460 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
460 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
---
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layout: docs
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page_title: Service Sync - Kubernetes
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sidebar_title: Service Sync
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description: >-
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The services in Kubernetes and Consul can be automatically synced so that
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Kubernetes services are available to Consul agents and services in Consul can
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be available as first-class Kubernetes services.
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---
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# Syncing Kubernetes and Consul Services
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The services in Kubernetes and Consul can be automatically synced so that Kubernetes
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services are available to Consul agents and services in Consul can be available
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as first-class Kubernetes services. This functionality is provided by the
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[consul-k8s project](https://github.com/hashicorp/consul-k8s) and can be
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automatically installed and configured using the
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[Consul Helm chart](/docs/k8s/installation/install).
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**Why sync Kubernetes services to Consul?** Kubernetes services synced to the
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Consul catalog enable Kubernetes services to be accessed by any node that
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is part of the Consul cluster, including other distinct Kubernetes clusters.
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For non-Kubernetes nodes, they can access services using the standard
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[Consul DNS](/docs/discovery/dns) or HTTP API.
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**Why sync Consul services to Kubernetes?** Syncing Consul services to
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Kubernetes services enables non-Kubernetes services (such as external to
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the cluster) to be accessed in a native Kubernetes way: using kube-dns,
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environment variables, etc. This makes it very easy to automate external
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service discovery, including hosted services like databases.
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## Installation and Configuration
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The service sync is done using an external long-running process in the
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[consul-k8s project](https://github.com/hashicorp/consul-k8s). This process
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can run either in or out of a Kubernetes cluster. However, running this within
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the Kubernetes cluster is generally easier since it is automated using the
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[Helm chart](/docs/k8s/helm).
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The Consul server cluster can run either in or out of a Kubernetes cluster.
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The Consul server cluster does not need to be running on the same machine
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or same platform as the sync process. The sync process needs to be configured
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with the address to a Consul agent as well as any additional access
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information such as ACL tokens.
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To install the sync process, enable the catalog sync feature using
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[Helm values](/docs/k8s/helm#configuration-values) and
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upgrade the installation using `helm upgrade` for existing installs or
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`helm install` for a fresh install.
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```yaml
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syncCatalog:
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enabled: true
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```
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This will enable services to sync _in both directions_. You can also choose
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to only sync Kubernetes services to Consul or vice versa by disabling a direction.
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To only enable syncing Consul services to Kubernetes use the config:
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```yaml
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syncCatalog:
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enabled: true
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toConsul: false
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toK8S: true
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```
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To only enable syncing Kubernetes services to Consul use:
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```yaml
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syncCatalog:
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enabled: true
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toConsul: true
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toK8S: false
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```
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See the [Helm configuration](/docs/k8s/helm#v-synccatalog)
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for more information.
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### Authentication
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The sync process must authenticate to both Kubernetes and Consul to read
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and write services.
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If running `consul-k8s` using the Helm chart then this authentication is handled for you.
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If running `consul-k8s` outside of Kubernetes, a valid kubeconfig file must be provided with cluster
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and authentication information. The sync process will look into the default locations
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for both in-cluster and out-of-cluster authentication. If `kubectl` works,
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then the sync program should work.
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For Consul, if ACLs are configured on the cluster, a Consul
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[ACL token](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/consul/access-control-setup-production)
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will need to be provided. Review the [ACL rules](/docs/agent/acl-rules)
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when creating this token so that it only allows the necessary privileges. The catalog
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sync process accepts this token by using the [`CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN`](/docs/commands#consul_http_token)
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environment variable. This token should be set as a
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[Kubernetes secret](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/secret/#creating-your-own-secrets)
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and referenced in the Helm chart.
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## Kubernetes to Consul
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This sync registers Kubernetes services to the Consul catalog automatically.
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This enables discovery and connection to Kubernetes services using native
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Consul service discovery such as DNS or HTTP. This is particularly useful for
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non-Kubernetes nodes. This also causes all discoverable services to be part of
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a central service catalog in Consul for further syncing into alternate
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Kubernetes clusters or other platforms.
