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HAProxy Maintenance Mode 101
When running web applications using HAProxy, setting up maintenance pages for downtime or updates is essential. HAProxy provides a flexible way to show maintenance pages to users while allowing specific IPs to bypass them.
Today, we will take a look at how to configure maintenance pages, manage web application downtime, and use HAProxy’s dynamic maintenance mode with Unix sockets.
An Overview:
- Setting Up Maintenance Pages in HAProxy
- HAProxy Configuration
- Maintenance Page Setup
- Managing Maintenance Mode
- Dynamic Maintenance Page with Unix Sockets
- Draining Servers in HAProxy
Setting Up Maintenance Pages in HAProxy
To configure maintenance pages in HAProxy, follow these steps.
HAProxy Configuration
Here’s a sample configuration that shows how to manage maintenance mode using HAProxy. It covers routing normal traffic, managing SSL settings, and handling maintenance pages for specific web apps.
/etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg
global
log /dev/log local0
log /dev/log local1 notice
chroot /var/lib/haproxy
user haproxy
group haproxy
daemon
ssl-default-bind-options ssl-min-ver TLSv1.2 no-tls-tickets
ssl-dh-param-file /etc/haproxy/dhparams.pem
defaults
log global
mode http
option httplog
timeout connect 500
timeout client 5000
timeout server 5000
frontend terminator
bind PUBLIC_IP:80
bind PUBLIC_IP:443 ssl crt-list /etc/haproxy/certs alpn h2,http/1.1
acl maintenance_mode hdr(host),map(/etc/haproxy/maintenance) -m found
acl whitelist src -f /etc/haproxy/whitelist
use_backend %[req.hdr(host),lower,map(/etc/haproxy/maintenance)] if maintenance_mode !whitelist
use_backend %[req.hdr(host),lower,map(/etc/haproxy/backends)]
backend webapp1
server server1 127.0.0.1:8080
backend webapp2
server server1 127.0.0.1:8081
backend webapp1_maintenance
errorfile 503 /etc/haproxy/maintenance_pages/webapp1.http
backend webapp2_maintenance
errorfile 503 /etc/haproxy/maintenance_pages/webapp2.http
Copy CodeMaintenance Page Setup
In the `/etc/haproxy/maintenance_pages/` directory, create your maintenance pages. Example content:
HTTP/1.0 503 Service Unavailable
Cache-Control: no-cache
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html
<html><body><h1>Maintenance</h1>
The system is undergoing maintenance, sorry for the inconvenience.
</body></html>
Copy CodeManaging Maintenance Mode
To enable maintenance mode for specific applications, uncomment the desired lines in `/etc/haproxy/maintenance`. For example:
/etc/haproxy/maintenance
#webapp1.com webapp1_maintenance
#webapp2.com webapp2_maintenance
This will serve the maintenance page for the selected web applications.
Dynamic Maintenance Page with Unix Sockets
HAProxy also allows dynamic maintenance mode switching using Unix sockets. This method provides a more flexible way to control maintenance without editing configuration files.
- In the `haproxy.cfg` file, add the following line to enable HAProxy’s admin socket:
global stats socket /tmp/haproxy/socket/haproxy.sock mode 666 level adminCopy Code - We will need `socat` to interact with the Unix socket. Install it using:
sudo apt install socatCopy Code - Then, add the following ACL and backend in your HAProxy configuration:
frontend frontend-http ACL maintenance path -i -u 9999 -m reg use_backend maintenance if maintenance backend maintenance server maintenance-nginx ip_address:portCopy Code - Next, use the following commands to dynamically switch maintenance mode on and off:
- To simplify managing maintenance mode, we can create a bash script:
#!/bin/bash if [[ $1 == "on" ]]; then echo "clear acl #9999" | socat unix-connect:/tmp/haproxy/socket/haproxy.sock stdio echo "add acl #9999 ^.*$" | socat unix-connect:/tmp/haproxy/socket/haproxy.sock stdio elif [[ $1 == "off" ]]; then echo "clear acl #9999" | socat unix-connect:/tmp/haproxy/socket/haproxy.sock stdio else echo "Usage: maintenance.sh [on, off]" fiCopy CodeThen, make the script executable:
chmod +x maintenance.shCopy CodeNow you can toggle maintenance mode using:
./maintenance.sh on # Enable maintenance mode ./maintenance.sh off # Disable maintenance modeCopy Code
Draining Servers in HAProxy
If we want to drain traffic from a server before performing maintenance without dropping active sessions, we can use this command:
echo "set server backend/serv state drain" | socat unix-connect:/tmp/haproxy/socket/haproxy.sock stdio
Copy CodeThis will ensure that the server stops accepting new connections but continues serving existing ones.
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Conclusion
Using HAProxy, we can manage maintenance pages effectively and dynamically switch between maintenance and normal operation modes. Whether we are setting up simple static maintenance pages or dynamically controlling access with Unix sockets, HAProxy offers flexible options to ensure smooth operation and minimize disruption during downtime.
In brief, our Support Experts introduced us to HAProxy Maintenance Mode.
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