Proxy Defaults Configuration Entry

The proxy-defaults configuration entry (ProxyDefaults on Kubernetes) allows you to configure global defaults across all services for Connect proxy configurations. Only one global entry is supported.

Introduction

You can customize some service registration settings for service mesh sidecar proxies centrally using the proxy-defaults configuration entry in the kind field.

You can still override this centralized configuration for specific services with the service-defaults configuration entry kind or for individual proxy instances in their sidecar service definitions.

Requirements

The following Consul binaries are supported:

Consul 1.8.4+ on Kubernetes.
Consul 1.5.0+ on other platforms.

Usage

Verify that your datacenter meets the conditions specified in the Requirements.
Determine the settings you want to implement (see Configuration). You can create a file containing the configuration or pass them to the state store directly to apply the configuration.
Apply the configuration using one of the following methods:
- Kubernetes CRD: Refer to the Custom Resource Definitions documentation for details.
- Issue the consul config write command: Refer to the Consul Config Write documentation for details.

Configuration

Configure the following parameters to define a proxy-defaults configuration entry:

Proxy defaults configuration syntax

Kind      = "proxy-defaults"
Name      = "global"
Meta {
  <arbitrary string key> = "<arbitrary string value>"
}
Config {
  <arbitrary string key> = <arbitrary value>
}
Mode = "<name of proxy mode>"
TransparentProxy {
  OutboundListenerPort = <port the proxy should listen on for outbound traffic>
  DialedDirectly       = <true if proxy instances should be dialed directly>
}
MeshGateway {
  Mode = "<name of mesh gateway configuration for all proxies>"
}
Expose {
  Checks = <true to expose all HTTP and gRPC checks through Envoy>

  Paths = [
    {
      Path          = "<the HTTP path to expose>"
      LocalPathPort = <port where the local service is listening for connections to the path>
      ListenerPort  = <port where the proxy will listen for connections>
      Protocol      = "<protocol of the listener>"
    }
  ]
}

apiVersion: consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1
kind: ProxyDefaults
metadata:
  name: global
spec:
  meta:
    <arbitrary string key>: <arbitrary string value>
  config:
    <arbitrary string key>: <arbitrary value>
  mode: <name of proxy mode>
  transparentProxy:
    outboundListenerPort: <port the proxy should listen on for outbound traffic>
    dialedDirectly: <true if proxy instances should be dialed directly>
  meshGateway:
    mode: <name of mesh gateway configuration for all proxies>
  expose:
    checks: <true to expose all HTTP and gRPC checks through Envoy>
    paths:
      - path: <the HTTP path to expose>
        localPathPort: <port where the local service is listening for connections to the path>
        listenerPort: <port where the proxy will listen for connections>
        protocol:= <protocol of the listener>

{
  "Kind": "proxy-defaults",
  "Name": "global",
  "Meta": {
    "<arbitrary string key>": "<arbitrary string value>"
  },
  "Config": {
    "<arbitrary string key>": <arbitrary value>
  },
  "Mode": "<name of proxy mode>",
  "TransparentProxy": {
    "OutboundListenerPort": <port the proxy should listen on for outbound traffic>,
    "DialedDirectly": <true if proxy instances should be dialed directly>
  },
  "MeshGateway": {
    "Mode": = "<name of mesh gateway configuration for all proxies>"
  },
  "Expose": {
    "Checks": <true to expose all HTTP and gRPC checks through Envoy>,
    "Paths": [
      {
        "Path": "<the HTTP path to expose>",
        "LocalPathPort": <port where the local service is listening for connections to the path>,
        "ListenerPort": <port where the proxy will listen for connections>,
        "Protocol": "<protocol of the listener>"
      }
    ]
  }
}

NOTE: The proxy-defaults config entry can only be created in the default namespace and it will configure proxies in all namespaces.

Proxy defaults configuration syntax

Kind      = "proxy-defaults"
Name      = "global"
Namespace = "default" # Can only be set to "default".
Meta {
  <arbitrary string key> = "<arbitrary string value>"
}
Config {
  <arbitrary string key> = <arbitrary value>
}
Mode = "<name of proxy mode>"
TransparentProxy {
  OutboundListenerPort = <port the proxy should listen on for outbound traffic>
  DialedDirectly       = <true if proxy instances should be dialed directly>
}
MeshGateway {
  Mode = "<name of mesh gateway configuration for all proxies>"
}
Expose {
  Checks = <true to expose all HTTP and gRPC checks through Envoy>

