# Automate services and nodes relation **URL:** \ **Category:** Consul\ **Created:** [November 6, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/automate-services-and-nodes-relation/3738 "2019-11-06T18:12:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![erickellerek1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/hashicorp/user_avatar/discuss.hashicorp.com/erickellerek1/32/1941_2.png) [@erickellerek1](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/u/erickellerek1)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/automate-services-and-nodes-relation/3738/1 "2019-11-06T18:12:25Z")
Hi community, I am a bit confused by the consul documentation and training materials. I also browsed this category for an answer without success. I basically would like to register a prometeus service having two nodes automatically at the end of the consul cluster setup. I followed the instructions of the [https://learn.hashicorp.com/consul/getting-started/services](https://learn.hashicorp.com/consul/getting-started/services) leaning material. ```auto cat /tmp/prometheus.json { "services": [ { "address": "10.0.0.42", "name": "prometheus", "tags": ["prometheus"], "port": 443, "id": "prometheus-dev-0" }, { "address": "10.0.0.43", "name": "prometheus", "tags": ["prometheus"], "port": 443, "id": "prometheus-dev-1" }] } ``` registering over the consul cli: ```auto consul services register /tmp/prometheus.json Registered service: prometheus Registered service: prometheus ``` testing it out with ping also works fine balancing between 42 and 43 ips. Yet the `consul catalog nodes` does not have appropriate nodes assigned, not prometheus-dev-0 neither prometheus-dev-1 are registered. Searching about a way to then automate the node registration, I did not find anything in the consul cli. After some more digging I found out that for registering external nodes, the following API documents it, [https://www.consul.io/api/catalog.html#register-entity](https://www.consul.io/api/catalog.html#register-entity) ```auto cat /tmp/node0.json /tmp/node1.json { "Node": "prometheus-dev-0", "Address": "10.0.0.42" } { "Node": "prometheus-dev-1", "Address": "10.0.0.43" } # note we cannot register 2 nodes at the same time within one node.json file ?! curl --header "X-Consul-Token: $CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN" --request PUT --data @/tmp/node0.json https://localhost:8501/v1/catalog/register curl --header "X-Consul-Token: $CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN" --request PUT --data @/tmp/node1.json https://localhost:8501/v1/catalog/register ``` then I now can ping the nodes using the prometheus-dev-0.node. Still when I dump the catalog configuration: ```auto curl -sq https://consul.service.:8501/v1/catalog/service/prometheus | jq ``` I can see that the first section where the nodes are defined are holding the consul node ip not any external node ip related to the prometheus service: ```auto [ { "ID": "b9...", "Node": "consul-dev-1", "Address": "10.0.0.23", "Datacenter": "infra-dev", "TaggedAddresses": { "lan": "10.0.0.23", "wan": "10.0.0.23" }, "NodeMeta": { "consul-network-segment": "" }, "ServiceKind": "", "ServiceID": "prometheus-dev-0", "ServiceName": "prometheus", "ServiceTags": [ "prometheus" ], "ServiceAddress": "10.0.0.42", "ServiceWeights": { "Passing": 1, "Warning": 1 }, "ServiceMeta": {}, "ServicePort": 443, "ServiceEnableTagOverride": false, "ServiceProxy": { "MeshGateway": {} }, "ServiceConnect": {}, "CreateIndex": 5211, "ModifyIndex": 5211 }, { "ID": "b9...", "Node": "consul-dev-1", "Address": "10.0.0.23", "Datacenter": "infra-dev", "TaggedAddresses": { "lan": "10.0.0.23", "wan": "10.0.0.23" }, "NodeMeta": { "consul-network-segment": "" }, "ServiceKind": "", "ServiceID": "prometheus-dev-1", "ServiceName": "prometheus", "ServiceTags": [ "prometheus" ], "ServiceAddress": "10.0.0.43", "ServiceWeights": { "Passing": 1, "Warning": 1 }, "ServiceMeta": {}, "ServicePort": 443, "ServiceEnableTagOverride": false, "ServiceProxy": { "MeshGateway": {} }, "ServiceConnect": {}, "CreateIndex": 5212, "ModifyIndex": 5212 } ] ``` In the ui the same the Node is the one consul agent. ![2019-11-06-185706_1603x429_scrot](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/hashicorp/original/2X/e/e4bbd84c64690b8da8682e2235edeb0cf4f6e877.png) inverting the order first registering the nodes and then the services does not change anything. What did I miss? Concerning the automation, is there a way to register nodes and services within one json file, like importing the previously json output of `https://consul.service.:8501/v1/catalog/service/prometheus` in a nodes-services.json file and fire up: ```auto curl --header "X-Consul-Token: $CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN" --request PUT --data @nodes-services.json https://localhost:8501/v1/catalog/register ``` If possible would these json be part of the `/etc/consul.d/` configuration directory? I mean installing vault on top of the consul cluster seems to do some magic are the nodes and the services correspond, how can this be achieved? ![vault](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/hashicorp/original/2X/2/233e444ab7c12de4dc14ce8c9e9aabe487c7b87d.png) I am glad for any help? ---
**Author:** ![kaitlincarter-hc](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/hashicorp/user_avatar/discuss.hashicorp.com/kaitlincarter-hc/32/1306_2.png) [@kaitlincarter-hc](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/u/kaitlincarter-hc)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/automate-services-and-nodes-relation/3738/2 "2019-11-08T21:02:14Z")
If I’m understanding correctly, you are registering two services on nodes that do not have Consul clients. If that is correct, we have a guide specifically for this common use case. You should be able to register the node and service in the same file at the same time. > **[External Services | Consul - HashiCorp Learn](https://learn.hashicorp.com/consul/developer-discovery/external#register-an-external-service-with-a-health-check)** > > It's rare to have all of your services running on nodes that you control. > Learn how to register and health check services with Consul, even when they > are running on nodes without a co-located Consul agent. ---
**Author:** ![erickellerek1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/hashicorp/user_avatar/discuss.hashicorp.com/erickellerek1/32/1941_2.png) [@erickellerek1](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/u/erickellerek1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 6:27am UTC](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/automate-services-and-nodes-relation/3738/3 "2019-11-11T06:27:55Z")
Thanks for pointing out this documentation, I was now able to add some external nodes and assign them to services. Still I had to separate them into two separate calls: ```auto cat /etc/consul.d/prometheus-dev-0.json { "Node": "prometheus-dev-0", "Address": "10.0.0.42", "NodeMeta": { "external-node": "true", "external-probe": "true" }, "Service": { "ID": "prometheus-dev-0", "Service": "prometheus", "Port": 443 }, "Checks": [ { "Name": "http-check", "status": "passing", "Definition": { "http": "https://prometheus-dev-0.node.infra-dev.consul", "interval": "30s" } } ] } ``` executing curl: ```auto curl --header "X-Consul-Token:$CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN" --request PUT --data @/etc/consul.d/prometheus-dev-0.json https://localhost:8501/v1/catalog/register' curl --header "X-Consul-Token:$CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN" --request PUT --data @/etc/consul.d/prometheus-dev-1.json https://localhost:8501/v1/catalog/register' ``` resulted in the service declared accordingly in the ui ![2019-11-11-072324_1836x374_scrot](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/hashicorp/original/2X/c/c48cfada136b517c14bdd323718018ecf881eb10.png) Note that the Address field seems to be incomplete as it just has the port definition, maybe it’s a “ServiceAddress” parameter missing in the definition… Thanks for the help.