is recommended. A single server deployment +is _**highly**_ discouraged as data loss is inevitable in a failure scenario. -All other agents run in client mode, a very lightweight +All other agents run in client mode. A client is a very lightweight process that registers services, runs health checks, and forwards queries to servers. The agent must be run on every node that is part of the cluster. +For more detail on bootstrapping a datacenter, see +[this guide](/docs/guides/bootstrapping.html). + ## Starting the Agent -For simplicity, we'll run a single Consul agent in server mode right now: +For simplicity, we'll run a single Consul agent in server mode: ```text $ consul agent -server -bootstrap-expect 1 -data-dir /tmp/consul @@ -63,9 +65,9 @@ the name of your node with the `-node` flag. ## Cluster Members -If you run `consul members` in another terminal, you can see the members of -the Consul cluster. We'll cover joining clusters in the next section, but for now, -you should only see one member (yourself): +If you run [`consul members`](/docs/commands/members.html) in another terminal, you +can see the members of the Consul cluster. We'll cover joining clusters in the next +section, but for now, you should only see one member (yourself): ```text $ consul members @@ -77,8 +79,8 @@ The output shows our own node, the address it is running on, its health state, its role in the cluster, and some version information. Additional metadata can be viewed by providing the `-detailed` flag. -The output of the `members` command is based on the -[gossip protocol](/docs/internals/gossip.html) and is eventually consistent. +The output of the [`members`](/docs/commands/members.html) command is based on +the [gossip protocol](/docs/internals/gossip.html) and is eventually consistent. That is, at any point in time, the view of the world as seen by your local agent may not exactly match the state on the servers. For a strongly consistent view of the world, use the [HTTP API](/docs/agent/http.html) as it forwards the @@ -89,12 +91,11 @@ $ curl localhost:8500/v1/catalog/nodes [{"Node":"Armons-MacBook-Air","Address":"10.1.10.38"}] ``` -In addition to the HTTP API, the -[DNS interface](/docs/agent/dns.html) can be used to query the node. Note -that you have to make sure to point your DNS lookups to the Consul agent's -DNS server which runs on port 8600 by default. The format of the DNS -entries (such as "Armons-MacBook-Air.node.consul") will be covered in more -detail later. +In addition to the HTTP API, the [DNS interface](/docs/agent/dns.html) can +be used to query the node. Note that you have to make sure to point your DNS +lookups to the Consul agent's DNS server which runs on port 8600 by default. +The format of the DNS entries (such as "Armons-MacBook-Air.node.consul") will +be covered in more detail later. ```text $ dig @127.0.0.1 -p 8600 Armons-MacBook-Air.node.consul @@ -122,6 +123,12 @@ Consul will automatically try to reconnect to _failed_ nodes, allowing it to recover from certain network conditions, while _left_ nodes are no longer contacted. Additionally, if an agent is operating as a server, a graceful leave is important -to avoid causing a potential availability outage affecting the [consensus protocol](/docs/internals/consensus.html). -See the [guides section](/docs/guides/index.html) for details on how to safely add +to avoid causing a potential availability outage affecting the +[consensus protocol](/docs/internals/consensus.html). See the +[guides section](/docs/guides/index.html) for details on how to safely add and remove servers. + +## Next Steps + +Your simple Consul cluster is up and running. Let's give it some +[services](services.html)! diff --git a/website/source/intro/getting-started/install.html.markdown b/website/source/intro/getting-started/install.html.markdown index cd880dfd6..e56d022d0 100644 --- a/website/source/intro/getting-started/install.html.markdown +++ b/website/source/intro/getting-started/install.html.markdown @@ -72,4 +72,7 @@ environment variable was not set up properly. Please go back and ensure that your `PATH` variable contains the directory where Consul was installed. -Otherwise, Consul is installed and ready to go! +## Next Steps + +Consul is installed and ready for operation. Let's +[run the agent](agent.html)!