--- layout: docs page_title: Internals Overview description: >- To enhance your understanding of how to use, troubleshoot, and secure Consul, learn more 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.