---
layout: docs
page_title: Service Mesh Configuration - Overview
description: >-
  Learn how to enable and configure Consul's service mesh capabilities in agent configurations, and how to integrate with schedulers like Kubernetes and Nomad. Consul's service mesh capabilities are provided by the ""connect"" subsystem.
---

# Service Mesh Configuration Overview

There are many configuration options exposed for Consul service mesh. The only option
that must be set is the `connect.enabled` option on Consul servers to enable Consul service mesh.
All other configurations are optional and have defaults suitable for many environments.

The noun _connect_ is used throughout this documentation to refer to the connect
subsystem that provides Consul's service mesh capabilities.
Where you encounter the _noun_ connect, it is usually functionality specific to
service mesh.

## Agent configuration

Begin by enabling service mesh for your Consul
cluster. By default, service is disabled. Enabling service mesh requires changing
the configuration of only your Consul _servers_ (not client agents). To enable
service mesh, add the following to a new or existing
[server configuration file](/consul/docs/agent/config/config-files). In an existing cluster, this configuration change requires a Consul server restart, which you can perform one server at a time to maintain availability. In HCL:


<CodeTabs heading="Enable Consul service mesh" tabs={[ "HCL", "JSON" ]}>

```hcl
connect {
  enabled = true
}
```

```json
"connect": {
 "enabled": true
}
```
</CodeTabs>

This will enable service mesh and configure your Consul cluster to use the
built-in certificate authority for creating and managing certificates.
You may also configure Consul to use an external
[certificate management system](/consul/docs/connect/ca), such as
[Vault](https://www.vaultproject.io/).

Services and proxies may always register with service mesh settings, but unless
service mesh is enabled on the server agents, their attempts to communicate will fail
because they have no means to obtain or verify service mesh TLS certificates.

Other optional service mesh configurations that you can set in the server
configuration file include:

- [certificate authority settings](/consul/docs/agent/config/config-files#connect)
- [token replication](/consul/docs/agent/config/config-files#acl_tokens_replication)
- [dev mode](/consul/docs/agent/config/cli-flags#_dev)
- [server host name verification](/consul/docs/agent/config/config-files#tls_internal_rpc_verify_server_hostname)

If you would like to use Envoy as your service mesh proxy you will need to [enable
gRPC](/consul/docs/agent/config/config-files#grpc_port).

Additionally if you plan on using the observability features of Consul service mesh, it can
be convenient to configure your proxies and services using [configuration
entries](/consul/docs/agent/config-entries) which you can interact with using the
CLI or API, or by creating configuration entry files. You will want to enable
[centralized service
configuration](/consul/docs/agent/config/config-files#enable_central_service_config) on
clients, which allows each service's proxy configuration to be managed centrally
via API.

!> **Security note:** Enabling service mesh is enough to try the feature but doesn't
automatically ensure complete security. Please read the [service mesh production
tutorial](/consul/tutorials/developer-mesh/service-mesh-production-checklist) to understand the additional steps
needed for a secure deployment.

## Centralized proxy and service configuration

If your network contains many instances of the same service and many colocated sidecar proxies, you can specify global settings for proxies or services in [Configuration Entries](/consul/docs/agent/config-entries). You can override the centralized configurations for individual proxy instances in their
[sidecar service definitions](/consul/docs/connect/registration/sidecar-service),
and the default protocols for service instances in their [service
definitions](/consul/docs/services/usage/define-services).

## Schedulers

Consul service mesh is especially useful if you are using an orchestrator like Nomad
or Kubernetes, because these orchestrators can deploy thousands of service instances
which frequently move hosts. Sidecars for each service can be configured through
these schedulers, and in some cases they can automate Consul configuration,
sidecar deployment, and service registration.

### Nomad

Consul service mesh can be used with Nomad to provide secure service-to-service
communication between Nomad jobs and task groups. The ability to use the dynamic
port feature of Nomad makes Consul service mesh particularly easy to use. Learn about how to
configure Consul service mesh on Nomad by reading the
[integration documentation](/consul/docs/connect/nomad).

### Kubernetes

The Consul Helm chart can automate much of Consul's service mesh configuration, and
makes it easy to automatically inject Envoy sidecars into new pods when they are
deployed. Learn about the [Helm chart](/consul/docs/k8s/helm) in general,
or if you are already familiar with it, check out its
[service mesh specific configurations](/consul/docs/k8s/connect).