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@krastin krastin commented Dec 2, 2025

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This is the documentation point of reference for the Consul Autopilot functionality.
The origins of this article can be traced to the K8s OpenShift RedHat tutorial.

Current change impacts docs version 1.22.x and 1.21.x.

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Jira: CE-865
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@krastin krastin requested a review from danielehc December 2, 2025 16:51
@krastin krastin self-assigned this Dec 2, 2025
@krastin krastin added the documentation Improvements or additions to documentation label Dec 2, 2025
@krastin krastin requested review from a team as code owners December 2, 2025 16:51
@krastin krastin added the Consul label Dec 2, 2025
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Suggestions for style/clarity. I also included a request to explain the "default autopilot configuration" that Consul returns

This page describes Consul autopilot, which supports automatic, operator-friendly management of Consul
servers. It includes cleanup of dead servers, monitoring the state of the Raft
cluster, and stable server introduction.
This page describes Consul Autopilot, which supports automatic, operator-friendly management of Consul servers. Autopilot helps maintain the health and stability of the Consul server cluster by monitoring server health, introducing stable servers, and cleaning up dead servers. Furthermore, Consul Enterprise customers can leverage two additional Autopilot features, namely redundancy zones and automated upgrades to enhance datacenter resiliency and simplify operations.
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This page describes Consul Autopilot, which supports automatic, operator-friendly management of Consul servers. Autopilot helps maintain the health and stability of the Consul server cluster by monitoring server health, introducing stable servers, and cleaning up dead servers. Furthermore, Consul Enterprise customers can leverage two additional Autopilot features, namely redundancy zones and automated upgrades to enhance datacenter resiliency and simplify operations.
This page describes Consul Autopilot, a set of features that provide operator-friendly management automations for Consul servers.


In this tutorial you will learn how Consul tracks the stability of servers, how
to tune those conditions, and get some details on the other autopilot's features.
Autopilot includes the following features:
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Autopilot includes the following features:
Consul autopilot helps you maintain the health and stability of the Consul server cluster. It includes the following features:

Moved the sentence so that there's less at the top and more before the list.

You can check the default values using the `consul operator` CLI command or
using the [`/v1/operator/autopilot`
endpoint](/consul/api-docs/operator/autopilot)
You can check the default Autopilot values using the `consul operator` CLI command or using the [`/v1/operator/autopilot` endpoint](/consul/api-docs/operator/autopilot)
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You can check the default Autopilot values using the `consul operator` CLI command or using the [`/v1/operator/autopilot` endpoint](/consul/api-docs/operator/autopilot)
To check the default autopilot values, use the `consul operator` CLI command or the [`/v1/operator/autopilot` endpoint](/consul/api-docs/operator/autopilot).

</Tabs>

### Autopilot and Consul snapshots
Changes to the Autopilot configuration are persisted in the Raft database maintained by the Consul servers. This means that Autopilott configuration will be included in the Consul snapshot data.
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Changes to the Autopilot configuration are persisted in the Raft database maintained by the Consul servers. This means that Autopilott configuration will be included in the Consul snapshot data.
Consul servers maintain changes to the autopilot configuration in the Raft database. As a result, autopilot configurations are included in the Consul snapshot data.


</Tab>
</Tabs>

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After the tabs, include a table that lists the value names, descriptions, types, etc. Example:

| Autopilot setting  | Description        | Type    | Default value |
| :----------------: | :------------------| :-----: | :-----------: |
| CleanupDeadServers | Consul servers xxx | Boolean | `true`        |

autopilot. Autopilot allows you to add new servers directly to the datacenter
and waits until you have enough servers running the new version to perform a
leadership change and demote the old servers as "non-voters".
Consul’s automatic upgrades provide a simplified way to upgrade existing Consul datacenter. This functionally is provided through the Enterprise feature of Autopilot. Autopilot allows you to add new servers directly to the datacenter and waits until you have enough servers running the new version to perform a leadership change and demote the old servers as "non-voters".
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Consul’s automatic upgrades provide a simplified way to upgrade existing Consul datacenter. This functionally is provided through the Enterprise feature of Autopilot. Autopilot allows you to add new servers directly to the datacenter and waits until you have enough servers running the new version to perform a leadership change and demote the old servers as "non-voters".
Automatic upgrades are an Enterprise feature that helps you upgrade existing Consul datacenter. With autopilot, you can add new servers running a new Consul version directly to the datacenter. Then when you have enough servers running the new version, you can perform a leadership change and demote the old servers to "non-voters".


