Deploy servers on HCP Consul

This page provides an overview for deploying Consul servers using HCP Consul. You can deploy HashiCorp-managed clusters or you can use guided workflows to create a self-managed cluster and link it to HCP Consul Central.

For more information about HashiCorp-managed clusters and how they differ from self-managed clusters, refer to cluster management in the HCP Consul documentation.

Introduction

Creating a HashiCorp-managed server cluster simplifies the overall process of bootstrapping Consul servers. Additional cluster maintenance operations are also simplified through the HCP Consul UI. The HCP platform automates the following parts of a server's lifecycle:

• Generating and distributing a gossip key between servers
• Starting the certificate authority and distributing TLS certificates to servers
• Bootstrapping the ACL system and saving tokens to a secure Vault environment
• Rotating expired TLS certificates after expiration
• Upgrading servers to new versions of Consul

You can also link your own self-managed Consul server clusters, or clusters you install, configure, and manage yourself, to HCP Consul. Using self-managed clusters with HCP Consul can help you streamline network operations while maintaining control over your clusters. It also enables HCP Consul Central features, such as observability dashboards, for your self-managed clusters.

Guidance

The following resources are available in the HCP Consul documentation to help you deploy HashiCorp-managed servers.

Tutorials

• Deploy HCP Consul demonstrates the end-to-end deployment for a development tier cluster using the automated Terraform workflow.

Concepts and reference

• Cluster management explains the difference between HashiCorp-managed clusters and self-managed clusters.
• Cluster tiers explains how the tier you select when creating a HashiCorp-managed cluster determines its multi-cloud functionality.
• Cluster configuration reference provides reference information about cluster properties, including the ports HashiCorp-managed servers listen on.

Usage documentation

• Create a HashiCorp-managed cluster
• Access a HashiCorp-managed cluster
• Link new self-managed clusters