What is RabbitMQ?

RabbitMQ is an open source message broker software that implements the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP). The RabbitMQ server is written in the Erlang programming language and is built on the Open Telecom Platform framework for clustering and failover. Client libraries to interface with the broker are available for all major programming languages.

https://www.rabbitmq.com/

TL;DR;

$ docker run --name rabbitmq bitnami/rabbitmq:latest

Docker Compose

$ curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitnami/bitnami-docker-rabbitmq/master/docker-compose.yml > docker-compose.yml
$ docker-compose up -d

Why use Bitnami Images?

• Bitnami closely tracks upstream source changes and promptly publishes new versions of this image using our automated systems.
• With Bitnami images the latest bug fixes and features are available as soon as possible.
• Bitnami containers, virtual machines and cloud images use the same components and configuration approach - making it easy to switch between formats based on your project needs.
• Bitnami images are built on CircleCI and automatically pushed to the Docker Hub.
• All our images are based on minideb a minimalist Debian based container image which gives you a small base container image and the familiarity of a leading linux distribution.

Supported tags and respective Dockerfile links

NOTE: Debian 8 images have been deprecated in favor of Debian 9 images. Bitnami will not longer publish new Docker images based on Debian 8.

• 3.7-ol-7, 3.7.7-ol-7-r28 (3.7/ol-7/Dockerfile)
• 3.7-debian-9, 3.7.7-debian-9-r32, 3.7, 3.7.7, 3.7.7-r32, latest (3.7/Dockerfile)

Subscribe to project updates by watching the bitnami/rabbitmq GitHub repo.

Get this image

The recommended way to get the Bitnami RabbitMQ Docker Image is to pull the prebuilt image from the Docker Hub Registry.

$ docker pull bitnami/rabbitmq:latest

To use a specific version, you can pull a versioned tag. You can view the list of available versions in the Docker Hub Registry.

$ docker pull bitnami/rabbitmq:[TAG]

If you wish, you can also build the image yourself.

$ docker build -t bitnami/rabbitmq:latest https://github.com/bitnami/bitnami-docker-rabbitmq.git

Persisting your application

If you remove the container all your data and configurations will be lost, and the next time you run the image the database will be reinitialized. To avoid this loss of data, you should mount a volume that will persist even after the container is removed.

For persistence you should mount a directory at the /bitnami path. If the mounted directory is empty, it will be initialized on the first run.

$ docker run \
    -v /path/to/rabbitmq-persistence:/bitnami \
    bitnami/rabbitmq:latest

or using Docker Compose:

rabbitmq:
  image: bitnami/rabbitmq:latest
  volumes:
    - /path/to/rabbitmq-persistence:/bitnami

Connecting to other containers

Using Docker container networking, a RabbitMQ server running inside a container can easily be accessed by your application containers.

Containers attached to the same network can communicate with each other using the container name as the hostname.

Using the Command Line

In this example, we will create a RabbitMQ client instance that will connect to the server instance that is running on the same docker network as the client.

Step 1: Create a network

$ docker network create app-tier --driver bridge

Step 2: Launch the RabbitMQ server instance

Use the --network app-tier argument to the docker run command to attach the RabbitMQ container to the app-tier network.

$ docker run -d --name rabbitmq-server \
    --network app-tier \
    bitnami/rabbitmq:latest

Step 3: Launch your RabbitMQ client instance

Finally we create a new container instance to launch the RabbitMQ client and connect to the server created in the previous step:

$ docker run -it --rm \
    --network app-tier \
    bitnami/rabbitmq:latest rabbitmqctl -n rabbit@rabbitmq-server status

Using Docker Compose

When not specified, Docker Compose automatically sets up a new network and attaches all deployed services to that network. However, we will explicitly define a new bridge network named app-tier. In this example we assume that you want to connect to the RabbitMQ server from your own custom application image which is identified in the following snippet by the service name myapp.

version: '2'

networks:
  app-tier:
    driver: bridge

services:
  rabbitmq:
    image: 'bitnami/rabbitmq:latest'
    networks:
      - app-tier
  myapp:
    image: 'YOUR_APPLICATION_IMAGE'
    networks:
      - app-tier

