HAProxy Setup

We’re going to show you how to set up a very simple HAProxy configuration. We’re testing everything on Ubuntu 20.04 but it should work very similarly on other distros.

Our load balancer:

• 192.168.3.22:80

Our web servers that we will be balancing:

• test1.lab.net 192.168.3.101:80
• test2.lab.net 192.168.3.102:80
• test3.lab.net 192.168.3.103:80

Update your repo info and install the HAProxy package like this:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install haproxy

You can start, stop, restart, and check status like this:

sudo systemctl start haproxy
sudo systemctl stop haproxy
sudo systemctl restart haproxy
sudo systemctl status haproxy

Add the following sections to the end of your config file. The first section will set up the frontend. The second section will set up the backend nodes. The third section is optional and will set up stats.

sudo vi /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg


frontend Local_Server
    bind 192.168.3.22:80
    mode http
    default_backend my_servers


backend my_servers
    mode http
    balance roundrobin
    option forwardfor
    http-request set-header X-Forwarded-Port %[dst_port]
    http-request add-header X-Forwarded-Proto https if { ssl_fc }
    option httpchk HEAD / HTTP/1.1rnHost:localhost
    server test1.lab.net  192.168.3.101:80
    server test2.lab.net  192.168.3.102:80
    server test3.lab.net  192.168.3.103:80


frontend stats
   bind 192.168.3.22:1936
   stats enable
   stats hide-version
   stats refresh 30s
   stats show-node
   stats auth username:password
   stats uri  /stats

You can validate the config file like this:

haproxy -c -f /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg

Restart the service:

sudo systemctl restart haproxy

Test it by navigating here. This is the VIP and it should balance your connection between the backend servers.

192.168.3.22:80

You should also be able to view the stats page like this:

http://192.168.3.22:1936/stats