  Paths = [
    {
      Path          = "<the HTTP path to expose>"
      LocalPathPort = <port where the local service is listening for connections to the path>
      ListenerPort  = <port where the proxy will listen for connections>
      Protocol      = "<protocol of the listener>"
    }
  ]
}

apiVersion: consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1
kind: ProxyDefaults
metadata:
  name: global
  namespace: default
spec:
  meta:
    <arbitrary string key>: <arbitrary string value>
  config:
    <arbitrary string key>: <arbitrary value>
  mode: <name of proxy mode>
  transparentProxy:
    outboundListenerPort: <port the proxy should listen on for outbound traffic>
    dialedDirectly: <true if proxy instances should be dialed directly>
  meshGateway:
    mode: <name of mesh gateway configuration for all proxies>
  expose:
    checks: <true to expose all HTTP and gRPC checks through Envoy>
    paths:
      - path: <the HTTP path to expose>
        localPathPort: <port where the local service is listening for connections to the path>
        listenerPort: <port where the proxy will listen for connections>
        protocol:= <protocol of the listener>

{
  "Kind": "proxy-defaults",
  "Name": "global",
  "Namespace": "default",
  "Meta": {
    "<arbitrary string key>": "<arbitrary string value>"
  },
  "Config": {
    "<arbitrary string key>": <arbitrary value>
  },
  "Mode": "<name of proxy mode>",
  "TransparentProxy": {
    "OutboundListenerPort": <port the proxy should listen on for outbound traffic>,
    "DialedDirectly": <true if proxy instances should be dialed directly>
  },
  "MeshGateway": {
    "Mode": = "<name of mesh gateway configuration for all proxies>"
  },
  "Expose": {
    "Checks": <true to expose all HTTP and gRPC checks through Envoy>,
    "Paths": [
      {
        "Path": "<the HTTP path to expose>",
        "LocalPathPort": <port where the local service is listening for connections to the path>,
        "ListenerPort": <port where the proxy will listen for connections>,
        "Protocol": "<protocol of the listener>"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Configuration Parameters

Kind - Must be set to proxy-defaults
Name - Must be set to global
Namespace (string: "default")Enterprise - Must be set to default. The configuration will apply to all namespaces.
Partition (string: "default")Enterprise - Specifies the name of the admin partition in which the configuration entry applies. Refer to the Admin Partitions documentation for additional information.
Meta (map<string|string>: nil) - Specifies arbitrary KV metadata pairs. Added in Consul 1.8.4.
Config (map[string]arbitrary) - An arbitrary map of configuration values used by Connect proxies. The available configurations depend on the Connect proxy you use. Any values that your proxy allows can be configured globally here. To explore these options please see the documentation for your chosen proxy.
- Envoy
- Consul's built-in proxy
Mode (string: "") - One of direct or transparent. transparent represents that inbound and outbound application traffic is being captured and redirected through the proxy. This mode does not enable the traffic redirection itself. Instead it signals Consul to configure Envoy as if traffic is already being redirected. direct represents that the proxy's listeners must be dialed directly by the local application and other proxies. Added in v1.10.0.
TransparentProxy (TransparentProxyConfig: <optional>) - Controls configuration specific to proxies in transparent mode. Added in v1.10.0.
- OutboundListenerPort (int: "15001") - The port the proxy should listen on for outbound traffic. This must be the port where outbound application traffic is captured and redirected to.
- DialedDirectly (bool: false) - Determines whether this proxy instance's IP address can be dialed directly by transparent proxies. Typically transparent proxies dial upstreams using the "virtual" tagged address, which load balances across instances. Dialing individual instances can be helpful in cases like stateful services such as a database cluster with a leader.
MeshGateway (MeshGatewayConfig: <optional>) - Controls the default mesh gateway configuration for all proxies. Added in v1.6.0.
- Mode (string: "") - One of none, local, or remote.
Expose (ExposeConfig: <optional>) - Controls the default expose path configuration for Envoy. Added in v1.6.2.

