# Haproxy vs. apache2 proxybalancer **URL:** \ **Category:** Deployment\ **Created:** [May 23, 2007, 11:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/haproxy-vs-apache2-proxybalancer/104864 "2007-05-23T11:04:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/morten)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 11:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/haproxy-vs-apache2-proxybalancer/104864/1 "2007-05-23T11:04:29Z")
Hi, I’m thinking of switching to using RubyWorks rather than keep rolling/ maintaining my own stack. Until now, I’ve used Apache2 Proxy balancer for my mongrel cluster. I see that RubyWorks ships HAProxy instead. Anyone care to tell me of the pros/cons using HAProxy? My hunch is that HAProxy vs. Apache2 Proxy is same-same. Thanks. Morten PS: When will we see RubyWorks for OpenSolaris…? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/morten)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/haproxy-vs-apache2-proxybalancer/104864/2 "2007-05-23T17:27:33Z")
On 5/23/07, Morten [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I’m thinking of switching to using RubyWorks rather than keep rolling/ > maintaining my own stack. Until now, I’ve used Apache2 Proxy balancer > for my mongrel cluster. I see that RubyWorks ships HAProxy instead. > Anyone care to tell me of the pros/cons using HAProxy? Cons: yet another process to manage. Pros: HAProxy (as configured in RubyWorks stack) sends only one request at a time to any Mongrel in the cluster, thus preventing requests from piling up on a Mongrel that is stuck for a long time inside Rails handler. As a side-effect, this also prevents Mongrels from allocating extra 50 Mb of RAM per process under load, which is important when you are running multiple relatively inactive apps on the same hardware. – Alex Verkhovsky ---
**Author:** ![morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/morten)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/haproxy-vs-apache2-proxybalancer/104864/3 "2007-05-23T18:25:40Z")
How do you set up the system to handle static files using HAProxy? mod\_rewrite in apache or similar to front it, as you would with a mongrel\_cluster? Does HAProxy support X-SendFile hearder? On May 23, 4:26 pm, “Alexey V.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/morten)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/haproxy-vs-apache2-proxybalancer/104864/4 "2007-05-23T18:26:40Z")
How do you set up the system to handle static files using HAProxy? mod\_rewrite in apache or similar to front it, as you would with a mongrel\_cluster? Does HAProxy support X-SendFile hearder? On May 23, 4:26 pm, “Alexey V.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/morten)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 7:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/haproxy-vs-apache2-proxybalancer/104864/5 "2007-05-23T19:53:50Z")
On 5/23/07, Steve T. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > How do you set up the system to handle static files using HAProxy? > mod\_rewrite in apache or similar to front it, as you would with a > mongrel\_cluster? Yes. The only difference is that you use normal mod\_proxy and let HAProxy do the load balancing. > Does HAProxy support X-SendFile hearder? We haven’t specifically tested the functionality you are thinking about (serving large files) with this stack, but HAProxy simply passes HTTP headers back to the web server. – Alex ---
**Author:** ![morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@morten](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/morten)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/haproxy-vs-apache2-proxybalancer/104864/6 "2007-05-24T21:39:15Z")
Thanks Alex, looking forward to giving it a go when I trial RubyWorks! On May 23, 6:52 pm, “Alexey V.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)