vulcand Installation Guide Installation Guide

vulcand is a free and open-source HTTP proxy. Vulcand provides programmatic load balancer backed by etcd

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 512MB minimum

Storage: 1GB for config

Network: HTTP/HTTPS

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 8181 (default vulcand port)

API on 8182

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install vulcand
sudo dnf install -y vulcand

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now vulcand

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8181/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
vulcand --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install vulcand
sudo apt install -y vulcand

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now vulcand

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 8181

# Verify installation
vulcand --version

bash

# Install vulcand
sudo pacman -S vulcand

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now vulcand

# Verify installation
vulcand --version

bash

# Install vulcand
apk add --no-cache vulcand

# Enable and start service
rc-update add vulcand default
rc-service vulcand start

# Verify installation
vulcand --version

bash

# Install vulcand
sudo zypper install -y vulcand

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now vulcand

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8181/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
vulcand --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install vulcand

# Start service
brew services start vulcand

# Verify installation
vulcand --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install vulcand

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'vulcand_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service vulcand start

# Verify installation
vulcand --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install vulcand

# Or using Scoop
scoop install vulcand

# Verify installation
vulcand --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/vulcand

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
vulcand --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable vulcand

# Start service
sudo systemctl start vulcand

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop vulcand

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart vulcand

# Check status
sudo systemctl status vulcand

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u vulcand -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add vulcand default

# Start service
rc-service vulcand start

# Stop service
rc-service vulcand stop

# Restart service
rc-service vulcand restart

# Check status
rc-service vulcand status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'vulcand_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service vulcand start

# Stop service
service vulcand stop

# Restart service
service vulcand restart

# Check status
service vulcand status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start vulcand
brew services stop vulcand
brew services restart vulcand

# Check status
brew services list | grep vulcand

powershell

# Start service
net start vulcand

# Stop service
net stop vulcand

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service vulcand
Stop-Service vulcand
Restart-Service vulcand

# Check status
Get-Service vulcand

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream vulcand_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:8181;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name vulcand.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name vulcand.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/vulcand.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/vulcand.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://vulcand_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName vulcand.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://vulcand.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName vulcand.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/vulcand.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/vulcand.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:8181/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:8181/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend vulcand_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/vulcand.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend vulcand_backend

backend vulcand_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server vulcand1 127.0.0.1:8181 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R vulcand:vulcand /etc/vulcand
sudo chmod 750 /etc/vulcand

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8181/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status vulcand

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u vulcand -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep vulcand)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/vulcand"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/vulcand-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/vulcand /var/lib/vulcand

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/vulcand-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop vulcand

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/vulcand/vulcand-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start vulcand

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u vulcand -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/vulcand/vulcand.log

# Check configuration
vulcand --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/vulcand

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 8181

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 8181

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep vulcand)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep vulcand)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 8181

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  vulcand:
    image: vulcand:latest
    ports:
      - "8181:8181"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/vulcand
      - ./data:/var/lib/vulcand
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update vulcand

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade vulcand

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu vulcand

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade vulcand

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update vulcand

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade vulcand

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/vulcand-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/vulcand

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart vulcand

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/vulcand

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/vulcand -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/vulcand

Official Documentation: https://docs.vulcand.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/vulcand/vulcand

Community Forum: https://forum.vulcand.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.vulcand.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

Related Reverse proxies Guides

skipper Installation Guide

Traefik Installation Guide