Exposing paths through Envoy enables a service to protect itself by only listening on localhost, while still allowing non-Connect-enabled applications to contact an HTTP endpoint. Some examples include: exposing a /metrics path for Prometheus or /healthz for kubelet liveness checks.
- Checks (bool: false) - If enabled, all HTTP and gRPC checks registered with the agent are exposed through Envoy. Envoy will expose listeners for these checks and will only accept connections originating from localhost or Consul's advertise address. The port for these listeners are dynamically allocated from expose_min_port to expose_max_port. This flag is useful when a Consul client cannot reach registered services over localhost.
- Paths (array<Path>: []) - A list of paths to expose through Envoy.
  - Path (string: "") - The HTTP path to expose. The path must be prefixed by a slash. ie: /metrics.
  - LocalPathPort (int: 0) - The port where the local service is listening for connections to the path.
  - ListenerPort (int: 0) - The port where the proxy will listen for connections. This port must be available for the listener to be set up. If the port is not free then Envoy will not expose a listener for the path, but the proxy registration will not fail.
  - Protocol (string: "http") - Sets the protocol of the listener. One of http or http2. For gRPC use http2.

apiVersion - Must be set to consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1
kind - Must be set to ProxyDefaults
metadata
- name - Must be set to global
- namespace Enterprise - If running Consul Open Source, the namespace is ignored (see Kubernetes Namespaces in Consul OSS). If running Consul Enterprise see Kubernetes Namespaces in Consul Enterprise for more details.
spec
- config (map[string]arbitrary) - An arbitrary map of configuration values used by Connect proxies. The available configurations depend on the Connect proxy you use. Any values that your proxy allows can be configured globally here. To explore these options please see the documentation for your chosen proxy.
  - Envoy
  - Consul's built-in proxy
- mode (string: "") - One of direct or transparent. transparent represents that inbound and outbound application traffic is being captured and redirected through the proxy. This mode does not enable the traffic redirection itself. Instead it signals Consul to configure Envoy as if traffic is already being redirected. direct represents that the proxy's listeners must be dialed directly by the local application and other proxies. Added in v1.10.0.
- transparentProxy (TransparentProxyConfig: <optional>) - Controls configuration specific to proxies in transparent mode. Added in v1.10.0.
  - outboundListenerPort (int: "15001") - The port the proxy should listen on for outbound traffic. This must be the port where outbound application traffic is captured and redirected to.
  - dialedDirectly (bool: false) - Determines whether this proxy instance's IP address can be dialed directly by transparent proxies. Typically transparent proxies dial upstreams using the "virtual" tagged address, which load balances across instances. Dialing individual instances can be helpful in cases like stateful services such as a database cluster with a leader.
- meshGateway (MeshGatewayConfig: <optional>) - Controls the default mesh gateway configuration for all proxies. Added in v1.6.0.
  - mode (string: "") - One of none, local, or remote.
- expose (ExposeConfig: <optional>) - Controls the default expose path configuration for Envoy. Added in v1.6.2.
  
  Exposing paths through Envoy enables a service to protect itself by only listening on localhost, while still allowing non-Connect-enabled applications to contact an HTTP endpoint. Some examples include: exposing a /metrics path for Prometheus or /healthz for kubelet liveness checks.
  - checks (bool: false) - If enabled, all HTTP and gRPC checks registered with the agent are exposed through Envoy. Envoy will expose listeners for these checks and will only accept connections originating from localhost or Consul's advertise address. The port for these listeners are dynamically allocated from expose_min_port to expose_max_port. This flag is useful when a Consul client cannot reach registered services over localhost.
  - paths (array<Path>: []) - A list of paths to expose through Envoy.
    - path (string: "") - The HTTP path to expose. The path must be prefixed by a slash. ie: /metrics.
    - localPathPort (int: 0) - The port where the local service is listening for connections to the path.
    - listenerPort (int: 0) - The port where the proxy will listen for connections. This port must be available for the listener to be set up. If the port is not free then Envoy will not expose a listener for the path, but the proxy registration will not fail.
    - protocol (string: "http") - Sets the protocol of the listener. One of http or http2. For gRPC use http2.

Examples

Default protocol

The following example configures the default protocol for all sidecar proxies.

Kind      = "proxy-defaults"
Name      = "global"
Config {
  protocol = "http"
}

NOTE: The proxy-defaults config entry can only be created in the default namespace and it will configure proxies in all namespaces.

Kind      = "proxy-defaults"
Name      = "global"
Namespace = "default" # Can only be set to "default".
Config {
  protocol = "http"
}

Prometheus

The following example configures all sidecar proxies to expose Prometheus metrics.

Kind      = "proxy-defaults"
Name      = "global"
Config {
  envoy_prometheus_bind_addr = "0.0.0.0:9102"
}

Proxy-specific defaults

The following example configures some custom default values for all sidecar proxies.

Kind      = "proxy-defaults"
Name      = "global"
Config {
  local_connect_timeout_ms = 1000
  handshake_timeout_ms     = 10000
}

ACLs

Configuration entries may be protected by ACLs.

Reading a proxy-defaults config entry requires no specific privileges.

Creating, updating, or deleting a proxy-defaults config entry requires operator:write.