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Consul Connect Certificate Authority (CA)

Command: consul connect ca

This command is used to interact with Consul service mesh's Certificate Authority managed by the connect subsystem. It can be used to view or modify the current CA configuration. Refer to the service mesh CA documentation for more information.

Usage: consul connect ca <subcommand> [options] [args]

  This command has subcommands for interacting with Consul service mesh's
  Certificate Authority (CA).

  Here are some simple examples, and more detailed examples are available
  in the subcommands or the documentation.

  Get the configuration:

      $ consul connect ca get-config

  Update the configuration:

      $ consul connect ca set-config -config-file ca.json

  For more examples, ask for subcommand help or view the documentation.

Subcommands:
    get-config    Display the current service mesh Certificate Authority (CA) configuration
    set-config    Modify the current service mesh CA configuration

get-config

This command displays the current CA configuration.

The table below shows this command's required ACLs. Configuration of blocking queries and agent caching are not supported from commands, but may be from the corresponding HTTP endpoint.

ACL Required
operator:write

Usage: consul connect ca get-config [options]

Corresponding HTTP API Endpoint: [GET] /v1/connect/ca/configuration

API Options

  • -ca-file=<value> - Path to a CA file to use for TLS when communicating with Consul. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_CACERT environment variable.

  • -ca-path=<value> - Path to a directory of CA certificates to use for TLS when communicating with Consul. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_CAPATH environment variable.

  • -client-cert=<value> - Path to a client cert file to use for TLS when verify_incoming is enabled. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_CLIENT_CERT environment variable.

  • -client-key=<value> - Path to a client key file to use for TLS when verify_incoming is enabled. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_CLIENT_KEY environment variable.

  • -http-addr=<addr> - Address of the Consul agent with the port. This can be an IP address or DNS address, but it must include the port. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR environment variable. In Consul 0.8 and later, the default value is http://127.0.0.1:8500, and https can optionally be used instead. The scheme can also be set to HTTPS by setting the environment variable CONSUL_HTTP_SSL=true. This may be a unix domain socket using unix:///path/to/socket if the agent is configured to listen that way.

  • -tls-server-name=<value> - The server name to use as the SNI host when connecting via TLS. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_TLS_SERVER_NAME environment variable.

  • -token=<value> - ACL token to use in the request. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN environment variable. If unspecified, the query will default to the token of the Consul agent at the HTTP address.

  • -token-file=<value> - File containing the ACL token to use in the request instead of one specified via the -token argument or CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN environment variable. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN_FILE environment variable.

  • -datacenter=<name> - Name of the datacenter to query. If unspecified, the query will default to the datacenter of the Consul agent at the HTTP address.

  • -stale - Permit any Consul server (non-leader) to respond to this request. This allows for lower latency and higher throughput, but can result in stale data. This option has no effect on non-read operations. The default value is false.

The output looks like this:

{
    "Provider": "consul",
    "Config": {},
    "CreateIndex": 5,
    "ModifyIndex": 197
}

set-config

Modifies the current CA configuration. If this results in a new root certificate being used, the Root Rotation process will be triggered.

The table below shows this command's required ACLs. Configuration of blocking queries and agent caching are not supported from commands, but may be from the corresponding HTTP endpoint.

ACL Required
operator:write

Usage: consul connect ca set-config [options]

Corresponding HTTP API Endpoint: [PUT] /v1/connect/ca/configuration

The output looks like this:

Configuration updated!

The return code will indicate success or failure.

If currently using Vault CA provider: If you intend to change the CA provider from Vault to another, or to change the Vault provider's RootPKIPath, you must temporarily elevate the privileges of the Vault token or auth method in use as described in the Vault CA provider documentation.

Command Options

  • -config-file - (required) Specifies a JSON-formatted file to use for the new configuration. The format of this config file matches the request payload documented in the Update CA Configuration API.

  • -force-without-cross-signing (bool: <optional>) - Indicates that the CA change should be forced to complete even if the current CA doesn't support root cross-signing.

    Caution: Use of this flag will cause temporary connection failures until service mesh proxies and/or Consul client agents receive a new certificate that establishes trust with the new root. Do not use this flag unless you are sure you need it. Refer to Forced Rotation Without Cross-Signing for more detail.

API Options

  • -ca-file=<value> - Path to a CA file to use for TLS when communicating with Consul. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_CACERT environment variable.

  • -ca-path=<value> - Path to a directory of CA certificates to use for TLS when communicating with Consul. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_CAPATH environment variable.

  • -client-cert=<value> - Path to a client cert file to use for TLS when verify_incoming is enabled. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_CLIENT_CERT environment variable.

  • -client-key=<value> - Path to a client key file to use for TLS when verify_incoming is enabled. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_CLIENT_KEY environment variable.

  • -http-addr=<addr> - Address of the Consul agent with the port. This can be an IP address or DNS address, but it must include the port. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR environment variable. In Consul 0.8 and later, the default value is http://127.0.0.1:8500, and https can optionally be used instead. The scheme can also be set to HTTPS by setting the environment variable CONSUL_HTTP_SSL=true. This may be a unix domain socket using unix:///path/to/socket if the agent is configured to listen that way.

  • -tls-server-name=<value> - The server name to use as the SNI host when connecting via TLS. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_TLS_SERVER_NAME environment variable.

  • -token=<value> - ACL token to use in the request. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN environment variable. If unspecified, the query will default to the token of the Consul agent at the HTTP address.

  • -token-file=<value> - File containing the ACL token to use in the request instead of one specified via the -token argument or CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN environment variable. This can also be specified via the CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN_FILE environment variable.

  • -datacenter=<name> - Name of the datacenter to query. If unspecified, the query will default to the datacenter of the Consul agent at the HTTP address.

  • -stale - Permit any Consul server (non-leader) to respond to this request. This allows for lower latency and higher throughput, but can result in stale data. This option has no effect on non-read operations. The default value is false.

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