Check [automate upgrades with Consul Enterprise](/consul/tutorials/datacenter-operations/upgrade-automation)
to learn more on the functionality.
Check [automate upgrades with Consul Enterprise](/consul/docs/upgrade/automated) to learn more on the functionality.
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Check [automate upgrades with Consul Enterprise](/consul/docs/upgrade/automated) to learn more on the functionality.
To learn more, refer to [automate upgrades with Consul Enterprise](/consul/docs/upgrade/automated).


In this tutorial you got an overview of the autopilot features and got examples
on how and when tune the default values.
To read further about [Autopilot](/consul/docs/manage/scale/autopilot) functionality, check the [read replicas](/consul/docs/manage/scale/read-replica) and [redundancy zones](/consul/docs/manage/scale/redundancy-zone) pages.
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To read further about [Autopilot](/consul/docs/manage/scale/autopilot) functionality, check the [read replicas](/consul/docs/manage/scale/read-replica) and [redundancy zones](/consul/docs/manage/scale/redundancy-zone) pages.
To learn more about the autopilot features described on this page, refer to [read replicas](/consul/docs/manage/scale/read-replica) and [redundancy zones](/consul/docs/manage/scale/redundancy-zone).

[max_trailing_logs](/consul/docs/reference/agent/configuration-file/general#max_trailing_logs),
either read the agent configuration documentation or use the help flag with the
operator autopilot `consul operator autopilot set-config -h`.
To learn more about operational Autopilot settings regarding stability, check the [last_contact_threshold](/consul/docs/reference/agent/configuration-file/bootstrap#last_contact_threshold) and [max_trailing_logs](/consul/docs/reference/agent/configuration-file/bootstrap#max_trailing_logs) parameters in the Consul agent configuration documentation.
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To learn more about operational Autopilot settings regarding stability, check the [last_contact_threshold](/consul/docs/reference/agent/configuration-file/bootstrap#last_contact_threshold) and [max_trailing_logs](/consul/docs/reference/agent/configuration-file/bootstrap#max_trailing_logs) parameters in the Consul agent configuration documentation.
For agent specifications related to autopilot settings for stability, refer to the [last_contact_threshold](/consul/docs/reference/agent/configuration-file/bootstrap#last_contact_threshold) and [max_trailing_logs](/consul/docs/reference/agent/configuration-file/bootstrap#max_trailing_logs) parameters in the Consul agent configuration documentation.

We do not recommend automated scaling of Consul server nodes based on load or usage unless it is coupled by some logic that prevents the cluster from losing quorum.

One way to improve your datacenter resiliency and to leverage automatic scaling is to use [read replicas](/consul/docs/manage/scale/read-replica) and [redundancy zones](/consul/docs/manage/scale/redundancy-zone).
One way to improve your datacenter resiliency and to leverage automatic scaling is to use [autopilot](/consul/docs/manage/scale/autopilot), [read replicas](/consul/docs/manage/scale/read-replica) and [redundancy zones](/consul/docs/manage/scale/redundancy-zone).
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One way to improve your datacenter resiliency and to leverage automatic scaling is to use [autopilot](/consul/docs/manage/scale/autopilot), [read replicas](/consul/docs/manage/scale/read-replica) and [redundancy zones](/consul/docs/manage/scale/redundancy-zone).
One way to improve your datacenter resiliency and to leverage automatic scaling is to use [autopilot](/consul/docs/manage/scale/autopilot), as well as Enterprise features such as [read replicas](/consul/docs/manage/scale/read-replica) and [redundancy zones](/consul/docs/manage/scale/redundancy-zone).

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