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How to Upgrade HAProxy: Step-by-Step Instructions

Welcome to my HAProxy Upgrade section. As HAProxy releases new version every now and then, I need to upgrade my installations as well. The newest Long Term supported version was released on May 31 2022. To review current versions, check out:

HAProxy The Reliable, High Performance TCP/HTTP Load Balancer

Prerequisites

As always, before I do an upgrade, I make sure to have a good working backup or at least a current snapshot of my server

Step 1 – Add the HAProxy Repository

First, I add the repository

Shell
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:vbernat/haproxy-2.6
HAProxy is a free, very fast and reliable solution offering high availability, load balancing, and proxying for TCP and HTTP-based applications. It is particularly suited for web sites crawling under very high loads while needing persistence or Layer7 processing. Supporting tens of thousands of connections is clearly realistic with todays hardware. Its mode of operation makes its integration into existing architectures very easy and riskless, while still offering the possibility not to expose fragile web servers to the Net.
This PPA contains packages for HAProxy 2.6.
More info: https://launchpad.net/~vbernat/+archive/ubuntu/haproxy-2.6
<strong>Press [ENTER] to continue or Ctrl-c to cancel adding it.</strong>
Hit:1 http://no.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease
Hit:2 http://no.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://no.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease
Hit:4 http://no.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease
Hit:5 http://ppa.launchpad.net/vbernat/haproxy-2.3/ubuntu focal InRelease
Get:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/vbernat/haproxy-2.6/ubuntu focal InRelease [23.8 kB]
Get:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/vbernat/haproxy-2.6/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages [1,004 B]
Get:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/vbernat/haproxy-2.6/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en [704 B]
Fetched 25.5 kB in 1s (39.1 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done

Step 2 – Upgrade HAProxy

Next, I do the actual upgrade. When the upgrader asks about replacing my haproxy.cfg-file, I make sure to answer NO.

Shell
sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  fwupd
The following packages will be upgraded:
  haproxy
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 1,672 kB of archives.
After this operation, 92.2 kB of additional disk space will be used.
<strong>Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y</strong>
Get:1 http://ppa.launchpad.net/vbernat/haproxy-2.6/ubuntu focal/main amd64 haproxy amd64 2.6.0-1ppa1~focal [1,672 kB]
Fetched 1,672 kB in 1s (2,261 kB/s)
(Reading database ... 109251 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../haproxy_2.6.0-1ppa1~focal_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking haproxy (2.6.0-1ppa1~focal) over (2.3.20-1ppa1~focal) ...
Setting up haproxy (2.6.0-1ppa1~focal) ...
Configuration file '/etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg'
 ==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation.
 ==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
   <strong>What would you like to do about it ?  Your options are:</strong>
    Y or I  : install the package maintainer's version
    N or O  : keep your currently-installed version
      D     : show the differences between the versions
      Z     : start a shell to examine the situation
 The default action is to keep your current version.
*** haproxy.cfg (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ?
Processing triggers for man-db (2.9.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for rsyslog (8.2001.0-1ubuntu1.3) ...
Processing triggers for systemd (245.4-4ubuntu3.17) ...

Step 3 – Restart HAProxy Service

Finally I restart the HAProxy service

Shell
sudo service haproxy restart

Disclaimer: Every tips/tricks/posting I have published here, is tried and tested in different it-solutions. It is not guaranteed to work everywhere, but is meant as a tip for other users out there. Remember, Google is your friend and don’t be afraid to steal with pride! Feel free to comment below as needed.

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