bitnami/consul

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By VMware

Updated 4 days ago

Bitnami container image for Consul

Image
Integration & Delivery
Networking
Security

10M+

Bitnami package for HashiCorp Consul

What is HashiCorp Consul?

HashiCorp Consul is a tool for discovering and configuring services in your infrastructure.

Overview of HashiCorp Consul Trademarks: This software listing is packaged by Bitnami. The respective trademarks mentioned in the offering are owned by the respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.

TL;DR

docker run --name consul bitnami/consul:latest

You can find the available configuration options in the Environment Variables section.

Why use Bitnami Images?

  • Bitnami closely tracks upstream source changes and promptly publishes new versions of this image using our automated systems.
  • With Bitnami images the latest bug fixes and features are available as soon as possible.
  • Bitnami containers, virtual machines and cloud images use the same components and configuration approach - making it easy to switch between formats based on your project needs.
  • All our images are based on minideb -a minimalist Debian based container image that gives you a small base container image and the familiarity of a leading Linux distribution- or scratch -an explicitly empty image-.
  • All Bitnami images available in Docker Hub are signed with Notation. Check this post to know how to verify the integrity of the images.
  • Bitnami container images are released on a regular basis with the latest distribution packages available.

Looking to use HashiCorp Consul in production? Try VMware Tanzu Application Catalog, the commercial edition of the Bitnami catalog.

How to deploy HashiCorp Consul in Kubernetes?

Deploying Bitnami applications as Helm Charts is the easiest way to get started with our applications on Kubernetes. Read more about the installation in the Bitnami HashiCorp Consul Chart GitHub repository.

Bitnami containers can be used with Kubeapps for deployment and management of Helm Charts in clusters.

Why use a non-root container?

Non-root container images add an extra layer of security and are generally recommended for production environments. However, because they run as a non-root user, privileged tasks are typically off-limits. Learn more about non-root containers in our docs.

Only latest stable branch maintained in the free Bitnami catalog

Starting December 10th 2024, only the latest stable branch of any container will receive updates in the free Bitnami catalog. To access up-to-date releases for all upstream-supported branches, consider upgrading to Bitnami Premium. Previous versions already released will not be deleted. They are still available to pull from DockerHub.

Please check the Bitnami Premium page in our partner Arrow Electronics for more information.

Supported tags and respective Dockerfile links

Learn more about the Bitnami tagging policy and the difference between rolling tags and immutable tags in our documentation page.

You can see the equivalence between the different tags by taking a look at the tags-info.yaml file present in the branch folder, i.e bitnami/ASSET/BRANCH/DISTRO/tags-info.yaml.

Subscribe to project updates by watching the bitnami/containers GitHub repo.

Get this image

The recommended way to get the Bitnami HashiCorp Consul Docker Image is to pull the prebuilt image from the Docker Hub Registry.

docker pull bitnami/consul:latest

To use a specific version, you can pull a versioned tag. You can view the list of available versions in the Docker Hub Registry.

docker pull bitnami/consul:[TAG]

If you wish, you can also build the image yourself by cloning the repository, changing to the directory containing the Dockerfile and executing the docker build command. Remember to replace the APP, VERSION and OPERATING-SYSTEM path placeholders in the example command below with the correct values.

git clone https://github.com/bitnami/containers.git
cd bitnami/APP/VERSION/OPERATING-SYSTEM
docker build -t bitnami/APP:latest .

Persisting your application

If you remove the container all your data and configurations will be lost, and the next time you run the image the database will be reinitialized. To avoid this loss of data, you should mount a volume that will persist even after the container is removed.

For persistence you should mount a volume at the /bitnami path. The above examples define a docker volume namely consul_data. The HashiCorp Consul application state will persist as long as this volume is not removed.

To avoid inadvertent removal of this volume you can mount host directories as data volumes. Alternatively you can make use of volume plugins to host the volume data.

docker run -v /path/to/consul-persistence:/bitnami bitnami/consul:latest

or using Docker Compose:

consul:
  image: bitnami/consul:latest
  volumes:
    - /path/to/consul-persistence:/bitnami

NOTE: As this is a non-root container, the mounted files and directories must have the proper permissions for the UID 1001.

Connecting to other containers

Using Docker container networking, a different server running inside a container can easily be accessed by your application containers and vice-versa.

Containers attached to the same network can communicate with each other using the container name as the hostname.

Using the Command Line

Step 1: Create a network

docker network create consul-network --driver bridge

Step 2: Launch the HashiCorp Consul container within your network

Use the --network <NETWORK> argument to the docker run command to attach the container to the consul-network network.

docker run --name consul-node1 --network consul-network bitnami/consul:latest

Step 3: Run another containers

We can launch another containers using the same flag (--network NETWORK) in the docker run command. If you also set a name to your container, you will be able to use it as hostname in your network.

