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Just for completeness sake and probably not useful to many people, HAProxy can serve a limited number of static files by abusing the back-end and error pages.

Just for completeness sake and probably not useful to many people, HAProxy can serve a limited number of static files by abusing the back-end and error pages. I have done this for landing pages, directory/table of content pages. One just makes a properly configured HTTP page that has the desired HTTP headers embedded in it and then configure it as the error page for a new back-end and use ACL's to direct specific URL's to that back-end. Then just replace any status codes with 200 for that back-end. Probably mostly useful to those with a little hobby site or landing page that needs to give people some static information and the rest of the site is dynamic. This reduces moving parts and reduces the risk of time-wait assassination attacks. This method is also useful for abusive clients that one still wishes to give an error page to. Based on traffic patterns, drop them in a stick table and route those people to your pre-compressed error page in the unique back-end. It keeps them at the edge of the network.

TimWolla 3y ago
FYI: Serving static files is easier and more flexible in modern versions of HAProxy via the `http-request return` action [1]. No need to abuse error pages and no need to embed the header within the error file any longer :-) You even have some dynamic generation capabilities via the `lf-file` option, allowing you to embed e.g. the client IP address or request ID in responses. [1] https://docs.haproxy.org/dev/configuration.html#4.4-return https://docs.haproxy.org/dev/configuration.html#4.4-return Disclosure: I'm a community contributor to HAProxy.
- LinuxBender 3y ago
  Nice, I will have to play around with that. I admit I sometimes get stuck in outdated patterns due to old habits and being lazy. I'm a community contributor to HAProxy. I think I recall chatting with you on here or email, I can't remember which. I have mostly interacted with Willy in the past. He is also on here. Every interaction with HAProxy developers have been educational and thought provoking not to mention pleasant.
  - TimWolla 3y ago
    > I think I recall chatting with you on here or email, I can't remember which. Could possibly also have been in the issue tracker, which I did help bootstrapping and doing maintenance for quite a while after initially setting it up. Luckily the core team has took over, since I had much less time for HAProxy contributions lately.

TimWolla 3y ago

FYI: Serving static files is easier and more flexible in modern versions of HAProxy via the `http-request return` action [1]. No need to abuse error pages and no need to embed the header within the error file any longer :-) You even have some dynamic generation capabilities via the `lf-file` option, allowing you to embed e.g. the client IP address or request ID in responses. [1] https://docs.haproxy.org/dev/configuration.html#4.4-return https://docs.haproxy.org/dev/configuration.html#4.4-return Disclosure: I'm a community contributor to HAProxy.

LinuxBender 3y ago
Nice, I will have to play around with that. I admit I sometimes get stuck in outdated patterns due to old habits and being lazy. I'm a community contributor to HAProxy. I think I recall chatting with you on here or email, I can't remember which. I have mostly interacted with Willy in the past. He is also on here. Every interaction with HAProxy developers have been educational and thought provoking not to mention pleasant.
- TimWolla 3y ago
  > I think I recall chatting with you on here or email, I can't remember which. Could possibly also have been in the issue tracker, which I did help bootstrapping and doing maintenance for quite a while after initially setting it up. Luckily the core team has took over, since I had much less time for HAProxy contributions lately.