Configuration Overview

Snakeway uses a flexible, directory-based configuration model designed for both simplicity and scale.

The Entry Point

The heart of Snakeway’s configuration is the snakeway.hcl file. This file defines the global server settings and modular configuration file locations.

A typical snakeway.hcl looks like this:

server {
  version  = 1
  pid_file = "/var/run/snakeway.pid"
  ca_file  = "/path/to/certs/ca.pem"
}

include {
  devices   = "device.d/*.hcl"
  ingresses = "ingress.d/*.hcl"
}

Modular Configuration

The include section allows you to split your configuration into logical parts using glob patterns.

• ingress.d/: Define your Ingress files.
• device.d/: Define the Devices that should be active in the request pipeline.

When Snakeway starts (or reloads), it discovers all files matching these patterns, parses them, and merges them into a single unified runtime configuration. This is discussed in more detail in Configuration Internals.

Hot Reloading

Snakeway supports zero-downtime configuration reloads. This means you can update your routes, add new services, or change device settings without dropping active connections.

Before a reload is applied, Snakeway performs a full semantic validation of the new configuration. If any errors are found (e.g., a route pointing to a non-existent service), the reload is aborted, the errors are logged, and the server continues running with the previous, stable configuration.

Reloads can be triggered in two ways:

Reload command

Send a SIGHUP signal to the Snakeway process.

snakeway reload

Admin API

If enabled the admin API is enable, you can send a POST request to the /admin/reload endpoint.

For example:

curl -X POST https://127.0.0.1:8440/admin/reload

Configuration Validation

You can manually validate your configuration directory at any time using the config check command:

snakeway config check --path /etc/snakeway/

This will report any syntax errors or logical inconsistencies in your configuration files before you attempt to apply them to a running server.