diff --git a/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/openstack/context.py b/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/openstack/context.py
index eb108910..180bfad2 100644
--- a/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/openstack/context.py
+++ b/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/openstack/context.py
@@ -491,6 +491,7 @@ class HAProxyContext(OSContextGenerator):
             ctxt['haproxy_client_timeout'] = config('haproxy-client-timeout')
 
         if config('prefer-ipv6'):
+            ctxt['ipv6'] = True
             ctxt['local_host'] = 'ip6-localhost'
             ctxt['haproxy_host'] = '::'
             ctxt['stat_port'] = ':::8888'
diff --git a/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/openstack/templates/haproxy.cfg b/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/openstack/templates/haproxy.cfg
index 0229f9d4..9ae1efb9 100644
--- a/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/openstack/templates/haproxy.cfg
+++ b/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/openstack/templates/haproxy.cfg
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ listen stats {{ stat_port }}
 {% for service, ports in service_ports.items() -%}
 frontend tcp-in_{{ service }}
     bind *:{{ ports[0] }}
+    {% if ipv6 -%}
     bind :::{{ ports[0] }}
+    {% endif -%}
     {% for frontend in frontends -%}
     acl net_{{ frontend }} dst {{ frontends[frontend]['network'] }}
     use_backend {{ service }}_{{ frontend }} if net_{{ frontend }}