HAProxy config changes not loaded/pfsense restart needed

[mamema]

i haven't changed my haproxy config for a long time, but it seems with some recent update there was something "new" introduced, which might be a bug.

until this was happening, the configuration was:

• adding new stuff (backend... whatever)
• save config

config applied -> working......

now this is no longer the case, only a reboot of pfsense helps
a restart via services in Status menu, or stop or start in the same area doesn't work (anymore?)
a disable haproxy / enable haproxy in the settings of haproxy itself doesn't work (anymore?)

i have pfsense 2.60 and haproxy-devel 0.62.10 running

[kevin.ruffus]

@mamema I hadn't seen this until after I posted my issue, but it's very similar.

I had added health checks for the backends to test them on a few things. Applying the checks worked, but disabling them afterwards held the previous health states and wouldn't release them (blocking all traffic) until a reboot.

It seems to be fairly random, but once it starts, new settings are saved but not applied until after a reboot.

[benoithcc]

Same here for me, pfsense 2.7 and haproxy 0.63_1.
I need to reboot pfsense otherwise changes doens't apply.
Very weird...

[A Former User]

@benoithcc Have you already managed to solve the problem? I have the same problem with:
pfsense 2.7.2
haproxy: 0.63_1 (Installed version: 2.8.3-86e043a)

[planetinse]

seen this too, in a HA setup it gets really fun i can tell you.....

[ix-kilian]

Having exactly the same problem with

pfsense 2.7.0 / 2.7.1 / 2.7.2
haproxy 2.8.3 / 2.9-DEV

I check the haproxy config via pfsense UI and also the file on the filesystem looks OK to me (/var/etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg). I logged in via SSH and double checked that the haproxy process is dead / removed and spawned new with the correct config. However, it seems to be still running with the old config ...

I just changed the ports of a backend server and the change did not get applied. What seems to be working is when i add a new entry in the backend server list or just change the name of an existing entry. What happens in the config file is, that the backend gets a new ID:

backend xxx

    test2 192.168.1.1:32451 id 102 check inter 1000  send-proxy 
vs
    test2-new 192.168.1.1:32451 id 126 check inter 1000  send-proxy 

From the haproxy documentation:
https://www.haproxy.com/documentation/haproxy-configuration-manual/latest/#4.2-id

Set a persistent ID for the proxy. This ID must be unique and positive.
An unused ID will automatically be assigned if unset. The first assigned
value will be 1. This ID is currently only returned in statistics.

However the ID is automatically generated by pfsense...

[ix-kilian]

Ok it seems that some time pfsense automatically generates a state file that temporary changes "survive" a reload / restart of haproxy:

/tmp/haproxy_server_state

If i delete the state file via CLI and then restart haproxy the config is loaded correctly.