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Each synced service will be registered onto a Consul node called `k8s-sync`. This
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is not a real node because there is no Consul client registering and monitoring
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the services. Instead, the catalog sync process is monitoring Kubernetes
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and syncing the services to Consul.
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### Kubernetes Service Types
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Not all Kubernetes services are externally accessible. The sync program by
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default will only sync services of the following types or configurations.
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If a service type is not listed below, then the sync program will ignore that
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service type.
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#### NodePort
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[NodePort services](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/service/#nodeport)
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register a static port that every node in the K8S cluster listens on.
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For NodePort services, a Consul service instance will be created for each
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node that has the representative pod running. While Kubernetes configures
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a static port on all nodes in the cluster, this limits the number of service
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instances to be equal to the nodes running the target pods.
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By default it will use the external IP of the node but this can be configured via
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the [`nodePortSyncType` helm option](/docs/k8s/helm#v-synccatalog-nodeportsynctype).
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The service instance's port will be set to the _first_ defined node port of the service unless
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set specifically via the `consul.hashicorp.com/service-port` annotation (see [Service Ports](/docs/k8s/service-sync#service-ports)).
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#### LoadBalancer
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For LoadBalancer services, a single service instance will be registered with
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the external IP of the created load balancer. Because this is already a load
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balancer, only one service instance will be registered with Consul rather
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than registering each individual pod endpoint.
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The service instance's port will be set to the _first_ defined port of the
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service unless set specifically via the `consul.hashicorp.com/service-port` annotation (see [Service Ports](/docs/k8s/service-sync#service-ports)).
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#### External IPs
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Any service type may specify an
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"[external IP](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/service/#external-ips)"
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configuration. The external IP must be configured by some other system, but
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any service discovery will resolve to this set of IP addresses rather than a
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virtual IP.
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If an external IP list is present, a service instance in Consul will be created
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for each external IP. It is assumed that if an external IP is present that it
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is routable and configured by some other system.
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The service instance's port will be set to the _first_ defined port of the
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service unless set specifically via the `consul.hashicorp.com/service-port` annotation (see [Service Ports](/docs/k8s/service-sync#service-ports)).
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#### ClusterIP
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ClusterIP services are synced by default as of `consul-k8s` version 0.3.0.
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Each pod that is an endpoint for the service will be synced as a Consul service
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instance with its IP set to the pod IP and its port set to the `targetPort`.
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The service instance's port can be overridden via the `consul.hashicorp.com/service-port` annotation (see [Service Ports](/docs/k8s/service-sync#service-ports)).
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-> In Kubernetes clusters where pod IPs are not accessible outside the cluster,
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the services registered in Consul may not be routable. To
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skip syncing ClusterIP services, set [`syncClusterIPServices`](/docs/k8s/helm#v-synccatalog-syncclusteripservices)
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to `false` in the Helm chart values file.
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### Sync Enable/Disable
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By default, all valid service types (as explained above) are synced from every Kubernetes
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namespace (except for `kube-system` and `kube-public`).
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If you wish to only sync specific services via annotation, set the default to `false`:
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```yaml
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syncCatalog:
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enabled: true
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default: false
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```
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And explicitly enable syncing specific services via the `consul.hashicorp.com/service-sync` annotation:
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```yaml
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kind: Service
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apiVersion: v1
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metadata:
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name: my-service
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annotations:
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'consul.hashicorp.com/service-sync': 'true'
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```
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-> **NOTE:** If the annotation is set to `false` when the default sync is `true`, the service will **not** be synced.
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You can allow or deny syncing from specific Kubernetes namespaces by setting the
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`k8sAllowNamespaces` and `k8sDenyNamespaces` keys:
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```yaml
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syncCatalog:
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enabled: true
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default: true
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k8sAllowNamespaces: ['*']
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k8sDenyNamespaces: ['kube-system', 'kube-public']
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```
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In the default configuration (shown above), services from all namespaces except for
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`kube-system` and `kube-public` will be synced.
