How to Set Up a Demo etcd Cluster
Guide to setting up a cluster in etcd

On each etcd node, specify the cluster members:
TOKEN=token-01
CLUSTER_STATE=new
NAME_1=machine-1
NAME_2=machine-2
NAME_3=machine-3
HOST_1=10.240.0.17
HOST_2=10.240.0.18
HOST_3=10.240.0.19
CLUSTER=${NAME_1}=http://${HOST_1}:2380,${NAME_2}=http://${HOST_2}:2380,${NAME_3}=http://${HOST_3}:2380Run this on each machine:
# For machine 1
THIS_NAME=${NAME_1}
THIS_IP=${HOST_1}
etcd --data-dir=data.etcd --name ${THIS_NAME} \
--initial-advertise-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 --listen-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 \
--advertise-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 --listen-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 \
--initial-cluster ${CLUSTER} \
--initial-cluster-state ${CLUSTER_STATE} --initial-cluster-token ${TOKEN}
# For machine 2
THIS_NAME=${NAME_2}
THIS_IP=${HOST_2}
etcd --data-dir=data.etcd --name ${THIS_NAME} \
--initial-advertise-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 --listen-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 \
--advertise-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 --listen-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 \
--initial-cluster ${CLUSTER} \
--initial-cluster-state ${CLUSTER_STATE} --initial-cluster-token ${TOKEN}
# For machine 3
THIS_NAME=${NAME_3}
THIS_IP=${HOST_3}
etcd --data-dir=data.etcd --name ${THIS_NAME} \
--initial-advertise-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 --listen-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 \
--advertise-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 --listen-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 \
--initial-cluster ${CLUSTER} \
--initial-cluster-state ${CLUSTER_STATE} --initial-cluster-token ${TOKEN}Or use our public discovery service:
curl https://discovery.etcd.io/new?size=3
https://discovery.etcd.io/a81b5818e67a6ea83e9d4daea5ecbc92
# grab this token
TOKEN=token-01
CLUSTER_STATE=new
NAME_1=machine-1
NAME_2=machine-2
NAME_3=machine-3
HOST_1=10.240.0.17
HOST_2=10.240.0.18
HOST_3=10.240.0.19
DISCOVERY=https://discovery.etcd.io/a81b5818e67a6ea83e9d4daea5ecbc92
THIS_NAME=${NAME_1}
THIS_IP=${HOST_1}
etcd --data-dir=data.etcd --name ${THIS_NAME} \
--initial-advertise-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 --listen-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 \
--advertise-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 --listen-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 \
--discovery ${DISCOVERY} \
--initial-cluster-state ${CLUSTER_STATE} --initial-cluster-token ${TOKEN}
THIS_NAME=${NAME_2}
THIS_IP=${HOST_2}
etcd --data-dir=data.etcd --name ${THIS_NAME} \
--initial-advertise-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 --listen-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 \
--advertise-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 --listen-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 \
--discovery ${DISCOVERY} \
--initial-cluster-state ${CLUSTER_STATE} --initial-cluster-token ${TOKEN}
THIS_NAME=${NAME_3}
THIS_IP=${HOST_3}
etcd --data-dir=data.etcd --name ${THIS_NAME} \
--initial-advertise-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 --listen-peer-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2380 \
--advertise-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 --listen-client-urls http://${THIS_IP}:2379 \
--discovery ${DISCOVERY} \
--initial-cluster-state ${CLUSTER_STATE} --initial-cluster-token ${TOKEN}Now etcd is ready! To connect to etcd with etcdctl:
export ETCDCTL_API=3
HOST_1=10.240.0.17
HOST_2=10.240.0.18
HOST_3=10.240.0.19
ENDPOINTS=$HOST_1:2379,$HOST_2:2379,$HOST_3:2379
etcdctl --endpoints=$ENDPOINTS member list
Last modified September 8, 2026 · refactor(docs): move component documentation under /docs (f643529)
Adapted from etcd v3.7 documentation (v3.7, commit 8245979), Copyright 2013-present etcd Authors, under CC BY 4.0. See attribution and change history.