Using a Docker Compose file

When not specified, Docker Compose automatically sets up a new network and attaches all deployed services to that network. However, we will explicitly define a new bridge network named consul-network.

version: '2'

networks:
  consul-network:
    driver: bridge

services:
  consul:
    image: bitnami/consul:latest
    networks:
      - consul-network
    ports:
      - '8300:8300'
      - '8301:8301'
      - '8301:8301/udp'
      - '8500:8500'
      - '8600:8600'
      - '8600:8600/udp'

Then, launch the containers using:

docker-compose up -d

Setting up a cluster using Docker Compose

This is the simplest way to run HashiCorp Consul with clustering configuration:

Step 1: Add a server node in your docker-compose.yml

Copy the snippet below into your docker-compose.yml to add a HashiCorp Consul server node to your cluster configuration.

version: '2'

services:
  consul-node1:
    image: bitnami/consul
    environment:
      - CONSUL_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=3
      - CONSUL_CLIENT_LAN_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0
      - CONSUL_DISABLE_KEYRING_FILE=true
      - CONSUL_RETRY_JOIN_ADDRESS=consul-node1
    ports:
      - '8300:8300'
      - '8301:8301'
      - '8301:8301/udp'
      - '8500:8500'
      - '8600:8600'
      - '8600:8600/udp'
    volumes:
      - 'consul-node1_data:/bitnami'

Note: The value of the CONSUL_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT should reflect the total number of nodes the cluster will have.

Step 2: Add extra nodes to your configuration

Update the definitions for nodes you want your HashiCorp Consul node cluster with. If it is a remote WAN node, use CONSUL_RETRY_JOIN_WAN_ADDRESS.

consul-node2:
  image: bitnami/consul
  environment:
    - CONSUL_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=3
    - CONSUL_CLIENT_LAN_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0
    - CONSUL_DISABLE_KEYRING_FILE=true
    - CONSUL_RETRY_JOIN_ADDRESS=consul-node1
    - CONSUL_ENABLE_UI=false
  volumes:
    - 'consul-node2_data:/bitnami'

consul-node3:
  image: bitnami/consul
  environment:
    - CONSUL_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=3
    - CONSUL_CLIENT_LAN_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0
    - CONSUL_DISABLE_KEYRING_FILE=true
    - CONSUL_RETRY_JOIN_ADDRESS=consul-node1
    - CONSUL_ENABLE_UI=false
  volumes:
    - 'consul-node3_data:/bitnami'
Step 3: Add the volume description
volumes:
  consul-node1_data:
    driver: local
  consul-node2_data:
    driver: local
  consul-node3_data:
    driver: local

The final docker-compose.yml will look like this:

version: '2'

services:
  consul-node1:
    image: bitnami/consul
    environment:
      - CONSUL_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=3
      - CONSUL_CLIENT_LAN_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0
      - CONSUL_DISABLE_KEYRING_FILE=true
      - CONSUL_RETRY_JOIN_ADDRESS=consul-node1
    ports:
      - '8300:8300'
      - '8301:8301'
      - '8301:8301/udp'
      - '8500:8500'
      - '8600:8600'
      - '8600:8600/udp'
    volumes:
      - 'consul-node1_data:/bitnami'

  consul-node2:
    image: bitnami/consul
    environment:
      - CONSUL_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=3
      - CONSUL_CLIENT_LAN_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0
      - CONSUL_DISABLE_KEYRING_FILE=true
      - CONSUL_RETRY_JOIN_ADDRESS=consul-node1
      - CONSUL_ENABLE_UI=false
    volumes:
      - 'consul-node2_data:/bitnami'

  consul-node3:
    image: bitnami/consul
    environment:
      - CONSUL_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=3
      - CONSUL_CLIENT_LAN_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0
      - CONSUL_DISABLE_KEYRING_FILE=true
      - CONSUL_RETRY_JOIN_ADDRESS=consul-node1
      - CONSUL_ENABLE_UI=false
    volumes:
      - 'consul-node3_data:/bitnami'

volumes:
  consul-node1_data:
    driver: local
  consul-node2_data:
    driver: local
  consul-node3_data:
    driver: local

