Define health checks
This topic describes how to create different types of health checks for your services.
Overview
Health checks are configurations that verifies the health of a service or node. Health checks configurations are nested in the service
block. Refer to Define Services for information about specifying other service parameters.
You can define individual health checks for your service in separate check
blocks or define multiple checks in a checks
block. Refer to Define multiple checks for additional information.
You can create several different kinds of checks:
- Script checks invoke an external application that performs the health check, exits with an appropriate exit code, and potentially generates output. Script checks are one of the most common types of checks.
- HTTP checks make an HTTP GET request to the specified URL and wait for the specified amount of time. HTTP checks are one of the most common types of checks.
- TCP checks attempt to connect to an IP or hostname and port over TCP and wait for the specified amount of time.
- UDP checks send UDP datagrams to the specified IP or hostname and port and wait for the specified amount of time.
- Time-to-live (TTL) checks are passive checks that await updates from the service. If the check does not receive a status update before the specified duration, the health check enters a
critical
state. - Docker checks are dependent on external applications packaged with a Docker container that are triggered by calls to the Docker
exec
API endpoint. - gRPC checks probe applications that support the standard gRPC health checking protocol.
- H2ping checks test an endpoint that uses http2. The check connects to the endpoint and sends a ping frame.
- Alias checks represent the health state of another registered node or service.
If your network runs in a Kubernetes environment, you can sync service health information with Kubernetes health checks. Refer to Configure Health Checks for Consul on Kubernetes for details.
Registration
After defining health checks, you must register the service containing the checks with Consul. Refer to Register Services and Health Checks for additional information. If the service is already registered, you can reload the service configuration file to implement your health check. Refer to Reload for additional information.
Define multiple checks
You can define multiple checks for a service in a single checks
block. The checks
block contains an array of objects. The objects contain the configuration for each health check you want to implement. The following example includes two script checks named mem
and cpu
and an HTTP check that calls the /health
API endpoint.
Define initial health check status
When checks are registered against a Consul agent, they are assigned a critical
status by default. This prevents services from registering as passing
and entering the service pool before their health is verified. You can add the status
parameter to the check definition to specify the initial state. In the following example, the check registers in a passing
state:
Script checks
Script checks invoke an external application that performs the health check, exits with an appropriate exit code, and potentially generates output data. The output of a script check is limited to 4KB. Outputs that exceed the limit are truncated.
Script checks timeout after 30 seconds by default, but you can configure a custom script check timeout value by specifying the timeout
field in the check definition. When the timeout is reached on Windows, Consul waits for any child processes spawned by the script to finish. For any other system, Consul attempts to force-kill the script and any child processes it has spawned once the timeout has passed.
Script check configuration
To enable script checks, you must first enable the agent to send external requests, then configure the health check settings in the service definition:
Add one of the following configurations to your agent configuration file to enable a script check:
enable_local_script_checks
: Enable script checks defined in local configuration files. Script checks registered using the HTTP API are not allowed.enable_script_checks
: Enable script checks no matter how they are registered.
Security warning: Enabling non-local script checks in some configurations may introduce a known remote execution vulnerability targeted by malware. We strongly recommend
enable_local_script_checks
instead.Specify the script to run in the
args
of thecheck
block in your service configuration file. In the following example, a check namedMemory utilization
invokes thecheck_mem.py
script every 10 seconds and times out if a response takes longer than one second:Script check configuration
Refer to Health Checks Configuration Reference for information about all health check configurations.
Script check exit codes
The following exit codes returned by the script check determine the health check status:
- Exit code 0 - Check is passing
- Exit code 1 - Check is warning
- Any other code - Check is failing
Any output of the script is captured and made available in the Output
field of checks included in HTTP API responses. Refer to the example described in the local service health endpoint.
HTTP checks
HTTP checks send an HTTP request to the specified URL and report the service health based on the HTTP response code. We recommend using HTTP checks over script checks that use cURL or another external process to check an HTTP operation.
HTTP check configuration
Add an http
field to the check
block in your service definition file and specify the HTTP address, including port number, for the check to call. All other fields are optional. Refer to Health Checks Configuration Reference for information about all health check configurations.
