HCP Consul cluster peering enhances multi-cloud connectivity

Today, we are pleased to announce the availability of cluster peering for HashiCorp-managed HCP Consul on Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, enabling enterprises to achieve multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud connectivity.

With cluster peering on the HashiCorp Cloud Platform (HCP), customers can connect their existing self-managed Consul clusters and HashiCorp-managed HCP Consul clusters, or connect multiple HCP Consul clusters running on AWS and/or Azure. This capability is currently available for customers with Flex billing and will be available in Entitlement contracts the first week of April.

We are also adding the ability to configure cluster peering in the HCP management plane UI as a beta feature to simplify the cluster peering experience.

»HCP Consul cluster peering and new tiers

This generally available (GA) release includes new HCP tiers that support cluster peering in development and production deployments for both HCP Consul AWS and HCP Consul Azure.

With this release, we have also introduced a new Premium tier for HCP Consul on AWS and Azure. This tier will support HCP Consul’s new multi-cloud and hybrid cloud cluster peering features. Along with the Premium tier we are also introducing the Plus tier for HCP Consul on Azure, which was previously available only for HCP Consul on AWS. The Plus tier allows organizations to configure Consul cluster peering across multiple regions within the same cloud provider (AWS or Azure).

Tiers are now consistent across HCP Consul Azure, HCP Consul on AWS, and self-managed Consul. Refer to the HCP Consul tiers page for more information about the supported subscription offerings for each HCP Consul tier.

»Enhanced security with allow-listing feature

HCP Consul offers a private cluster mode where a customer can only access an HCP Consul cluster’s UI/API from their network once it has been peered with the HCP virtual network (HVN). To further enhance security, we have added a new allow-list feature to limit access to a select group of source IP addresses or CIDR ranges within the customer’s subnet.

This allow-list feature is also supported when an HCP Consul cluster is deployed in public mode. In public mode, the allow-list will also limit the source IP addresses or CIDR ranges that are allowed to access the cluster’s UI/API from the public internet.

»HCP Consul management plane support for cluster peering (beta)

Our vision for the HCP management plane is to provide global visibility and centralized control across multiple Consul clusters. The HCP management plane service is generally available and includes the following capabilities:

• Bootstrap new self-hosted Kubernetes clusters quickly with a secure Consul configuration.
• View self-managed and HashiCorp-managed cluster health in a single management plane.
• In a centralized view, see all discovered and registered services across self-managed and HashiCorp-managed clusters.
• Securely access the Consul UI of each Consul cluster from the HCP management plane.

We are excited to extend support for cluster peering to the HCP management plane (currently in beta):

• The HCP management plane allows operators to configure cluster peering from a single pane of glass.
• Operators no longer need to log into individual Consul clusters in order to initiate and accept cluster peering requests.

Cluster peering with HCP management plane further simplifies the cluster peering process and improves the user experience.

»Next steps for Consul

Learn more about HCP Consul cluster peering in our documentations page. To try the managed version of Consul on the HashiCorp Cloud Platform for free: Create a new account and get $50 of credit. Visit our HashiCorp Consul product page for additional information on HCP Consul, including an overview and details on features and pricing.