2019-10-08 19:55:12 +00:00
# Consul [](https://circleci.com/gh/hashicorp/consul/tree/master) [](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/c/consul)
2016-10-07 00:29:26 +00:00
2018-06-26 07:34:18 +00:00
* Website: https://www.consul.io
2020-09-11 20:33:15 +00:00
* Tutorials: [HashiCorp Learn ](https://learn.hashicorp.com/consul )
2019-10-08 19:55:12 +00:00
* Forum: [Discuss ](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/c/consul )
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2020-06-16 16:44:26 +00:00
Consul is a distributed, highly available, and data center aware solution to connect and configure applications across dynamic, distributed infrastructure.
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2018-06-26 07:34:18 +00:00
Consul provides several key features:
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2020-06-16 16:44:26 +00:00
* **Multi-Datacenter** - Consul is built to be datacenter aware, and can
support any number of regions without complex configuration.
* **Service Mesh/Service Segmentation** - Consul Connect enables secure service-to-service
communication with automatic TLS encryption and identity-based authorization. Applications
can use sidecar proxies in a service mesh configuration to establish TLS
connections for inbound and outbound connections without being aware of Connect at all.
2018-06-26 07:34:18 +00:00
* **Service Discovery** - Consul makes it simple for services to register
themselves and to discover other services via a DNS or HTTP interface.
External services such as SaaS providers can be registered as well.
2014-04-17 05:04:28 +00:00
2018-06-26 07:34:18 +00:00
* **Health Checking** - Health Checking enables Consul to quickly alert
operators about any issues in a cluster. The integration with service
discovery prevents routing traffic to unhealthy hosts and enables service
level circuit breakers.
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2018-06-26 07:34:18 +00:00
* **Key/Value Storage** - A flexible key/value store enables storing
dynamic configuration, feature flagging, coordination, leader election and
more. The simple HTTP API makes it easy to use anywhere.
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2018-06-26 07:34:18 +00:00
Consul runs on Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Solaris, and Windows. A commercial
version called [Consul Enterprise ](https://www.hashicorp.com/products/consul )
is also available.
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2019-10-08 19:55:12 +00:00
**Please note**: We take Consul's security and our users' trust very seriously. If you
believe you have found a security issue in Consul, please [responsibly disclose ](https://www.hashicorp.com/security#vulnerability-reporting ) by
2018-07-19 19:43:36 +00:00
contacting us at security@hashicorp.com.
2018-06-26 07:34:18 +00:00
## Quick Start
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2020-01-21 23:46:04 +00:00
A few quick start guides are available on the Consul website:
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2020-03-23 17:10:42 +00:00
* **Standalone binary install:** https://learn.hashicorp.com/consul/getting-started/install
2020-01-21 22:55:21 +00:00
* **Minikube install:** https://learn.hashicorp.com/consul/kubernetes/minikube
2020-03-23 17:10:42 +00:00
* **Kubernetes install:** https://learn.hashicorp.com/consul/kubernetes/kubernetes-deployment-guide
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2018-06-26 07:34:18 +00:00
## Documentation
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2020-02-11 09:53:57 +00:00
Full, comprehensive documentation is available on the Consul website:
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2018-06-26 07:34:18 +00:00
https://www.consul.io/docs
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2018-10-05 16:06:40 +00:00
## Contributing
2014-04-14 18:45:31 +00:00
2019-10-25 12:59:30 +00:00
Thank you for your interest in contributing! Please refer to [CONTRIBUTING.md ](https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md ) for guidance.
