Configuring HAProxy

Configuring HAProxy in pfSense is extremely simple. Below is the simplest configuration

By default HAProxy is not installed in pfSense you need to install the package, to do this go to System --> Package Manager-->Available Packages and in the search bar type haproxy, click search. and in the search bar type haproxy, click search.

Next, click install for the haproxy package, click confirm and wait for the installation to complete.

Now we are ready to configure HAProxy

Customization

We start with the backend configuration.

Go to Services --> HAProxy --> Backend.

Edit HAProxy Backend server pool

Name - name at your discretion

Server list - Add server(s) to which traffic will be proxied.

Loadbalancing options (when multiple servers are defined)

Only used when you have multiple backends and need to perform balancing between them

The rest of the settings should be based on your needs, once finalized

Next let’s configure the frontend for HAProxy, go to Services --> HAProxy --> Frontend. Click add and fill out the form.

Name - As you wish

Status - Active

External address - Choose Listen address, you can specify any if you want.

If you want to proxy based on dns name, then you need to configure ACL.

Go to the Default backend, access control lists and actions section. Customize Access Control lists and add a new rule.

Name - as you wish Expression - Host matches if you want a full match, be careful, if you use name and port, it should be written in the rule. For example demo.example.com:8080.

Next we customize Actions, that is what we are going to do. We add a new one with the values.

Action - Use backend and select your backend

Condition acl names - here you need to write the name of your ACL.

The rest of the settings are as you wish and need. Click save

Go to Services --> HAProxy --> Settings, select Enable HAProxy, set the value for Maximum connections.

If you need statistics, then customize the Stats tab, 'internal' stats port section.

Click save and Apply changes

After configuring HAProxy, don’t forget to configure the firewall