How to reload HAProxy config on CentOS with minimal downtime?

Question

When I change haproxy.cfg, currently I am "applying" those changes by running this command on CentOS:

systemctl restart haproxy

Is there a better way to do this on CentOS that does not involve downtime, or minimum downtime (or connection resets)?

Solution

Use reload instead.

systemctl reload haproxy

Comments

[A X]

Thanks - and you can confirm that reload performs this operation with zero downtime? Can you also confirm it does not reset live TCP connections?