In the following example, an HTTP check named HTTP API on port 5000
sends a POST
request to the health
endpoint every 10 seconds:
HTTP checks send GET requests by default, but you can specify another request method in the method
field. You can send additional headers in the header
block. The header
block contains a key and an array of strings, such as {"x-foo": ["bar", "baz"]}
. By default, HTTP checks timeout at 10 seconds, but you can specify a custom timeout value in the timeout
field.
HTTP checks expect a valid TLS certificate by default. You can disable certificate verification by setting the tls_skip_verify
field to true
. When using TLS and a host name is specified in the http
field, the check automatically determines the SNI from the URL. If the http
field is configured with an IP address or if you want to explicitly set the SNI, specify the name in the tls_server_name
field.
The check follows HTTP redirects configured in the network by default. Set the disable_redirects
field to true
to disable redirects.
HTTP check response codes
Responses larger than 4KB are truncated. The HTTP response determines the status of the service:
- A
200
-299
response code is healthy. - A
429
response code indicating too many requests is a warning. - All other response codes indicate a failure.
TCP checks
TCP checks establish connections to the specified IPs or hosts. If the check successfully establishes a connection, the service status is reported as success
. If the IP or host does not accept the connection, the service status is reported as critical
. We recommend TCP checks over script checks that use netcat or another external process to check a socket operation.
TCP check configuration
Add a tcp
field to the check
block in your service definition file and specify the address, including port number, for the check to call. All other fields are optional. Refer to Health Checks Configuration Reference for information about all health check configurations.
In the following example, a TCP check named SSH TCP on port 22
attempts to connect to localhost:22
every 10 seconds:
If a hostname resolves to an IPv4 and an IPv6 address, Consul attempts to connect to both addresses. The first successful connection attempt results in a successful check.
By default, TCP check requests timeout at 10 seconds, but you can specify a custom timeout in the timeout
field.
UDP checks
UDP checks direct the Consul agent to send UDP datagrams to the specified IP or hostname and port. The check status is set to success
if any response is received from the targeted UDP server. Any other result sets the status to critical
.
UDP check configuration
Add a udp
field to the check
block in your service definition file and specify the address, including port number, for sending datagrams. All other fields are optional. Refer to Health Checks Configuration Reference for information about all health check configurations.
In the following example, a UDP check named DNS UDP on port 53
sends datagrams to localhost:53
every 10 seconds:
By default, UDP checks timeout at 10 seconds, but you can specify a custom timeout in the timeout
field. If any timeout on read exists, the check is still considered healthy.
OSService check
OSService checks if an OS service is running on the host. OSService checks support Windows services on Windows hosts or SystemD services on Unix hosts. The check logs the service as healthy
if it is running. If the service is not running, the status is logged as critical
. All other results are logged with warning
. A warning
status indicates that the check is not reliable because an issue is preventing it from determining the health of the service.
OSService check configurations
Add an os_service
field to the check
block in your service definition file and specify the name of the service to check. All other fields are optional. Refer to Health Checks Configuration Reference for information about all health check configurations.
In the following example, an OSService check named svcname-001 Windows Service Health
verifies that the myco-svctype-svcname-001
service is running every 10 seconds:
TTL checks
Time-to-live (TTL) checks wait for an external process to report the service's state to a Consul /agent/check
HTTP endpoint. If the check does not receive an update before the specified ttl
duration, the check logs the service as critical
. For example, if a healthy application is configured to periodically send a PUT
request a status update to the HTTP endpoint, then the health check logs a critical
state if the application is unable to send the update before the TTL expires. The check uses the following endpoints to update health information:
TTL checks also persist their last known status to disk so that the Consul agent can restore the last known status of the check across restarts. Persisted check status is valid through the end of the TTL from the time of the last check.
You can manually mark a service as unhealthy using the consul maint
CLI command or agent/maintenance
HTTP API endpoint, rather than waiting for a TTL health check if the ttl
duration is high.
TTL check configuration
Add a ttl
field to the check
block in your service definition file and specify how long to wait for an update from the external process. All other fields are optional. Refer to Health Checks Configuration Reference for information about all health check configurations.
In the following example, a TTL check named Web App Status
logs the application as critical
if a status update is not received every 30 seconds:
Docker checks
Docker checks invoke an application packaged within a Docker container. The application should perform a health check and exit with an appropriate exit code.