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If you wish to only sync from specific namespaces, you can list only those
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namespaces in the `k8sAllowNamespaces` key:
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```yaml
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syncCatalog:
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enabled: true
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default: true
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k8sAllowNamespaces: ['my-ns-1', 'my-ns-2']
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k8sDenyNamespaces: []
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```
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If you wish to sync from every namespace _except_ specific namespaces, you can
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use `*` in the allow list and then specify the non-syncing namespaces in the deny list:
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```yaml
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syncCatalog:
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enabled: true
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default: true
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k8sAllowNamespaces: ['*']
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k8sDenyNamespaces: ['no-sync-ns-1', 'no-sync-ns-2']
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```
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-> **NOTE:** The deny list takes precedence over the allow list. If a namespace
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is listed in both lists, it will **not** be synced.
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### Service Name
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When a Kubernetes service is synced to Consul, the name of the service in Consul
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by default will be the value of the "name" metadata on that Kubernetes service.
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This makes it so that service sync works with zero configuration changes.
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This can be overridden using an annotation to specify the Consul service name:
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```yaml
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kind: Service
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apiVersion: v1
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metadata:
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name: my-service
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annotations:
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'consul.hashicorp.com/service-name': my-consul-service
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```
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**If a conflicting service name exists in Consul,** the sync program will
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register additional instances to that same service. Therefore, services inside
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and outside of Kubernetes should have different names unless you want either
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side to potentially connect. This default behavior also enables gracefully
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transitioning a service from outside of K8S to inside, and vice versa.
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### Service Ports
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When syncing the Kubernetes service to Consul, the Consul service port will be
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the first defined port in the service. Additionally, all ports will be
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registered in the service instance metadata with the key "port-X" where X is
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the name of the port and the value is the externally accessible port.
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The default service port can be overridden using an annotation:
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```yaml
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kind: Service
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apiVersion: v1
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metadata:
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name: my-service
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annotations:
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'consul.hashicorp.com/service-port': 'http'
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```
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The annotation value may be a name of a port (recommended) or an exact port value.
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### Service Tags
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A service registered in Consul from Kubernetes will always have the tag "k8s" added
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to it. Additional tags can be specified with a comma-separated annotation value
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as shown below. This will also automatically include the "k8s" tag which can't
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be disabled. The values should be specified comma-separated without any
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additional whitespace.
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```yaml
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kind: Service
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apiVersion: v1
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metadata:
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name: my-service
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annotations:
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'consul.hashicorp.com/service-tags': 'primary,foo'
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```
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### Service Meta
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A service registered in Consul from Kubernetes will set the `external-source` key to
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"kubernetes". This can be used by API consumers, the UI, CLI, etc. to filter
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service instances that are set in k8s. The Consul UI (in Consul 1.2.3 and later)
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will read this value to show a Kubernetes icon next to all externally
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registered services from Kubernetes.
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Additional metadata can be specified using annotations. The "KEY" below can be
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set to any key. This allows setting multiple meta values:
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```yaml
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kind: Service
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apiVersion: v1
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metadata:
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name: my-service
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annotations:
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'consul.hashicorp.com/service-meta-KEY': 'value'
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```
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### Consul Enterprise Namespaces
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Consul Enterprise supports Consul namespaces. These can be used when syncing
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from Kubernetes to Consul (although not vice-versa).
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There are three options available:
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1. **Single Destination Namespace** – Sync all Kubernetes services, regardless of namespace,
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into the same Consul namespace.
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This can be configured with:
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```yaml
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global:
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enableConsulNamespaces: true
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syncCatalog:
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enabled: true
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consulNamespaces:
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consulDestinationNamespace: 'my-consul-ns'
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```
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1. **Mirror Namespaces** - Each Kubernetes service will be synced to a Consul namespace with the same
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name as its Kubernetes namespace.
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For example, service `foo` in Kubernetes namespace `ns-1` will be synced to the Consul namespace `ns-1`.
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If a mirrored namespace does not exist in Consul, it will be created.
