Terraform: Autogenerate LoadBalancer config for Nginx

Terraform: Autogenerate LoadBalancer config for Nginx

My production stack is build on top of Kubernetes cluster running in the Hetzner Cloud powered by Rancher 2.

High Availability Installation with External Load Balancer (TCP/Layer 4) needs nginx.conf with all IP addresses of all worker nodes. I dont want to hardcode IPs into this config, so I created Terraform nginx config templates and use them with null_resource - Terraform will generate new config and reload nginx everytime when IPs has been changed.
https://rancher.com/docs/rancher/v2.x/en/installation/ha-server-install/#b-create-nginx-configuration

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Terraform file

nginx.tf

data "template_file" "nginx_server_node_http" {
  template = "server $${node_ip}:80 max_fails=3 fail_timeout=5s;"
  count    = "${hcloud_server.k8s.count}"

  vars {
    node_ip = "${element(hcloud_server.k8s.*.ipv4_address, count.index)}"
  }
}

data "template_file" "nginx_server_node" {
  template = "server $${node_ip}:443 max_fails=3 fail_timeout=5s;"
  count    = "${hcloud_server.k8s.count}"

  vars {
    node_ip = "${element(hcloud_server.k8s.*.ipv4_address, count.index)}"
  }
}

data "template_file" "nginx_conf" {
  template = <<EOF
worker_processes 2;
worker_rlimit_nofile 20000;

events {
    worker_connections 4096;
}

stream {
    upstream rancher_servers {
        least_conn;
        $${servers}
    }
    server {
        listen     443;
        # https://www.exploit.cz/how-to-solve-kubernetes-ingress-nginx-real-ip/
        #proxy_protocol        on; #uncomment if you got 127.0.0.1 remote ip issue
        proxy_pass rancher_servers;
    }
    
    upstream rancher_servers_http {
        least_conn;
        $${servers_http}
    }
    server {
        listen     80;
        # https://www.exploit.cz/how-to-solve-kubernetes-ingress-nginx-real-ip/
        #proxy_protocol        on; #uncomment if you got 127.0.0.1 remote ip issue
        proxy_pass rancher_servers_http;
    }
    
}
EOF

  vars {
    servers      = "${join("\n        ",  data.template_file.nginx_server_node.*.rendered)}"
    servers_http = "${join("\n        ", data.template_file.nginx_server_node_http.*.rendered)}"
  }
}

resource "null_resource" "configure_lb" {
  count = "${hcloud_server.lb.count}"

  triggers = {
    template = "${data.template_file.nginx_conf.rendered}"
  }

  # provide some connection info
  connection {
    type        = "ssh"
    user        = "root"
    private_key = "${file(var.ssh_private_key)}"
    host        = "${element(hcloud_server.lb.*.ipv4_address, count.index)}"
  }

  provisioner "file" {
    content     = "${data.template_file.nginx_conf.rendered}"
    destination = "/srv/nginx-lb.conf"
  }
  
  provisioner "remote-exec" {
    inline = "docker stop nginx-lb || true && docker rm nginx-lb || true"
  }

  provisioner "remote-exec" {
    inline = "docker run --name nginx-lb --restart=always -v /srv/nginx-lb.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro -p 80:80 -p 443:443 -d nginx:alpine"
  }
}

Complete nginx config

nginx.conf

worker_processes 2;
worker_rlimit_nofile 20000;

events {
    worker_connections 4096;
}

stream {
    upstream rancher_servers {
        least_conn;
        server IP_NODE_1:443 max_fails=3 fail_timeout=5s;
        server IP_NODE_2:443 max_fails=3 fail_timeout=5s;
        server IP_NODE_3:443 max_fails=3 fail_timeout=5s;
    }
    server {
        listen     443;
        # https://www.exploit.cz/how-to-solve-kubernetes-ingress-nginx-real-ip/
        #proxy_protocol        on; #uncomment if you got 127.0.0.1 remote ip issue
        proxy_pass rancher_servers;
    }
    
    upstream rancher_servers_http {
        least_conn;
        server IP_NODE_1:80 max_fails=3 fail_timeout=5s;
        server IP_NODE_2:80 max_fails=3 fail_timeout=5s;
        server IP_NODE_3:80 max_fails=3 fail_timeout=5s;
    }
    server {
        listen     80;
        # https://www.exploit.cz/how-to-solve-kubernetes-ingress-nginx-real-ip/
        #proxy_protocol        on; #uncomment if you got 127.0.0.1 remote ip issue
        proxy_pass rancher_servers_http;
    }
}

Edit 2018-10-01: Found remote IP 127.0.0.1 detection issue, read here