Consul Integration

Before starting
Add the task to your CTS configuration
Set the module variables
Describe the records in service metadata
Have more questions?

DNSimple’s Consul-Terraform-Sync module, dnsimple/cts/dnsimple, keeps DNS records in DNSimple in step with the services in your Consul catalog. When a service changes, Consul-Terraform-Sync (CTS) runs the module, which creates or updates the records you describe in the service’s metadata. It uses DNSimple’s Terraform provider to make the changes.

Before starting

You need:

A Consul cluster and Consul-Terraform-Sync installed
An API access token for your DNSimple account, and the account ID shown on the API & Access page, as in Getting to the API & Access page
The zone for your records in DNSimple

Add the task to your CTS configuration

Define a task that uses the module:

task {
  name           = "dnsimple-task"
  description    = "Manage DNSimple records from Consul service metadata"
  module         = "dnsimple/cts/dnsimple"
  variable_files = ["/etc/consul-tf-sync/dnsimple.tfvars"]

  condition "services" {
    regexp = ".+"
    filter = "Service.Kind != \"connect-proxy\" and Service.Tags contains \"dnsimple\""
  }
}

condition "services" chooses which services trigger the task. This example picks every service tagged dnsimple and leaves out Consul Connect proxies, which would otherwise create duplicate records.
variable_files points to the file with the module variables below.

Set the module variables

The module needs three variables. Set all three, including dnsimple_sandbox, which has no default:

dnsimple_token   = "your-api-access-token"
dnsimple_account = "1010"
dnsimple_sandbox = false

Set dnsimple_sandbox = true to test against the DNSimple Sandbox with a Sandbox token and account ID.

Describe the records in service metadata

Add dnsimple_ keys to the meta section of each service you want in DNS:

"Meta": {
  "dnsimple_zone_name": "example.com",
  "dnsimple_record_name": "api",
  "dnsimple_record_content": "$address",
  "dnsimple_record_ttl": "600"
}

This creates an A record for api.example.com that points to the service’s address, with a TTL of 600 seconds.

Key	Required	What it sets
`dnsimple_zone_name`	Yes, unless `dnsimple_default_zone` is set	The zone to add the record to
`dnsimple_record_name`	Yes	The record name, such as `api`
`dnsimple_record_content`	Yes	The record value, such as `$address` or `192.0.2.1`
`dnsimple_record_type`	No	The record type. Defaults to `A`
`dnsimple_record_ttl`	No	The TTL in seconds. Defaults to `3600`
`dnsimple_record_priority`	No	The priority, for MX and SRV records
`dnsimple_default_zone`, `dnsimple_default_record_type`, `dnsimple_default_record_ttl`	No	Defaults for this service’s records

dnsimple_record_name and dnsimple_record_content can include service attributes, such as $address, $port, $name, and $node_address. To create more than one record for a service, add a numbered set of keys, such as dnsimple_record_name-1 and dnsimple_record_content-1. A numbered set without its dnsimple_record_content key is skipped. The module README lists every attribute.

Have more questions?

If you have additional questions or need any assistance with the Consul integration, contact support, and we will be happy to help. You can also read more about DNSimple integrations.