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In this guide, we’ll explore how to verify the status of your services in HashiCorp Consul using the UI, DNS interface, and HTTP API. We’ll also walk through adding a second node to the cluster and confirming that multiple service instances are correctly registered.

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Viewing Services in the Consul UI

We have a client node named web-server-01 which registers the front-end-eCommerce service. On the Consul UI home screen, you’ll see two entries:
  • consul (2 instances)
  • front-end-eCommerce (1 instance)
The image shows a web interface for HashiCorp Consul, displaying two services: "consul" with two instances and "front-end-eCommerce" with one instance.
Click front-end-eCommerce to view the service details and health check (check web on port 80), which passes since Apache is running on the host.
The image shows a web interface displaying health check statuses for a server, indicating that the agent is alive and reachable, and a successful TCP connection on port 80.

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Querying the Service Catalog

You can also query Consul programmatically via DNS or the HTTP API. Below is a quick comparison:

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DNS Lookup

Consul’s built-in DNS server listens on port 8600 by default. Ensure your firewall allows UDP/TCP traffic on this port.
Run:
Sample output:

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HTTP API Query

Fetch the service catalog via HTTP:
Example response:
This output shows the node name, IP address, and metadata for each instance.

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Adding a Second Server

Let’s register web-server-02 with the same front-end-eCommerce service.

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Verifying Multiple Instances

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In the UI

Refresh the Consul UI. front-end-eCommerce now displays two healthy instances: web-server-01 and web-server-02.

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Via HTTP API

Re-run the catalog query:
You’ll see both nodes:

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Via DNS

Query DNS again:
Sample ANSWER SECTION:
This confirms that both Consul DNS and the HTTP API correctly reflect the two running instances.

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