> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://notes.kodekloud.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Demo Using the Consul Snapshot Agent Enterprise
> Learn to automate backups of Consul data using the Consul Snapshot Agent, an enterprise feature for scheduled snapshot storage.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to automate backups of your Consul data using the **Consul Snapshot Agent**—an enterprise-only feature that takes and stores snapshots on a schedule.
## Overview
Consul’s open source edition requires manual snapshots. With a valid enterprise license, you can deploy the **Snapshot Agent** to automatically capture and store snapshots at defined intervals, either locally or in AWS S3.
## Prerequisites
* Enterprise license installed on every Consul server
* Consul binary present on all nodes
* A running cluster with two servers and two clients
* AWS credentials configured for S3 storage (if using S3)
Make sure your Enterprise license is active and that your IAM user has write permissions for the S3 bucket.
## Verify Cluster Membership
Run this command on any server to confirm all nodes are online:
```bash theme={null}
consul members
```
Expected output:
```plaintext theme={null}
server-1 10.0.0.1:8301 alive
server-2 10.0.0.2:8301 alive
client-1 10.0.1.1:8301 alive
client-2 10.0.1.2:8301 alive
```
## Create a Systemd Unit for the Snapshot Agent
The Snapshot Agent runs as a separate Consul process in agent mode. Place this file at `/etc/systemd/system/consul-snapshot.service`:
```ini theme={null}
[Unit]
Description="HashiCorp Consul Snapshot Agent"
Documentation=https://www.consul.io/docs
Requires=network-online.target
After=consul.service
ConditionFileNotEmpty=/etc/consul-snapshot.d/consul-snapshot.json
[Service]
User=consul
Group=consul
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/consul snapshot agent -config-file=/etc/consul-snapshot.d/consul-snapshot.json
KillMode=process
Restart=on-failure
LimitNOFILE=65536
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```
## Configure the Snapshot Agent
Create `/etc/consul-snapshot.d/consul-snapshot.json` with your settings:
```json theme={null}
{
"snapshot_agent": {
"http_addr": "127.0.0.1:8500",
"datacenter": "",
"snapshot": {
"interval": "30m",
"retain": 336,
"deregister_after": "8h",
"service": "consul-snapshot"
},
"aws_storage": {
"s3_region": "us-east-1",
"s3_bucket": "us-east-1-krausen-consul-snapshots"
}
}
}
```
| Parameter | Description | Example |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------ |
| `http_addr` | Address of the local Consul HTTP API | `127.0.0.1:8500` |
| `interval` | How often to take a snapshot | `30m` |
| `retain` | Number of snapshots to keep | `336` (≈2 weeks at 30 m intervals) |
| `deregister_after` | Time to remove agent if it fails to renew leadership | `8h` |
| `service` | Service name under which the agent registers in Consul | `consul-snapshot` |
| `s3_region` | AWS region for S3 storage | `us-east-1` |
| `s3_bucket` | S3 bucket to store snapshots | `us-east-1-krausen-consul-snapshots` |
> Adjust values to match your environment and naming conventions.
## Start and Enable the Service
```bash theme={null}
sudo systemctl enable consul-snapshot.service
sudo systemctl start consul-snapshot.service
```
## Verify Service Status and Logs
```bash theme={null}
sudo systemctl status -l consul-snapshot.service
```
Sample log output:
```plaintext theme={null}
● consul-snapshot.service - "HashiCorp Consul Snapshot Agent"
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/consul-snapshot.service; enabled)
Active: active (running) since Thu 2021-02-11 21:36:36 UTC
Main PID: 6351 (consul)
Tasks: 5
Memory: 2.4M
CPU: 69ms
CGroup: /system.slice/consul-snapshot.service
└─6351 /usr/local/bin/consul snapshot agent -config-file=/etc/consul-snapshot.d/consul-snapshot.json
Feb 11 21:36:36 server-1 consul[6351]: [INFO] license: Automated Backups feature is now licensed
Feb 11 21:36:36 server-1 consul[6351]: [INFO] snapshot: Waiting to obtain leadership...
Feb 11 21:36:36 server-1 consul[6351]: [INFO] snapshot: Obtained leadership
Feb 11 21:36:36 server-1 consul[6351]: [INFO] snapshot: Saved snapshot: id=1613079399661741730
```
## Confirm Snapshots in S3
1. Open the [AWS S3 Console].
2. Navigate to your bucket (`us-east-1-krausen-consul-snapshots`).
3. Verify that snapshot files appear under the configured prefix at the expected interval.
## High Availability & Leadership Failover
Deploy a second agent on another server:
```bash theme={null}
sudo systemctl start consul-snapshot.service
sudo systemctl status -l consul-snapshot.service
```
It will log:
```plaintext theme={null}
[INFO] snapshot: Waiting to obtain leadership...
```
To test failover, stop the first agent:
```bash theme={null}
sudo systemctl stop consul-snapshot.service # on server-1
```
Then restart on server-2:
```bash theme={null}
sudo systemctl restart consul-snapshot.service # on server-2
sudo systemctl status -l consul-snapshot.service
```
You should see:
```plaintext theme={null}
[INFO] snapshot: Obtained leadership
[INFO] snapshot: Saved snapshot: id=1613079648559762150
```
Confirm new snapshots in the S3 bucket.
## Cleanup
When you’re done:
```bash theme={null}
sudo systemctl stop consul-snapshot.service
sudo systemctl disable consul-snapshot.service
```
## References
* [Consul Documentation](https://www.consul.io/docs)
* [HashiCorp Consul GitHub repository](https://github.com/hashicorp/consul)
* [AWS S3 Console]: https://console.aws.amazon.com/s3/home