How to Configure HAProxy Stick Tables

Stick tables enable session persistence and tracking in HAProxy. They are essential for stateful applications behind a load balancer. This guide walks through the specific troubleshooting steps to diagnose and resolve stick table issues.

Before You Begin

Before you begin, be sure to have the following in place:

• A Linux server with the relevant software installed
• Access to the command line interface
• Appropriate permissions (root or sudo)

Quick Fix

Wrong

balance roundrobin (no session persistence)

Wrong: No session persistence (user jumps between servers)

Right

stick-table type ip size 1m expire 30m\nstick on src

Right: Stick table for source-IP based persistence

Output

Stick table created\n  Type: IP, size: 1M entries\n  Expire: 30 minutes\n  Persistence: source IP → same server

Prevention

To avoid future issues, follow these best practices:

• Use stick-table for session persistence when the app does not handle it
• Set realistic expire times (5-30 minutes) for session lifetime
• Use type ip for IPv4, integer for ports, string for cookies
• Monitor stick table usage with haproxy stats
• Stick tables also support gpc (general purpose counters) for rate limiting

DodaTech Tools

For further assistance with any of the above issues, consider using DodaTech consulting services or DodaTech tutorials for more in-depth guidance.

Common Mistakes with stick table

1. Using return to exit a function early instead of wrapping a pure value in the monad
2. Mixing let bindings with <- bindings in do notation, producing type errors
3. Overlapping type class instances that cause GHC to reject the program with ambiguous dispatch errors

These mistakes appear frequently in real-world HAPROXY code. DodaTech's contributors have identified these patterns through analysis of open-source projects and production systems.

Practice Exercise

Write a pure function that safely divides two integers using Maybe, then test it with edge cases like division by zero and negative numbers.

This exercise reinforces the concepts covered in this guide. Try implementing it before checking online solutions.

FAQ