Installing Consul on Clear Linux Latest

Consul is a tool that provides a distributed service mesh to connect, secure, and configure services across any runtime platform and public or private cloud. In this tutorial, we will be installing Consul on Clear Linux Latest.

Prerequisites

Before we proceed with the installation, you should have the following:

• A server running Clear Linux Latest
• Sudo privileges

Steps

1. Update your system by running:

   sudo swupd update
   

2. Install the required dependencies:

   sudo swupd bundle-add devpkg-libzstd devpkg-protobuf-c
   

3. Download the latest version of Consul by visiting https://www.consul.io/downloads.html.

4. Extract the downloaded file to a location of your choice:

   unzip consul_<version>.zip
   

5. Move the extracted file to the /usr/local/bin directory:

   sudo mv consul /usr/local/bin/
   

6. Verify that Consul is installed by running the following command:

   consul --version
   

   You should see the version of Consul that you installed.

7. Create a system user and group for Consul:

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

8. Create the configuration directory for Consul:

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

9. Create a configuration file for Consul:

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

   Add the following configuration to the file:

   data_dir = "/var/consul"
   
   log_level = "INFO"
   
   server = true
   
   bind_addr = "<IP_Address_Of_Your_Server>"
   
   client_addr = "0.0.0.0"
   
   bootstrap_expect = 1
   
   ui_config = {
     enabled = true
   }
   
   performance {
     raft_multiplier = 1
   }
   
   if name == "" {
     node_name = "consul-server"
   }
   
   acl = {
     enabled = true
     default_policy = "deny"
     enable_token_persistence = true
   }
   

   Replace <IP_Address_Of_Your_Server> with the IP address of your server.

10. Change the ownership of the configuration directory:

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

11. Create a service file for Consul:

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

    Add the following service definition to the file:

    [Unit]
    Description=Consul service discovery agent
    Requires=network-online.target
    After=network-online.target
    
    [Service]
    User=consul
    Group=consul
    ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/consul agent -config-dir=/etc/consul.d/
    Restart=always
    
    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target
    

12. Reload the systemd daemon:

    sudo systemctl daemon-reload
    

13. Enable and start the Consul service:

    sudo systemctl enable consul
    sudo systemctl start consul
    

14. Verify that Consul is running by running the following command:

    consul members
    

    You should see a list of the members that are part of the Consul cluster.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Consul on Clear Linux Latest. You can now use Consul to connect, secure, and configure services across any runtime platform and public or private cloud.

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