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Health Checks

Updated Feb 05, 2023 ·

CLI - Health Check​

Traefik includes a built-in command to check its health. This can be run inside the container to verify Traefik is working.

  • The command is traefik healthcheck
  • It checks the /ping endpoint to confirm Traefik is healthy
  • Requires the ping feature to be enabled in static configuration

This makes it easy to quickly verify Traefik’s status without relying only on external monitoring.

Ping Endpoint​

The ping endpoint is enabled in the static configuration file.

ping: {}

This provides a simple and direct way to confirm Traefik is responding.

  • Can be left on the default entry point
  • Can be assigned to a separate port
  • Useful for checking if Traefik is up

To access it from the dashboard:

http://localhost:8080/ping

It returns:

OK

Docker Health Check​

Docker can monitor Traefik using its built-in health check system.

  • Runs traefik healthcheck on a set interval
  • Retries if it fails and restarts the container if it stays unhealthy
  • Can be customized for check interval, retries, and startup delay

Example in docker-compose.yml:

healthcheck:
  test: ["CMD", "traefik", "healthcheck"]
  interval: 10s
  timeout: 2s
  retries: 3
  start_period: 5s

With this setup, Docker automatically restarts Traefik if it becomes unresponsive, reducing downtime and manual intervention.