»Terminating Gateways on Kubernetes

1.9.0+: This feature is available in Consul versions 1.9.0 and higher

This topic requires familiarity with Terminating Gateways.

Adding a terminating gateway is a multi-step process:

Update the Helm chart with terminating gateway config options
Deploy the Helm chart
Access the Consul agent
Register external services with Consul

»Update the helm chart with terminating gateway config options

Minimum required Helm options:

global:
  name: consul
connectInject:
  enabled: true
controller:
  enabled: true
terminatingGateways:
  enabled: true

global:  name: consulconnectInject:  enabled: truecontroller:  enabled: trueterminatingGateways:  enabled: true

»Deploying the Helm chart

Ensure you have the latest consul-helm chart and install Consul via helm using the following guide while being sure to provide the yaml configuration as previously discussed.

»Accessing the Consul agent

You can access the Consul server directly from your host via kubectl port-forward. This is helpful for interacting with your Consul UI locally as well as to validate connectivity of the application.

$ kubectl port-forward consul-server-0 8500 &

$ kubectl port-forward consul-server-0 8500 &

If TLS is enabled use port 8501:

$ kubectl port-forward consul-server-0 8501 &

$ kubectl port-forward consul-server-0 8501 &

Be sure the latest consul binary is installed locally on your host. https://releases.hashicorp.com/consul/

$ export CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR=http://localhost:8500

$ export CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR=http://localhost:8500

If TLS is enabled set:

$ export CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR=https://localhost:8501
$ export CONSUL_HTTP_SSL_VERIFY=false

$ export CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR=https://localhost:8501$ export CONSUL_HTTP_SSL_VERIFY=false

If ACLs are enabled also set:

$ export CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN=$(kubectl get secret consul-bootstrap-acl-token -o jsonpath={.data.token} | base64 -D)

$ export CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN=$(kubectl get secret consul-bootstrap-acl-token -o jsonpath={.data.token} | base64 -D)

»Register external services with Consul

Registering the external services with Consul is a multi-step process:

Register external services with Consul
Update the terminating gateway ACL token if ACLs are enabled
Create a TerminatingGateway resource to configure the terminating gateway
Create a ServiceIntentions resource to allow access from services in the mesh to external service
Define upstream annotations for any services that need to talk to the external services

»Register external services with Consul

Note: Normal Consul services are registered with the Consul client on the node that they're running on. Since this is an external service, there is no Consul node to register it onto. Instead, we will make up a node name and register the service to that node.

Create a sample external service and register it with Consul.

{
  "Node": "example_com",
  "Address": "example.com",
  "NodeMeta": {
    "external-node": "true",
    "external-probe": "true"
  },
  "Service": {
    "Address": "example.com",
    "ID": "example-https",
    "Service": "example-https",
    "Port": 443
  }
}

{  "Node": "example_com",  "Address": "example.com",  "NodeMeta": {    "external-node": "true",    "external-probe": "true"  },  "Service": {    "Address": "example.com",    "ID": "example-https",    "Service": "example-https",    "Port": 443  }}

"Node": "example_com" is our made up node name.
"Address": "example.com" is the address of our node. Services registered to that node will use this address if their own address isn't specified. If you're registering multiple external services, ensure you use different node names with different addresses or set the Service.Address key.
"Service": { "Address": "example.com" ... } is the address of our service. In this example this doesn't need to be set since the address of the node is the same, but if there were two services registered to that same node then this should be set.

$ curl --request PUT --data @external.json -k $CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR/v1/catalog/register
true

$ curl --request PUT --data @external.json -k $CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR/v1/catalog/registertrue

If ACLs and TLS are enabled :

$ curl --request PUT --header "X-Consul-Token: $CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN" --data @external.json -k $CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR/v1/catalog/register
true

$ curl --request PUT --header "X-Consul-Token: $CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN" --data @external.json -k $CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR/v1/catalog/registertrue

»Update terminating gateway ACL token if ACLs are enabled

If ACLs are enabled, update the terminating gateway acl token to have service: write permissions on all of the services being represented by the gateway:

Create a new policy that includes these permissions
Update the existing token to include the new policy

The CLI command should be run with the -merge-policies, -merge-roles and -merge-service-identities so nothing is removed from the terminating gateway token

service "example-https" {
  policy = "write"
}

service "example-https" {  policy = "write"}

$ consul acl policy create -name "example-https-write-policy" -rules @write-policy.hcl
ID:           xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Name:         example-https-write-policy
Description:
Datacenters:
Rules:
service "example-https" {
  policy = "write"
}

$ consul acl policy create -name "example-https-write-policy" -rules @write-policy.hclID:           xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxName:         example-https-write-policyDescription:Datacenters:Rules:service "example-https" {  policy = "write"}

Now fetch the ID of the terminating gateway token

consul acl token list | grep -B 6 -- "- terminating-gateway-terminating-gateway-token" | grep AccessorID