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This can be configured with:
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```yaml
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global:
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enableConsulNamespaces: true
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syncCatalog:
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enabled: true
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consulNamespaces:
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mirroringK8S: true
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addK8SNamespaceSuffix: false
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```
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1. **Mirror Namespaces With Prefix** - Each Kubernetes service will be synced to a Consul namespace
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with the same name as its Kubernetes namespace **with a prefix**. For example, given a prefix
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`k8s-`, service `foo` in Kubernetes namespace `ns-1` will be synced to the Consul namespace
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`k8s-ns-1`.
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This can be configured with:
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```yaml
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global:
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enableConsulNamespaces: true
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syncCatalog:
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enabled: true
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consulNamespaces:
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mirroringK8S: true
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mirroringK8SPrefix: 'k8s-'
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addK8SNamespaceSuffix: false
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```
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-> Note that in both mirroring examples we're setting `addK8SNamespaceSuffix: false`. If set to `true`
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(the default), the Kubernetes namespace will be added as a suffix to each
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Consul service name. For example Kubernetes service `foo` in namespace `k8s-ns`
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would be registered into Consul with the name `foo-k8s-ns`.
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This is useful when syncing from multiple Kubernetes namespaces to
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a single consul namespace but is likely something you'll want turned off
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when mirroring namespaces since services won't overlap with services from
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other namespaces.
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## Consul to Kubernetes
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This syncs Consul services into first-class Kubernetes services.
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The sync service will create an [`ExternalName`](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/service/#externalname)
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`Service` for each Consul service. The "external name" will be
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the Consul DNS name.
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For example, given a Consul service `foo`, a Kubernetes Service will be created
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as follows:
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```yaml
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apiVersion: v1
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kind: Service
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metadata:
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name: foo
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...
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spec:
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externalName: foo.service.consul
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type: ExternalName
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```
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With Consul To Kubernetes syncing enabled, DNS requests of the form `<consul-service-name>`
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will be serviced by Consul DNS. From a different Kubernetes namespace than where Consul
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is deployed, the DNS request would need to be `<consul-service-name>.<consul-namespace>`.
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-> **Note:** Consul to Kubernetes syncing **isn't required** if you've enabled [Consul DNS on Kubernetes](/docs/k8s/dns)
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_and_ all you need to do is address services in the form `<consul-service-name>.service.consul`, i.e. you don't need Kubernetes `Service` objects created.
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~> **Requires Consul DNS via CoreDNS in Kubernetes:** This feature requires that
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[Consul DNS](/docs/k8s/dns) is configured within Kubernetes.
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Additionally, **[CoreDNS](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/dns-custom-nameservers/#config-coredns)
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is required (instead of kube-dns)** to resolve an
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issue with resolving `externalName` services pointing to custom domains.
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### Sync Enable/Disable
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All Consul services visible to the sync process based on its given ACL token
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will be synced to Kubernetes.
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There is no way to change this behavior per service. For the opposite sync
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direction (Kubernetes to Consul), you can use Kubernetes annotations to disable
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a sync per service. This is not currently possible for Consul to Kubernetes
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sync and the ACL token must be used to limit what services are synced.
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In the future, we hope to support per-service configuration.
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### Service Name
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When a Consul service is synced to Kubernetes, the name of the Kubernetes
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service will exactly match the name of the Consul service.
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To change this default exact match behavior, it is possible to specify a
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prefix to be added to service names within Kubernetes by using the
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`-k8s-service-prefix` flag. This can also be specified in the Helm
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configuration.
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**If a conflicting service is found,** the service will not be synced. This
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does not match the Kubernetes to Consul behavior, but given the current
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implementation we must do this because Kubernetes can't mix both CNAME and
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Endpoint-based services.
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### Kubernetes Service Labels and Annotations
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Any Consul services synced to Kubernetes will be labeled and annotated.
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An annotation `consul.hashicorp.com/synced` will be set to "true" to note
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that this is a synced service from Consul.
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Additionally, a label `consul=true` will be specified so that label selectors
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can be used with `kubectl` and other tooling to easily filter all Consul-synced
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services.
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