Configuration

Environment variables

Customizable environment variables

NameDescriptionDefault Value
CONSUL_RPC_PORT_NUMBERConsul RPC port number.8300
CONSUL_HTTP_PORT_NUMBERConsul RPC port number.8500
CONSUL_DNS_PORT_NUMBERConsul DNS port number.8600
CONSUL_DNS_PORT_NUMBERConsul DNS port number.8600
CONSUL_AGENT_MODEConsul agent mode.server
CONSUL_DISABLE_KEYRING_FILEDisable keyring file in Consul.false
CONSUL_SERF_LAN_ADDRESSLAN address for Serf daemon.0.0.0.0
CONSUL_SERF_LAN_PORT_NUMBERLAN port for Serf daemon.8301
CONSUL_CLIENT_LAN_ADDRESSLAN address for Consul clients.0.0.0.0
CONSUL_RETRY_JOIN_ADDRESSConsul node retry join address.127.0.0.1
CONSUL_RETRY_JOIN_WAN_ADDRESSConsul retry join WAN address.127.0.0.1
CONSUL_BIND_INTERFACEConsul bind interface.nil
CONSUL_BIND_ADDRConsul bind address.nil
CONSUL_ENABLE_UIEnable User Interface in Consul.true
CONSUL_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECTExpect bootstrap in Consul.1
CONSUL_RAFT_MULTIPLIERConsul Raft multiplier.1
CONSUL_LOCAL_CONFIGConsul local configuration.nil
CONSUL_GOSSIP_ENCRYPTIONUse gossip encryption in Consul.no
CONSUL_GOSSIP_ENCRYPTION_KEYBase64-encoded Consul gossip private symmetric key.nil
CONSUL_DATACENTERConsul datacenter name.dc1
CONSUL_DOMAINConsul domain.consul
CONSUL_NODE_NAMEConsul domain name.nil
CONSUL_DISABLE_HOST_NODE_IDDisable host node ID.true

Read-only environment variables

NameDescriptionValue
CONSUL_BASE_DIRConsul installation directory.${BITNAMI_ROOT_DIR}/consul
CONSUL_CONF_DIRConsul configuration directory.${CONSUL_BASE_DIR}/conf
CONSUL_DEFAULT_CONF_DIRConsul default configuration directory.${CONSUL_BASE_DIR}/conf.default
CONSUL_BIN_DIRConsul binary directory.${CONSUL_BASE_DIR}/bin
CONSUL_CONF_FILEConsul configuration file.${CONSUL_CONF_DIR}/consul.json
CONSUL_ENCRYPT_FILEConsul encrytion configuration file.${CONSUL_CONF_DIR}/encrypt.json
CONSUL_LOCAL_FILEConsul local configuration file.${CONSUL_CONF_DIR}/local.json
CONSUL_LOG_DIRDirectory where Consul logs are stored.${CONSUL_BASE_DIR}/logs
CONSUL_LOG_FILEConsul log file.${CONSUL_LOG_DIR}/consul.log
CONSUL_VOLUME_DIRConsul persistence directory./bitnami/consul
CONSUL_DATA_DIRConsul directory where data is stored.${CONSUL_VOLUME_DIR}
CONSUL_SSL_DIRConsul SSL directory.${CONSUL_BASE_DIR}/certificates
CONSUL_TMP_DIRConsul temporary directory.${CONSUL_BASE_DIR}/tmp
CONSUL_PID_FILEPath to the PID file for Consul.${CONSUL_TMP_DIR}/consul.pid
CONSUL_TEMPLATES_DIRConsul templates directory.${CONSUL_BASE_DIR}/templates
CONSUL_CONFIG_TEMPLATE_FILEConsul configuration template file.${CONSUL_TEMPLATES_DIR}/consul.json.tpl
CONSUL_ENCRYPT_TEMPLATE_FILEConsul encrypt configuration template file.${CONSUL_TEMPLATES_DIR}/encrypt.json.tpl
CONSUL_LOCAL_TEMPLATE_FILEConsul local configuration template file.${CONSUL_TEMPLATES_DIR}/local.json.tpl
CONSUL_INITSCRIPTS_DIRConsul directory for init scripts./docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
CONSUL_DAEMON_USERConsul system user.consul
CONSUL_DAEMON_GROUPConsul system group.consul

Specifying Environment Variables using Docker Compose

consul:
  image: bitnami/consul:latest
  environment:
    - CONSUL_HTTP_PORT_NUMBER=8888

Specifying Environment Variables on the Docker command line

docker run -d -e CONSUL_HTTP_PORT_NUMBER=8888 --name consul bitnami/consul:latest
Using custom HashiCorp Consul configuration files

In order to load your own configuration files, you will have to make them available to the container. You can do it doing the following:

  • Mounting a volume with your custom configuration
  • Adding custom configuration via environment variable.