AccessorID:       <token id>

consul acl token list | grep -B 6 -- "- terminating-gateway-terminating-gateway-token" | grep AccessorID
AccessorID:       <token id>

Update the terminating gateway acl token with the new policy

$ consul acl token update -id <token-id> -policy-name example-https-write-policy -merge-policies -merge-roles -merge-service-identities
AccessorID:       <token id>
SecretID:         <secret id>
Description:      terminating-gateway-terminating-gateway-token Token
Local:            true
Create Time:      2021-01-08 21:18:47.957450486 +0000 UTC
Policies:
   63bf1d9b-a87d-8672-ddcb-d25e2d88adb8 - terminating-gateway-terminating-gateway-token
   f63d1ae6-ffe7-44bd-bf7a-704a86939a63 - example-https-write-policy

$ consul acl token update -id <token-id> -policy-name example-https-write-policy -merge-policies -merge-roles -merge-service-identitiesAccessorID:       <token id>SecretID:         <secret id>Description:      terminating-gateway-terminating-gateway-token TokenLocal:            trueCreate Time:      2021-01-08 21:18:47.957450486 +0000 UTCPolicies:   63bf1d9b-a87d-8672-ddcb-d25e2d88adb8 - terminating-gateway-terminating-gateway-token   f63d1ae6-ffe7-44bd-bf7a-704a86939a63 - example-https-write-policy

»Create the configuration entry for the terminating gateway

Once the tokens have been updated, create the TerminatingGateway resource to configure the terminating gateway:

apiVersion: consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1
kind: TerminatingGateway
metadata:
  name: terminating-gateway
spec:
  services:
    - name: example-https
      caFile: /etc/ssl/cert.pem

apiVersion: consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1kind: TerminatingGatewaymetadata:  name: terminating-gatewayspec:  services:    - name: example-https      caFile: /etc/ssl/cert.pem

If TLS is enabled a caFile must be provided, it must point to the system trust store of the terminating gateway container (/etc/ssl/cert.pem).

Apply the TerminatingGateway resource with kubectl apply:

$ kubectl apply -f terminating-gateway.yaml

$ kubectl apply -f terminating-gateway.yaml

If using ACLs and TLS, create a ServiceIntentions resource to allow access from services in the mesh to the external service

apiVersion: consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1
kind: ServiceIntentions
metadata:
  name: example-https
spec:
  destination:
    name: example-https
  sources:
    - name: static-client
      action: allow

apiVersion: consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1kind: ServiceIntentionsmetadata:  name: example-httpsspec:  destination:    name: example-https  sources:    - name: static-client      action: allow

Apply the ServiceIntentions resource with kubectl apply:

$ kubectl apply -f service-intentions.yaml

$ kubectl apply -f service-intentions.yaml

»Define the external services as upstreams for services in the mesh

Finally define and deploy the external services as upstreams for the internal mesh services that wish to talk to them. An example deployment is provided which will serve as a static client for the terminating gateway service.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: static-client
spec:
  selector:
    app: static-client
  ports:
    - port: 80
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: static-client
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: static-client
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: static-client
  template:
    metadata:
      name: static-client
      labels:
        app: static-client
      annotations:
        'consul.hashicorp.com/connect-inject': 'true'
        'consul.hashicorp.com/connect-service-upstreams': 'example-https:1234'
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: static-client
          image: curlimages/curl:latest
          command: ['/bin/sh', '-c', '--']
          args: ['while true; do sleep 30; done;']
      serviceAccountName: static-client

apiVersion: v1kind: Servicemetadata:  name: static-clientspec:  selector:    app: static-client  ports:    - port: 80---apiVersion: v1kind: ServiceAccountmetadata:  name: static-client---apiVersion: apps/v1kind: Deploymentmetadata:  name: static-clientspec:  replicas: 1  selector:    matchLabels:      app: static-client  template:    metadata:      name: static-client      labels:        app: static-client      annotations:        'consul.hashicorp.com/connect-inject': 'true'        'consul.hashicorp.com/connect-service-upstreams': 'example-https:1234'    spec:      containers:        - name: static-client          image: curlimages/curl:latest          command: ['/bin/sh', '-c', '--']          args: ['while true; do sleep 30; done;']      serviceAccountName: static-client

Run the service via kubectl apply:

$ kubectl apply -f static-client.yaml

$ kubectl apply -f static-client.yaml

Wait for the service to be ready:

$ kubectl rollout status deploy static-client --watch
deployment "static-client" successfully rolled out

$ kubectl rollout status deploy static-client --watchdeployment "static-client" successfully rolled out

You can verify connectivity of the static-client and terminating gateway via a curl command:

$ kubectl exec deploy/static-client -- curl -vvvs -H "Host: example-https.com" http://localhost:1234/

$ kubectl exec deploy/static-client -- curl -vvvs -H "Host: example-https.com" http://localhost:1234/