Skip to main content
Welcome to “Getting Started with HashiCorp Consul” — a focused, practical online training course designed to prepare engineers and operators for the HashiCorp Certified Consul Associate exam and to teach how to design, deploy, and operate Consul in real environments. This course covers core Consul concepts, deployment patterns, and operational tasks you’ll use in production: service discovery, service mesh (Consul Connect), KV storage, ACLs, secure agent communication, and cluster management. Whether you’re preparing for certification or adopting Consul for service networking and configuration, this course gives you hands-on, exam-focused guidance. About the instructor
  • Bryan Krausen — Principal Technical Consultant based in Central Kentucky with 20+ years in IT and experience contributing to HashiCorp training content.
  • Practical background: several years deploying Consul (including using Consul as a backend for Vault) and architecting solutions across multiple customers.
  • Certifications & community: an early beta taker of the Consul Associate exam, Consul Advanced Partner certification holder, and presenter at HashiConf 2019 (slides and recordings referenced in resources).
This is an independent course created by the instructor and is not official HashiCorp training. The content aligns with HashiCorp exam objectives and official documentation but is not produced by HashiCorp.
Contact & course repository
  • Twitter: B T Krausen (follow for announcements and updates).
  • GitHub: github.com/btkrausen (profile).
  • Course code & labs: github.com/btkrausen/hashicorp — repository with lab files, practice exams, and configuration examples. I will post updates there throughout the course.
If you have course-related technical questions, use the Q&A section on the learning platform first. Direct messages through the platform are monitored and I typically respond quickly. I cannot provide formal consulting or free long-term support, but I’ll help clarify course material or point you to resources. What you will learn
  • Core Consul concepts and architecture
  • Protocols used within a Consul cluster
  • Creating and managing Consul clusters (single datacenter)
  • Service registration, discovery, and service mesh (fault-tolerant connectivity)
  • Using the Consul KV store for application configuration
  • Consul ACLs and access control
  • Backup, restore, and securing agent/gossip communication
A dark-themed slide titled "About the Course" listing bullet-point topics for HashiCorp Consul (core concepts, protocols, clusters, service discovery/mesh, KV store, ACLs). A pink Consul Associate certification badge is shown to the right.
Course format
  • Lecture + slides: Each section begins with definitions, architecture, and conceptual slides to establish context.
  • Hands-on labs: Where applicable, short demos follow to reinforce concepts. Labs focus on CLI workflows, with notes about UI and API alternatives for exam objectives.
  • Demo environment: Examples use the default Consul domain (.consul) and are demonstrated primarily on a local laptop; when clustering is required, demos will use AWS.
  • Section resources: Each section includes a PDF of slides, a PDF of lab commands, an exported mind map (PDF) of the section workflow, and a short quiz.
Labs emphasize CLI-first workflows for exam relevance and real-world automation. Use the provided slide and command PDFs to follow along step-by-step.
Quizzes Quizzes are short, objective-focused checks to reinforce each section. They’re designed to highlight areas where additional study may be required and generally reflect the type and scope of questions seen on the actual exam. Course updates & feedback I monitor HashiCorp’s certification pages and update course content when exam objectives or Consul features change. Announcements for new material will be posted in the course. For feedback or suggestions, message me via the learning platform. About the Consul Associate exam HashiCorp’s Consul Associate exam is remotely proctored and typically includes multiple choice and multi-select questions. Occasionally other formats (such as typed command responses) may appear. The exam is time-limited and delivered in a browser-based proctored environment. Exam overview
An infographic titled "About the Exam" for the HashiCorp Consul Associate certification, showing a central Consul badge flanked by exam details (type: multiple choice, 1 hour, remotely proctored) on the left and exam content/prerequisites on the right.
Exam prerequisites & supported versions
  • Consul versions: Exam objectives cover Consul 1.7+. At the time this content was created, Consul 1.9.1 was current. Confirm the exam guide for the most recent supported versions.
  • Recommended background: familiarity with containerization concepts, basic CLI skills, load-balancing fundamentals, distributed systems awareness, and basic understanding of access control lists (ACLs).
Exam objectives HashiCorp defines the Consul Associate exam across nine primary objectives. These also form the structure of this course.
A dark-themed slide titled "Exam Objectives" showing nine boxed objectives. The listed objectives focus on Consul tasks like architecture, deploying a datacenter, service registration/discovery, KV access, backup/restore, service mesh, secure agent communication, ACLs, and gossip encryption.
Mastering these nine areas will prepare you to deploy, operate, and secure Consul in production, whether or not you pursue certification. Recommended resources Below are the primary official and community resources that complement this course. They are included in each section’s resource list. Community & course-specific resources
  • Practice exams: I provide a HashiCorp Certified Consul Associate practice exam bundle (three tests totaling ~171 questions) via the learning platform. These practice questions include detailed explanations and reference links.
  • HashiConf talks: Two conference talks from HashiConf 2019 (service discovery & service mesh deep dive) are particularly useful for advanced concepts and real-world patterns.
A presentation slide titled "Exam Resources" showing official and community links (HashiCorp/Consul URLs) in pink text on a dark background. A decorative pink-and-white pixel pattern runs down the right side and a small cartoon avatar appears in the bottom-right corner.
Conclusion This introduction outlines the course scope, format, exam expectations, and resources. Proceed to the next section for the first lecture on Consul fundamentals and architecture, where we’ll define key terms and begin practical examples that align with the exam objectives.

Watch Video