Configure failover services on Kubernetes
This topic describes how to configure failover service instances in Consul on Kubernetes when proxies are in transparent proxy mode. If a service becomes unhealthy or unresponsive, Consul can use the service resolver configuration entry to send inbound requests to backup services. Service resolvers are part of the service mesh proxy upstream discovery chain. Refer to Service mesh traffic management for additional information.
Overview
Complete the following steps to configure failover service instances in Consul on Kubernetes when proxies are in transparent proxy mode:
- Create a service resolver configuration entry
- Create intentions that allow the downstream service to access the primary and failover service instances.
- Configure your application to call the discovery chain using the Consul DNS or KubeDNS.
Requirements
consul-k8s
v1.2.0 or newer.- Consul service mesh must be enabled. Refer to How does Consul Service Mesh Work on Kubernetes.
- Proxies must be configured to run in transparent proxy mode.
- To query virtual DNS names, you must use Consul DNS.
- To query the discovery chain using KubeDNS, the service resolver must be in the same partition as the running service.
ACL requirements
The default ACLs that the Consul Helm chart configures are suitable for most cases, but if you have more complex security policies for Consul API access, refer to the ACL documentation for additional guidance.
Create a service resolver configuration entry
Specify the target failover in the spec.failover.targets
field in the service resolver configuration entry. In the following example, the api-beta
service is configured to failover to the api
service in any service subset:
Refer to the service resolver configuration entry reference documentation for information about all service resolver configurations.
You can apply the configuration using the kubectl apply
command:
Create service intentions
If intentions are not already defined, create and apply intentions that allow the appropriate downstream to access the target service and the failover service. In the following examples, the frontend
service is allowed to send messages to the api
service, which is allowed to send messages to the api-beta
failover service.
Refer to the service intentions configuration entry reference for additional information about configuring service intentions.
You can apply the configuration using the kubectl apply
command:
Configure your application to call the DNS
Configure your application to contact the discovery chain in either the Consul DNS or the KubeDNS.
Consul DNS
You can query the Consul DNS using the <service>.virtual.consul
lookup format. For Consul Enterprise, your query string may need to include the namespace, partition, or both. Refer to the DNS documentation for details on building virtual service lookups.
In the following example, the application queries the Consul catalog for api-beta
over HTTP. By default, the lookup would query the default
partition and default
namespace if Consul Enterprise manages the network infrastructure:
KubeDNS
You can query the KubeDNS if the failover service is in the same Kubernetes cluster as the primary service. In the following example, the application queries KubeDNS for api-beta
over HTTP:
Note that you cannot use KubeDNS if a corresponding Kubernetes service and pod do not exist.