IMPORTANT:

1. Please update the YOUR_APPLICATION_IMAGE placeholder in the above snippet with your application image
2. In your application container, use the hostname rabbitmq to connect to the RabbitMQ server

Launch the containers using:

$ docker-compose up -d

Configuration

Environment variables

When you start the rabbitmq image, you can adjust the configuration of the instance by passing one or more environment variables either on the docker-compose file or on the docker run command line. If you want to add a new environment variable:

• For docker-compose add the variable name and value under the application section:

rabbitmq:
  image: bitnami/rabbitmq:latest
  ports:
    - 15672:15672
  environment:
    - RABBITMQ_PASSWORD=my_password

• For manual execution add a -e option with each variable and value.

Available variables:

• RABBITMQ_USERNAME: RabbitMQ application username. Default: user
• RABBITMQ_PASSWORD: RabbitMQ application password. Default: bitnami
• RABBITMQ_VHOST: RabbitMQ application vhost. Default: /
• RABBITMQ_ERL_COOKIE: Erlang cookie to determine whether different nodes are allowed to communicate with each other.
• RABBITMQ_NODE_TYPE: Node Type. Valid values: stats, queue-ram or queue-disc. Default: stats
• RABBITMQ_NODE_NAME: Node name and host. E.g.: node@hostname or node (localhost won't work in cluster topology). Default rabbit@localhost. If using this variable, ensure that you specify a valid host name as the container wil fail to start otherwise.
• RABBITMQ_NODE_PORT_NUMBER: Node port. Default: 5672
• RABBITMQ_CLUSTER_NODE_NAME: Node name to cluster with. E.g.: clusternode@hostname
• RABBITMQ_CLUSTER_PARTITION_HANDLING: Cluster partition recovery mechanism. Default: ignore
• RABBITMQ_MANAGER_PORT_NUMBER: Manager port. Default: 15672
• RABBITMQ_DISK_FREE_LIMIT: Disk free space limit of the partition on which RabbitMQ is storing data. Default: {mem_relative, 1.0}
• RABBITMQ_ULIMIT_NOFILES: Resources limits: maximum number of open file descriptors. Default: 65536

Setting up a cluster

Docker Compose

This is the simplest way to run RabbitMQ with clustering configuration:

Step 1: Add a stats node in your docker-compose.yml

Copy the snippet below into your docker-compose.yml to add a RabbitMQ stats node to your cluster configuration.

version: '2'

services:
  stats:
    image: bitnami/rabbitmq
    environment:
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_TYPE=stats
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_NAME=rabbit@stats
      - RABBITMQ_ERL_COOKIE=s3cr3tc00ki3
    ports:
      - '15672:15672'
    volumes:
      - 'rabbitmqstats_data:/bitnami'

Note: The name of the service (stats) is important so that a node could resolve the hostname to cluster with. (Note that the node name is rabbit@stats)

Step 2: Add a queue node in your configuration

Update the definitions for nodes you want your RabbitMQ stats node cluster with.

  queue-disc1:
    image: bitnami/rabbitmq
    environment:
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_TYPE=queue-disc
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_NAME=rabbit@queue-disc1
      - RABBITMQ_CLUSTER_NODE_NAME=rabbit@stats
      - RABBITMQ_ERL_COOKIE=s3cr3tc00ki3
    volumes:
      - 'rabbitmqdisc1_data:/bitnami'

Note: Again, the name of the service (queue-disc1) is important so that each node could resolve the hostname of this one.

