Nomad and Consul Setup on GCP

This guide outlines how to deploy Nomad and Consul on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using Packer to build custom images based on HashiCorp's Reference Architecture.

Reference Diagram

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following tools installed:

Google Cloud CLI (gcloud)
HashiCorp Packer
Nomad License File
Consul License File

Step 1: Authenticate with GCP

Authenticate your GCP account and configure the project you want to use:

# Authenticate your GCP account
gcloud auth login
gcloud auth application-default login

# Set your Google Cloud project ID
gcloud config set project <PROJECT_ID>

Replace <PROJECT_ID> with your GCP project ID.

Step 2: Set Up License Files

Copy your Nomad and Consul license files (nomad.hclic and consul.hclic) to the root of your working directory:

cp ~/Downloads/nomad.hclic .
cp ~/Downloads/consul.hclic .

Ensure both license files are present before building your images.

Step 3: Build Disk Images with Packer

Set Packer Variables

Use the provided script to configure necessary variables for the Packer build:

sh packer/set-vars.sh

The script will prompt you for your GCP project ID, region, and other details. By default, it uses London (europe-west2) as the region. Modify this if needed during execution.

Build the Images

Once variables are set, you can use Packer to build the Nomad server and client images. To update the version of Nomad or Consul, modify the NOMAD_VERSION and CONSUL_VERSION in the provision-nomad.sh & provision-consul.sh scripts.

You can run both builds simultaneously using ./build-packer.sh, or manually with the following commands:

# Initialize Packer
packer init packer/gcp-almalinux-nomad-server.pkr.hcl
packer init packer/gcp-almalinux-nomad-client.pkr.hcl
packer init packer/gcp-almalinux-consul-server.pkr.hcl
packer init packer/gcp-almalinux-nginx.pkr.hcl

# Build the Nomad server image
packer build -var-file=variables.pkrvars.hcl packer/gcp-almalinux-nomad-server.pkr.hcl

# Build the Nomad client image
packer build -var-file=variables.pkrvars.hcl packer/gcp-almalinux-nomad-client.pkr.hcl

# Build the Consul server image
packer build -var-file=variables.pkrvars.hcl packer/gcp-almalinux-consul-server.pkr.hcl

# Build the nginx server image
packer build -var-file=variables.pkrvars.hcl packer/gcp-almalinux-nginx.pkr.hcl

Step 4: Provision Nomad Cluster with Terraform

You can now use Terraform to provision a Nomad cluster. This example creates a 3-node Nomad server cluster with an additional Nomad client node. The terraform.tfvars file is generated from the original variables.pkrvars.hcl used during the Packer build.

# Create tfvars from pkrvars and provision the cluster
sed '/image_family.*/d' variables.pkrvars.hcl > tf/terraform.tfvars
cd tf
terraform init
terraform apply

Firewall Configuration

The firewall rule will open TCP ports 4646 and 8500, allowing you to access Nomad on port 4646 and Consul on port 8500 on the relevent the servers. You can access these services via a web browser using the external IP addresses of your servers.

Kubernetes Integration (Work in Progress)

Integration with Kubernetes is currently a work in progress. Stay tuned for updates on how to incorporate Nomad into your Kubernetes environment.

tallen-hashicorp / nomad-and-consul

readme