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Install HAProxy Load Balancer for ThingsBoard on Ubuntu

This guide describes how to install HAProxy with Let’s Encrypt as ubuntu service. This is possible in case you are hosting ThingsBoard in the cloud and have a valid DNS name assigned to your instance.

Prerequisites

Ubuntu 18.04 with valid DNS name assigned to the instance. Network settings should allow connections on Port 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS).

Step 1. Connect to your ThingsBoard instance over SSH

Below is example command for AWS as a reference:

$ ssh -i <PRIVATE-KEY> ubuntu@<PUBLIC_DNS_NAME>

or consult your cloud vendor for different options.

Step 2. Install HAProxy Load Balancer package

Execute the following commands to install HAProxy package:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:vbernat/haproxy-1.8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install haproxy openssl

Step 3. Install Certbot package

Execute the following commands to install Certbot package:

sudo apt-get install ca-certificates certbot

Step 4. Install default self-signed certificate

Execute the following commands to install default self-signed certificate:

(copy-paste full text of the command as-is)

cat <<EOT | sudo tee /usr/bin/haproxy-default-cert
#!/bin/sh

set -e

HA_PROXY_DIR=/usr/share/tb-haproxy
CERTS_D_DIR=\${HA_PROXY_DIR}/certs.d
TEMP_DIR=/tmp

PASSWORD=\$(openssl rand -base64 32)
SUBJ="/C=US/ST=somewhere/L=someplace/O=haproxy/OU=haproxy/CN=haproxy.selfsigned.invalid"

KEY=\${TEMP_DIR}/haproxy_key.pem
CERT=\${TEMP_DIR}/haproxy_cert.pem
CSR=\${TEMP_DIR}/haproxy.csr
DEFAULT_PEM=\${HA_PROXY_DIR}/default.pem

if [ ! -e \${HA_PROXY_DIR} ]; then
  mkdir -p \${HA_PROXY_DIR}
fi

if [ ! -e \${CERTS_D_DIR} ]; then
  mkdir -p \${CERTS_D_DIR}
fi


# Check if default.pem has been created
if [ ! -e \${DEFAULT_PEM} ]; then
  openssl genrsa -des3 -passout pass:\${PASSWORD} -out \${KEY} 2048 &> /dev/null
  sleep 1
  openssl req -new -key \${KEY} -passin pass:\${PASSWORD} -out \${CSR} -subj \${SUBJ} &> /dev/null
  sleep 1
  cp \${KEY} \${KEY}.org &> /dev/null
  openssl rsa -in \${KEY}.org -passin pass:\${PASSWORD} -out \${KEY} &> /dev/null
  sleep 1
  openssl x509 -req -days 3650 -in \${CSR} -signkey \${KEY} -out \${CERT} &> /dev/null
  sleep 1
  cat \${CERT} \${KEY} > \${DEFAULT_PEM}
  echo \${PASSWORD} > \${HA_PROXY_DIR}/password.txt
fi
EOT

Execute the following commands:

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/haproxy-default-cert
touch ~/.rnd
sudo haproxy-default-cert

Step 5. Configure HAProxy Load Balancer

Execute the following command to create HAProxy Load Balancer configuration file:

(copy-paste full text of the command as-is)

cat <<EOT | sudo tee /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg
#HA Proxy Config
global
 ulimit-n 500000
 maxconn 99999
 maxpipes 99999
 tune.maxaccept 500

 log 127.0.0.1 local0
 log 127.0.0.1 local1 notice

 ca-base /etc/ssl/certs
 crt-base /etc/ssl/private

 ssl-default-bind-ciphers ECDH+AESGCM:DH+AESGCM:ECDH+AES256:DH+AES256:ECDH+AES128:DH+AES:ECDH+3DES:DH+3DES:RSA+AESGCM:RSA+AES:RSA+3DES:!aNULL:!MD5:!DSS
 ssl-default-bind-options no-sslv3

defaults

 log global

 mode http

 timeout connect 5000ms
 timeout client 50000ms
 timeout server 50000ms
 timeout tunnel  1h    # timeout to use with WebSocket and CONNECT

