load-balancer-setup

name	load_balancer_setup
description	Runs ansible/load_balancer_setup.yml to configure a RHEL-family host as an haproxy + keepalived load balancer, as part of the Linux SOE. Use when asked to set up, check, or fix a load balancer host, haproxy, or keepalived — as distinct from the general host baseline covered by configure_rhel.yml.

load_balancer_setup

Runs ansible/load_balancer_setup.yml, a purpose-built playbook that configures haproxy + keepalived on a host, by reusing four generic, list-driven domain roles with load-balancer-specific variables set directly in the playbook (not those roles' own defaults/main.yml). See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the six-playbook layout this fits into, and each role's own SKILL.md (packages_install, files_copy, sebooleans, service_state) for what it does in the general case.

What the playbook actually does

Encoded directly in ansible/load_balancer_setup.yml's vars: block:

• packages_install: [haproxy, keepalived] — installs both packages via the packages_install role, overriding that role's own default baseline utility package list entirely (this playbook's vars: replace the role's defaults/main.yml value, they don't add to it).
• files_copy deploys keepalived-notify-haproxy to /usr/local/sbin/keepalived-notify-haproxy (mode 0755).
• files_copy_templates renders three Jinja templates: haproxy-global.cfg.j2 → /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg, haproxy-app.cfg.j2 → /etc/haproxy/conf.d/app.cfg, and keepalived.conf.j2 → /etc/keepalived/keepalived.conf.
• service_state_enable: [keepalived] — only keepalived is enabled directly; the comment in the playbook notes keepalived manages haproxy itself (via the notify script above), so haproxy isn't separately enabled here.
• A second service_state role invocation conditionally reloads haproxy and restarts keepalived, but only when: copy_templates is changed and start_services is not changed — i.e. only if the templates actually changed on this run and the initial enable didn't already restart something, avoiding a redundant double-restart.
• sebooleans is in the roles: list but its vars: (sebooleans_enable: [haproxy_connect_any]) is commented out by default — see "Notes" below.

Known gap, verified against this checkout: the four assets this playbook references — keepalived-notify-haproxy, haproxy-global.cfg.j2, haproxy-app.cfg.j2, keepalived.conf.j2 — do not exist anywhere in this repository (no ansible/files/, no ansible/templates/, nothing under roles/files_copy/). files_copy's ansible.builtin.copy/ template tasks resolve src: by searching the playbook directory's files//templates/ subdirectories (and the current role's, when one applies) — none of those exist here. Running this playbook today fails with "could not find src" on both the files_copy and files_copy_templates tasks, both under --check and for real. Don't tell a user this playbook works end-to-end without flagging this; the package install, sebooleans, and service_state steps are unaffected and will still run.

What to do

Audit (read-only, safe to run any time):

ansible-playbook ansible/load_balancer_setup.yml --check --diff

Summarize the diff output and any failed tasks in plain language. To audit just one piece (e.g. only the package install), add --tags packages_install etc.

Remediate (modifies the system — only after the user explicitly asks): first summarize what will change from the --check --diff output, then run the same command without --check:

ansible-playbook ansible/load_balancer_setup.yml

Propose a change to this playbook or its templates: never edit and commit directly. On a branch named soe/load_balancer_setup/<short-desc>, edit ansible/load_balancer_setup.yml and/or the referenced templates, validate locally (--syntax-check, --check --diff against a real/test host if available), then push and open a PR titled [load_balancer_setup] <what changed> with the --check --diff output in the body. Then stop — a human reviews and merges; see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md's "Contribution workflow". If the change is really to one of the underlying roles' general behavior (not this playbook's specific use of it), scope the branch/PR to that role instead, per its own SKILL.md.

Notes

• Before anything else: this playbook can't currently deploy the haproxy/keepalived config (see the gap noted above) — create ansible/files/keepalived-notify-haproxy and ansible/templates/{haproxy-global.cfg,haproxy-app.cfg,keepalived.conf}.j2 (or wherever files_copy's search path actually needs them for this playbook) before relying on it for a real load balancer build-out, and propose that addition via the branch + PR workflow below like any other change.
• sebooleans_enable: [haproxy_connect_any] is present in the playbook but commented out — SELinux may block haproxy from connecting out to backend servers on a non-standard port until this is enabled. If haproxy fails to reach its backends and SELinux is enforcing, check ausearch/sealert for haproxy_connect_any denials and uncomment this before assuming the haproxy config itself is wrong.
• This playbook doesn't open any firewalld ports/services for haproxy — unlike nfs_server_setup.yml, it has no firewall role invocation at all. If the load balancer needs firewalld rules, that's a change to propose to this playbook (or handle via configure_rhel.yml's firewall role for that host/group), not something this playbook does today.