Automating HAProxy 3.1 and Data Plane API Deployment with Ansible

Introduction

HAProxy is one of the most powerful open-source load balancers, widely used for its reliability, security, and performance. The HAProxy Data Plane API enhances HAProxy by providing an API-driven way to manage configurations dynamically, making it an excellent choice for automated deployments.

In this blog post, we will walk through a complete Ansible playbook for installing HAProxy 3.1 along with its Data Plane API. This setup ensures a streamlined, automated, and reproducible way to manage your HAProxy deployment.

Prerequisites

Before running this playbook, ensure that:

• You have an Ansible control node with SSH access to the target server.
• The target server is running a Debian-based OS (Ubuntu/Debian).
• You have sudo privileges on the target machine.
• HAProxy 3.1 is available via the official PPA repository.

Ansible Playbook for HAProxy and Data Plane API Installation

Below is the complete Ansible playbook to install and configure HAProxy 3.1 along with the Data Plane API.

---
- name: Install and Configure HAProxy 3.1 with Data Plane API
  hosts: your_target_host
  become: yes
  vars:
    haproxy_version: "3.1"
    dataplaneapi_version: "3.1.0"
    haproxy_user: "haproxy"
    haproxy_group: "haproxy"
    dataplaneapi_user: "admin"
    dataplaneapi_password: "adminpwd"
    api_bind_address: "0.0.0.0"
    api_port: 5555
    haproxy_socket: "/var/run/haproxy.sock"
    haproxy_config_file: "/etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg"
    dataplaneapi_config_file: "/etc/haproxy/dataplaneapi.yaml"

  tasks:
    - name: Add HAProxy {{ haproxy_version }} Repository (Debian/Ubuntu)
      apt_repository:
        repo: "ppa:vbernat/haproxy-{{ haproxy_version }}"
        state: present
      when: ansible_os_family == "Debian"

    - name: Install HAProxy {{ haproxy_version }}
      apt:
        name: haproxy
        state: present
      when: ansible_os_family == "Debian"

    - name: Ensure HAProxy socket directory exists
      file:
        path: "{{ haproxy_socket | dirname }}"
        state: directory
        owner: "{{ haproxy_user }}"
        group: "{{ haproxy_group }}"
        mode: '0755'

    - name: Create HAProxy Configuration
      template:
        src: haproxy.cfg.j2
        dest: "{{ haproxy_config_file }}"
        owner: "{{ haproxy_user }}"
        group: "{{ haproxy_group }}"
        mode: '0644'
      notify: restart haproxy

    - name: Download HAProxy Data Plane API {{ dataplaneapi_version }}
      get_url:
        url: "https://github.com/haproxytech/dataplaneapi/releases/download/v{{ dataplaneapi_version }}/dataplaneapi-linux-amd64"
        dest: "/usr/local/bin/dataplaneapi"
        mode: '0755'

    - name: Create Data Plane API Configuration
      template:
        src: dataplaneapi.yaml.j2
        dest: "{{ dataplaneapi_config_file }}"
        owner: "{{ haproxy_user }}"
        group: "{{ haproxy_group }}"
        mode: '0644'

    - name: Create systemd service for Data Plane API
      copy:
        dest: /etc/systemd/system/dataplaneapi.service
        content: |
          [Unit]
          Description=HAProxy Data Plane API
          After=network.target

          [Service]
          ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/dataplaneapi --config-file {{ dataplaneapi_config_file }}
          User={{ haproxy_user }}
          Restart=always

          [Install]
          WantedBy=multi-user.target
      notify: reload systemd

    - name: Enable and start Data Plane API service
      systemd:
        name: dataplaneapi
        enabled: yes
        state: started

  handlers:
    - name: restart haproxy
      service:
        name: haproxy
        state: restarted

    - name: reload systemd
      command: systemctl daemon-reload

HAProxy Configuration Template (haproxy.cfg.j2)

global
    log /dev/log local0
    log /dev/log local1 notice
    stats socket {{ haproxy_socket }} mode 660 level admin
    user {{ haproxy_user }}
    group {{ haproxy_group }}

defaults
    log     global
    mode    http
    option  httplog
    option  dontlognull
    timeout connect 5000ms
    timeout client  50000ms
    timeout server  50000ms

userlist dataplaneapi
    user {{ dataplaneapi_user }} insecure-password {{ dataplaneapi_password }}

frontend http-in
    bind *:80
    default_backend servers

backend servers
    server server1 127.0.0.1:8000 maxconn 32

Data Plane API Configuration Template (dataplaneapi.yaml.j2)

haproxy:
  config_file: {{ haproxy_config_file }}
  haproxy_bin: /usr/sbin/haproxy
  reload_cmd: "systemctl reload haproxy"
  restart_cmd: "systemctl restart haproxy"
  stats_socket: {{ haproxy_socket }}

api:
  address: {{ api_bind_address }}
  port: {{ api_port }}
  user_list: dataplaneapi

logging:
  level: info
  dir: /var/log/dataplaneapi
  stdout: true

Conclusion

Automating HAProxy and its Data Plane API with Ansible simplifies deployment and configuration management. By using this playbook, you ensure a standardized, repeatable, and efficient installation process.

Would you like to see additional integrations, such as Consul or service discovery automation? Let us know in the comments!