diff --git a/pkg/internal/cluster/loadbalancer/config.go b/pkg/internal/cluster/loadbalancer/config.go
index 0f81822179..1be4a727eb 100644
--- a/pkg/internal/cluster/loadbalancer/config.go
+++ b/pkg/internal/cluster/loadbalancer/config.go
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ type ConfigData struct {
 // DefaultConfigTemplate is the loadbalancer config template
 const DefaultConfigTemplate = `# generated by kind
 global
+  stats socket /var/run/haproxy.sock mode 600 level admin
+  stats timeout 2m
   log /dev/log local0
   log /dev/log local1 notice
   daemon
@@ -40,6 +42,7 @@ global
 defaults
   log global
   mode tcp
+  option tcpka
   option dontlognull
   # TODO: tune these
   timeout connect 5000