How to Install Consul Server on Ubuntu Linux

Prerequisites

• A machine running Ubuntu Linux (18.04 or later)
• Sudo privileges
• Stable internet connection for software download

Update System Packages

Open up your terminal and begin by updating your package lists:

sudo apt-get update

Then, upgrade your system packages to the latest versions:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Download Consul

To download Consul for your Ubuntu system, you need to grab the official zip file from the HashiCorp website using terminal tools. You can install the 💿 required tools and fetch the package by running sudo apt-get install wget unzip, which prepares your machine to install Consul server Ubuntu without missing dependencies.

First, install wget if you do not have it already:

sudo apt-get install wget unzip

Next, download the Consul zip archive. You can find the latest version from the link below:

Consul latest version

CONSUL_VERSION="1.17.2"
wget https://releases.hashicorp.com/consul/${CONSUL_VERSION}/consul_${CONSUL_VERSION}_linux_amd64.zip

Replace "1.17.2" with the latest Consul version if there is a newer one available.

Install Consul

Installing Consul on your Ubuntu machine requires extracting the downloaded zip archive and moving the binary file into your system path. This process makes the command available globally so you can verify the installation and successfully install Consul server Ubuntu from any terminal window.

unzip consul_${CONSUL_VERSION}_linux_amd64.zip

Move the Consul binary to your system's PATH so that it can be executed from anywhere:

sudo mv consul /usr/local/bin/

Verify the installation:

consul --version

The command should output similar lines shown below;

Consul v1.17.2
Revision 7736539d
Build Date 2024-01-22T16:55:18Z
Protocol 2 spoken by default, understands 2 to 3 (agent will automatically use protocol >2 when speaking to compatible agents)

Create a Consul User

For security reasons, it's best not to run Consul as root. Create a new user for Consul:

sudo useradd --system --home /etc/consul.d --shell /bin/false consul

Configure Consul

Configuring Consul requires setting up dedicated storage directories for configuration files and data, then assigning proper ownership to a dedicated system user. These steps ensure that when you install Consul server Ubuntu, the application has the right permissions to read its settings and run securely.

sudo mkdir --parents /opt/consul
sudo mkdir --parents /etc/consul.d

Grant the Consul user ownership of those directories:

sudo chown --recursive consul:consul /opt/consul
sudo chown --recursive consul:consul /etc/consul.d

Create a basic configuration file by running the command below.

sudo nano /etc/consul.d/consul.hcl

Remember to replace the bind_addr and advertise_addr addresses with your server's own.

{
  "datacenter": "dc1",
  "data_dir": "/opt/consul",
  "log_level": "INFO",
  "server": true,
  "ui": true,
  "bind_addr": "192.168.128.2",
  "client_addr": "0.0.0.0",
  "advertise_addr": "192.168.128.2",
  "bootstrap_expect": 1
}

Create a Systemd Service File

Creating a systemd service file lets Ubuntu manage Consul as a background process that starts automatically when the machine boots. You set this up by opening a new service configuration file in the nano editor and pasting the required startup parameters to properly install Consul server Ubuntu.

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/consul.service

Then, please copy and paste the content below into the file and save it.

[Unit]
Description=Consul Service
After=network.target

[Service]
User=consul
Group=consul
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/consul agent -config-dir=/etc/consul.d/
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
KillMode=process
Restart=on-failure
LimitNOFILE=65536

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Next, reload the systemd daemon and enable the Consul service to run on system boot:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable consul

Start and Verify the Consul Service

Starting and verifying the Consul service ensures the application is running correctly and enabled to start on boot. You can launch the daemon and check its current health by running standard systemctl commands, which confirms you have successfully completed your goal to install Consul server Ubuntu.

sudo systemctl start consul

Check the status of the service:

sudo systemctl status consul

You should see similar lines as shown below.

 consul.service - Consul Service
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/consul.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2024-01-26 08:17:23 CST; 1min 43s ago
   Main PID: 9990 (consul)
      Tasks: 8 (limit: 4571)
     Memory: 25.9M
        CPU: 1.255s
     CGroup: /system.slice/consul.service
             └─9990 /usr/local/bin/consul agent -config-dir=/etc/consul.d/

Access the Consul Web UI

Accessing the Consul web UI gives you a visual dashboard to manage your cluster and check service health directly in your browser. You open this interface by typing your server address and port 8500 into the URL bar after you finish your setup to install Consul server Ubuntu.

http://<Your_Ubuntu_Machine_IP>:8500/ui/

Replace <Your_Ubuntu_Machine_IP> with the actual IP address of your Ubuntu machine.

That should do it!

Conclusion:

• Consul by HashiCorp is a powerful tool for managing microservices, service meshes, and distributed systems. It provides automated network configurations, service discovery, and secure connectivity across any cloud or runtime environment.
• Following the installation guide, you have successfully installed Consul on your Ubuntu server. This allows you to organize services, manage dependencies, and automate common networking tasks.
• With Consul's intuitive web UI and robust features, you are now ready to join other nodes to your cluster, configure service discovery, and set up service meshes to meet your organization's specific requirements.