The application is triggered within the running container through the Docker exec
API. You should have access to either the Docker HTTP API or the Unix socket. Consul uses the $DOCKER_HOST
environment variable to determine the Docker API endpoint.
The output of a Docker check is limited to 4KB. Larger outputs are truncated.
Docker check configuration
To enable Docker checks, you must first enable the agent to send external requests, then configure the health check settings in the service definition:
Add one of the following configurations to your agent configuration file to enable a Docker check:
enable_local_script_checks
: Enable script checks defined in local config files. Script checks registered using the HTTP API are not allowed.enable_script_checks
: Enable script checks no matter how they are registered.
Security warning: Enabling non-local script checks in some configurations may introduce a known remote execution vulnerability targeted by malware. We strongly recommend
enable_local_script_checks
instead.Configure the following fields in the
check
block in your service definition file:docker_container_id
: Thedocker ps
command is a common way to get the ID.shell
: Specifies the shell to use for performing the check. Different containers can run different shells on the same host.args
: Specifies the external application to invoke.interval
: Specifies the interval for running the check.
In the following example, a Docker check named Memory utilization
invokes the check_mem.py
application in container f972c95ebf0e
every 10 seconds:
gRPC checks
gRPC checks send a request to the specified endpoint. These checks are intended for applications that support the standard gRPC health checking protocol.
gRPC check configuration
Add a grpc
field to the check
block in your service definition file and specify the endpoint, including port number, for sending requests. All other fields are optional. Refer to Health Checks Configuration Reference for information about all health check configurations.
In the following example, a gRPC check named Service health status
probes the entire application by sending requests to 127.0.0.1:12345
every 10 seconds:
gRPC checks probe the entire gRPC server, but you can check on a specific service by adding the service identifier after the gRPC check's endpoint using the following format: /:service_identifier
.
In the following example, a gRPC check probes my_service
in the application at 127.0.0.1:12345
every 10 seconds:
TLS is disabled for gRPC checks by default. You can enable TLS by setting grpc_use_tls
to true
. If TLS is enabled, you must either provide a valid TLS certificate or disable certificate verification by setting the tls_skip_verify
field to true
.
By default, gRPC checks timeout after 10 seconds, but you can specify a custom duration in the timeout
field.
H2ping checks
H2ping checks test an endpoint that uses HTTP2 by connecting to the endpoint and sending a ping frame. If the endpoint sends a response within the specified interval, the check status is set to success
.
H2ping check configuration
Add an h2ping
field to the check
block in your service definition file and specify the HTTP2 endpoint, including port number, for the check to ping. All other fields are optional. Refer to Health Checks Configuration Reference for information about all health check configurations.
In the following example, an H2ping check named h2ping
pings the endpoint at localhost:22222
every 10 seconds:
TLS is enabled by default, but you can disable TLS by setting h2ping_use_tls
to false
. When TLS is disabled, the Consul sends pings over h2c. When TLS is enabled, a valid certificate is required unless tls_skip_verify
is set to true
.
By default, H2ping checks timeout at 10 seconds, but you can specify a custom duration in the timeout
field.
Alias checks
Alias checks continuously report the health state of another registered node or service. If the alias experiences errors while watching the actual node or service, the check reports acritical
state. Consul updates the alias and actual node or service state asynchronously but nearly instantaneously.
For aliased services on the same agent, the check monitors the local state without consuming additional network resources. For services and nodes on different agents, the check maintains a blocking query over the agent's connection with a current server and allows stale requests.
ACLs
For the blocking query, the alias check presents the ACL token set on the actual service or the token configured in the check definition. If neither are available, the alias check falls back to the default ACL token set for the agent. Refer to acl.tokens.default
for additional information about the default ACL token.
Alias checks configuration
Add an alias_service
field to the check
block in your service definition file and specify the name of the service or node to alias. All other fields are optional. Refer to Health Checks Configuration Reference for information about all health check configurations.
In the following example, an alias check with the ID web-alias
reports the health state of the web
service:
By default, the alias must be registered with the same Consul agent as the alias check. If the service is not registered with the same agent, you must specify "alias_node": "<node_id>"
in the check
configuration. If no service is specified and the alias_node
field is enabled, the check aliases the health of the node. If a service is specified, the check will alias the specified service on this particular node.