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.