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Introduction

Prerequisites

• Access to your server via SSH.
• HAProxy installed on your server.
• Root or sudo privileges.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Locate and Open the HAProxy Configuration File

Using your SSH terminal, navigate to the location of the HAProxy configuration file and open it for editing.

vi /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg

Step 2: Add the Load Balancing Configuration

Edit the configuration file by adding the following code to set up HTTP load balancing for two web servers:

listen http_proxy 192.168.0.1:80
    mode http
    balance roundrobin
    cookie SERVERID insert indirect nocache
    server web1 192.168.0.2:80 check cookie
    server web2 192.168.0.3:80 check cookie

• listen http_proxy 192.168.0.1:80: This line defines a listener on the HAProxy server for HTTP traffic on IP 192.168.0.1 and port 80.
• mode http: Specifies that this listener operates in HTTP mode.
• balance roundrobin: This instructs HAProxy to distribute incoming requests evenly across both servers (web1 and web2).
• cookie SERVERID insert indirect nocache: Adds a session cookie to track the server assigned to each user.
• server web1 192.168.0.2:80 check cookie: Defines the first backend server (web1) located at 192.168.0.2.
• server web2 192.168.0.3:80 check cookie: Defines the second backend server (web2) located at 192.168.0.3.

Step 3: Save and Exit

After editing, save the file and exit the editor. In vi, this can be done by typing:

:wq

Step 4: Restart HAProxy

To apply the changes, restart the HAProxy service:

sudo systemctl restart haproxy

Step 5: Test the Configuration

Verify the load balancing by sending multiple requests to http://192.168.0.1 and check that traffic is being distributed evenly between web1 and web2.

Conclusion