 default-server init-addr none

listen stats
 bind *:9999
 stats enable
 stats hide-version
 stats uri /stats
 stats auth admin:admin@123

frontend http-in
 bind *:80

 option forwardfor

 reqadd X-Forwarded-Proto:\ http

 acl letsencrypt_http_acl path_beg /.well-known/acme-challenge/

 redirect scheme https if !letsencrypt_http_acl { env(FORCE_HTTPS_REDIRECT) -m str true }

 use_backend letsencrypt_http if letsencrypt_http_acl

 default_backend tb-backend

frontend https_in
  bind *:443 ssl crt /usr/share/tb-haproxy/default.pem crt /usr/share/tb-haproxy/certs.d/ ciphers ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:RC4-SHA:RC4:HIGH:!MD5:!aNULL:!EDH:!AESGCM

  option forwardfor

  reqadd X-Forwarded-Proto:\ https

  default_backend tb-backend

backend letsencrypt_http
  server letsencrypt_http_srv 127.0.0.1:8090

backend tb-backend
  balance leastconn
  option tcp-check
  option log-health-checks
  server tb1 127.0.0.1:8080 check inter 5s
  http-request set-header X-Forwarded-Port %[dst_port]
EOT

Step 6. Configure Certbot with Let’s Encrypt

Execute the following commands to create Certbot with Let’s Encrypt configuration and helper files:

(copy-paste full text of the command as-is)

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/letsencrypt \
&& sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/tb-haproxy/letsencrypt \
&& sudo rm -rf /etc/letsencrypt \
&& sudo ln -s /usr/share/tb-haproxy/letsencrypt /etc/letsencrypt
cat <<EOT | sudo tee /usr/local/etc/letsencrypt/cli.ini
authenticator = standalone
agree-tos = True
http-01-port = 8090
tls-sni-01-port = 8443
non-interactive = True
preferred-challenges = http-01
EOT
cat <<EOT | sudo tee /usr/bin/haproxy-refresh
#!/bin/sh

HA_PROXY_DIR=/usr/share/tb-haproxy
LE_DIR=/usr/share/tb-haproxy/letsencrypt/live
DOMAINS=\$(ls -I README \${LE_DIR})

# update certs for HA Proxy
for DOMAIN in \${DOMAINS}
do
 cat \${LE_DIR}/\${DOMAIN}/fullchain.pem \${LE_DIR}/\${DOMAIN}/privkey.pem > \${HA_PROXY_DIR}/certs.d/\${DOMAIN}.pem
done

# restart haproxy
exec service haproxy restart
EOT
cat <<EOT | sudo tee /usr/bin/certbot-certonly
#!/bin/sh

/usr/bin/certbot certonly -c /usr/local/etc/letsencrypt/cli.ini "\$@"
EOT
cat <<EOT | sudo tee /usr/bin/certbot-renew
#!/bin/sh

/usr/bin/certbot -c /usr/local/etc/letsencrypt/cli.ini renew "\$@"
EOT
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/haproxy-refresh /usr/bin/certbot-certonly /usr/bin/certbot-renew

Step 7. Install certificates auto renewal cron job

Execute the following command to create certificates auto renewal cron job:

(copy-paste full text of the command as-is)

cat <<EOT | sudo tee /etc/cron.d/certbot
# /etc/cron.d/certbot: crontab entries for the certbot package
#
# Upstream recommends attempting renewal twice a day
#
# Eventually, this will be an opportunity to validate certificates
# haven't been revoked, etc.  Renewal will only occur if expiration
# is within 30 days.
SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

0 */12 * * * root test -x /usr/bin/certbot && perl -e 'sleep int(rand(3600))' && certbot -c /usr/local/etc/letsencrypt/cli.ini -q renew && haproxy-refresh
EOT

Step 8. Restart HAProxy Load Balancer

Finally restart HAProxy Load Balancer service in order changes take effect:

sudo service haproxy restart

Step 9. Execute command to get generate certificate using Let’s Encrypt

Don’t forget to replace your_domain and your_email before executing the command below:

sudo certbot-certonly --domain your_domain --email your_email

Step 10. Refresh HAProxy configuration

Finally restart HAProxy:

sudo haproxy-refresh