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Gossip parameters for Consul agent configuration files

The page provides reference information for gossip parameters in a Consul agent configuration file.

Gossip parameters

  • gossip_lan - (Advanced) This object contains a number of sub-keys which can be set to tune the LAN gossip communications. These are only provided for users running especially large clusters that need fine tuning and are prepared to spend significant effort correctly tuning them for their environment and workload. Tuning these improperly can cause Consul to fail in unexpected ways. The default values are appropriate in almost all deployments.

    • gossip_nodes - The number of random nodes to send gossip messages to per gossip_interval. Increasing this number causes the gossip messages to propagate across the cluster more quickly at the expense of increased bandwidth. The default is 3.

    • gossip_interval - The interval between sending messages that need to be gossiped that haven't been able to piggyback on probing messages. If this is set to zero, non-piggyback gossip is disabled. By lowering this value (more frequent) gossip messages are propagated across the cluster more quickly at the expense of increased bandwidth. The default is 200ms.

    • probe_interval - The interval between random node probes. Setting this lower (more frequent) will cause the cluster to detect failed nodes more quickly at the expense of increased bandwidth usage. The default is 1s.

    • probe_timeout - The timeout to wait for an ack from a probed node before assuming it is unhealthy. This should be at least the 99-percentile of RTT (round-trip time) on your network. The default is 500ms and is a conservative value suitable for almost all realistic deployments.

    • retransmit_mult - The multiplier for the number of retransmissions that are attempted for messages broadcasted over gossip. The number of retransmits is scaled using this multiplier and the cluster size. The higher the multiplier, the more likely a failed broadcast is to converge at the expense of increased bandwidth. The default is 4.

    • suspicion_mult - The multiplier for determining the time an inaccessible node is considered suspect before declaring it dead. The timeout is scaled with the cluster size and the probe_interval. This allows the timeout to scale properly with expected propagation delay with a larger cluster size. The higher the multiplier, the longer an inaccessible node is considered part of the cluster before declaring it dead, giving that suspect node more time to refute if it is indeed still alive. The default is 4.

  • gossip_wan - (Advanced) This object contains a number of sub-keys which can be set to tune the WAN gossip communications. These are only provided for users running especially large clusters that need fine tuning and are prepared to spend significant effort correctly tuning them for their environment and workload. Tuning these improperly can cause Consul to fail in unexpected ways. The default values are appropriate in almost all deployments.

    • gossip_nodes - The number of random nodes to send gossip messages to per gossip_interval. Increasing this number causes the gossip messages to propagate across the cluster more quickly at the expense of increased bandwidth. The default is 4.

    • gossip_interval - The interval between sending messages that need to be gossiped that haven't been able to piggyback on probing messages. If this is set to zero, non-piggyback gossip is disabled. By lowering this value (more frequent) gossip messages are propagated across the cluster more quickly at the expense of increased bandwidth. The default is 500ms.

    • probe_interval - The interval between random node probes. Setting this lower (more frequent) will cause the cluster to detect failed nodes more quickly at the expense of increased bandwidth usage. The default is 5s.

    • probe_timeout - The timeout to wait for an ack from a probed node before assuming it is unhealthy. This should be at least the 99-percentile of RTT (round-trip time) on your network. The default is 3s and is a conservative value suitable for almost all realistic deployments.

    • retransmit_mult - The multiplier for the number of retransmissions that are attempted for messages broadcasted over gossip. The number of retransmits is scaled using this multiplier and the cluster size. The higher the multiplier, the more likely a failed broadcast is to converge at the expense of increased bandwidth. The default is 4.

    • suspicion_mult - The multiplier for determining the time an inaccessible node is considered suspect before declaring it dead. The timeout is scaled with the cluster size and the probe_interval. This allows the timeout to scale properly with expected propagation delay with a larger cluster size. The higher the multiplier, the longer an inaccessible node is considered part of the cluster before declaring it dead, giving that suspect node more time to refute if it is indeed still alive. The default is 6.