By default, the configuration of HashiCorp Consul is written to /opt/bitnami/consul/consul.json file and persisted with the following content:

{
    "datacenter":"dc1",
    "domain":"consul",
    "data_dir":"/opt/bitnami/consul/data",
    "pid_file":"/opt/bitnami/consul/tmp/consul.pid",
    "server":true,
    "ui":true,
    "bootstrap_expect":1,
    "addresses": {
        "http":"0.0.0.0"
    },
    "retry_join": ["127.0.0.1"],
    "ports": {
        "http":8500,
        "dns":8600,
        "serf_lan":8301,
        "server":8300
    },
    "serf_lan":"0.0.0.0"
}

Configuring environment variables

Configuration can be added by passing the configuration in JSON format via the environment variable CONSUL_LOCAL_CONFIG. Then consul will write a local.json file in the HashiCorp Consul configuration directory. HashiCorp Consul will load all files within the configuration directory in alphabetical order, so ones with starting with higher letters will prevail.

docker run -d -e CONSUL_LOCAL_CONFIG='{
    "datacenter":"us_west",
    "server":true,
    "enable_debug":true
}' \
     --name consul bitnami/consul:latest

Mounting a volume

Check the [Persisting your data](# Persisting your application) section to add custom volumes to the HashiCorp Consul container

Configuring the Gossip encryption key

Specifies the secret key to use for encryption of HashiCorp Consul network traffic. This key must be 16-bytes that are Base64-encoded. The easiest way to create an encryption key is to use consul keygen

docker run --name consul bitnami/consul:latest consul keygen

This command will generate a keygen, that you can add to your Dockerfile, docker-compose or pass it via command line:

docker run -e CONSUL_GOSSIP_ENCRYPTION_KEY=YOUR_GENERATED_KEY --name consul bitnami/consul:latest

Deploying a Docker Compose file

consul:
  image: bitnami/consul:latest
  volumes:
    - '/local/path/to/your/confDir:/opt/bitnami/consul/conf'

The container has a HashiCorp Consul configuration directory set up at /consul/config and the agent will load any configuration files placed here by binding a volume or by composing a new image and adding files. Alternatively, configuration can be added by passing the configuration JSON via environment variable CONSUL_LOCAL_CONFIG. If this is bind mounted then ownership will be changed to the consul user when the container starts.

Logging

The Bitnami consul Docker image sends the container logs to the stdout. To view the logs:

docker logs consul

or using Docker Compose:

docker-compose logs consul

You can configure the containers logging driver using the --log-driver option if you wish to consume the container logs differently. In the default configuration docker uses the json-file driver.

Maintenance

Upgrade this image

Bitnami provides up-to-date versions of consul, including security patches, soon after they are made upstream. We recommend that you follow these steps to upgrade your container.

Step 1: Get the updated image

docker pull bitnami/consul:latest

or if you're using Docker Compose, update the value of the image property to bitnami/consul:latest.

Step 2: Stop and backup the currently running container

Stop the currently running container using the command

docker stop consul

or using Docker Compose:

docker-compose stop consul

Next, take a snapshot of the persistent volume /path/to/consul-persistence using:

rsync -a /path/to/consul-persistence /path/to/consul-persistence.bkp.$(date +%Y%m%d-%H.%M.%S)

You can use this snapshot to restore the database state should the upgrade fail.

Step 3: Remove the currently running container

docker rm -v consul

or using Docker Compose:

docker-compose rm -v consul

Step 4: Run the new image

Re-create your container from the new image, restoring your backup if necessary.

docker run --name consul bitnami/consul:latest

or using Docker Compose:

docker-compose up consul

Notable Changes

Debian 1.6.1-r6 and Oracle 1.6.1-r7

Decrease the size of the container. The configuration logic is now based on Bash scripts in the rootfs/ folder. Also, some env var changes have been performed maintaining backward compatibility through aliases:

New valueOld value
CONSUL_ENABLE_UICONSUL_UI
CONSUL_AGENT_MODECONSUL_SERVER_MODE
CONSUL_RETRY_JOIN_ADDRESSCONSUL_RETRY_JOIN
1.4.0-r16
  • The Consul container has been migrated to a non-root user approach. Previously the container ran as the root user and the Consul daemon was started as the consul user. From now on, both the container and the Consul daemon run as user 1001. As a consequence, the data directory must be writable by that user. You can revert this behavior by changing USER 1001 to USER root in the Dockerfile.

Using docker-compose.yaml

Please be aware this file has not undergone internal testing. Consequently, we advise its use exclusively for development or testing purposes. For production-ready deployments, we highly recommend utilizing its associated Bitnami Helm chart.

If you detect any issue in the docker-compose.yaml file, feel free to report it or contribute with a fix by following our Contributing Guidelines.

Contributing

We'd love for you to contribute to this container. You can request new features by creating an issue or submitting a pull request with your contribution.

Issues

If you encountered a problem running this container, you can file an issue. For us to provide better support, be sure to fill the issue template.

License

Copyright © 2025 Broadcom. The term "Broadcom" refers to Broadcom Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Docker Pull Command

docker pull bitnami/consul
Bitnami