We are going to add a ram node too:

  queue-ram1:
    image: bitnami/rabbitmq
    environment:
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_TYPE=queue-ram
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_NAME=rabbit@queue-ram1
      - RABBITMQ_CLUSTER_NODE_NAME=rabbit@stats
      - RABBITMQ_ERL_COOKIE=s3cr3tc00ki3
    volumes:
      - 'rabbitmqram1_data:/bitnami'

Step 3: Add the volume description

volumes:
  rabbitmqstats_data:
    driver: local
  rabbitmqdisc1_data:
    driver: local
  rabbitmqram1_data:
    driver: local

The docker-compose.yml will look like this:

version: '2'

services:
  stats:
    image: bitnami/rabbitmq
    environment:
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_TYPE=stats
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_NAME=rabbit@stats
      - RABBITMQ_ERL_COOKIE=s3cr3tc00ki3
    ports:
      - '15672:15672'
    volumes:
      - 'rabbitmqstats_data:/bitnami'
  queue-disc1:
    image: bitnami/rabbitmq
    environment:
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_TYPE=queue-disc
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_NAME=rabbit@queue-disc1
      - RABBITMQ_CLUSTER_NODE_NAME=rabbit@stats
      - RABBITMQ_ERL_COOKIE=s3cr3tc00ki3
    volumes:
      - 'rabbitmqdisc1_data:/bitnami'
  queue-ram1:
    image: bitnami/rabbitmq
    environment:
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_TYPE=queue-ram
      - RABBITMQ_NODE_NAME=rabbit@queue-ram1
      - RABBITMQ_CLUSTER_NODE_NAME=rabbit@stats
      - RABBITMQ_ERL_COOKIE=s3cr3tc00ki3
    volumes:
      - 'rabbitmqram1_data:/bitnami'

volumes:
  rabbitmqstats_data:
    driver: local
  rabbitmqdisc1_data:
    driver: local
  rabbitmqram1_data:
    driver: local

Configuration file

The image looks for configurations in /bitnami/rabbitmq/conf/. As mentioned in Persisting your application you can mount a volume at /bitnami and copy/edit the configurations in the /path/to/rabbitmq-persistence/rabbitmq/conf/. The default configurations will be populated to the conf/ directory if it's empty.

Step 1: Run the RabbitMQ image

Run the RabbitMQ image, mounting a directory from your host.

$ docker run --name rabbitmq -v /path/to/rabbitmq-persistence:/bitnami bitnami/rabbitmq:latest

or using Docker Compose:

version: '2'

services:
  rabbitmq:
    image: 'bitnami/rabbitmq:latest'
    ports:
      - '15672:15672'
    volumes:
      - /path/to/rabbitmq-persistence:/bitnami

Step 2: Edit the configuration

Edit the configuration on your host using your favorite editor.

$ vi /path/to/rabbitmq-persistence/rabbitmq/conf/rabbitmq.config

Step 3: Restart RabbitMQ

After changing the configuration, restart your RabbitMQ container for changes to take effect.

$ docker restart rabbitmq

or using Docker Compose:

$ docker-compose restart rabbitmq

Logging

The Bitnami RabbitMQ Docker image sends the container logs to the stdout. To view the logs:

$ docker logs rabbitmq

or using Docker Compose:

$ docker-compose logs rabbitmq

You can configure the containers logging driver using the --log-driver option if you wish to consume the container logs differently. In the default configuration docker uses the json-file driver.

Maintenance

Upgrade this application

Bitnami provides up-to-date versions of RabbitMQ, including security patches, soon after they are made upstream. We recommend that you follow these steps to upgrade your container.

Step 1: Get the updated image

$ docker pull bitnami/rabbitmq:latest

or if you're using Docker Compose, update the value of the image property to bitnami/rabbitmq:latest.

Step 2: Stop and backup the currently running container

Stop the currently running container using the command

$ docker stop rabbitmq

or using Docker Compose:

$ docker-compose stop rabbitmq

Next, take a snapshot of the persistent volume /path/to/rabbitmq-persistence using:

$ rsync -a /path/to/rabbitmq-persistence /path/to/rabbitmq-persistence.bkp.$(date +%Y%m%d-%H.%M.%S)

Step 3: Remove the currently running container

$ docker rm -v rabbitmq

or using Docker Compose:

$ docker-compose rm -v rabbitmq

Step 4: Run the new image

Re-create your container from the new image.

$ docker run --name rabbitmq bitnami/rabbitmq:latest

or using Docker Compose:

$ docker-compose up rabbitmq

Notable changes

3.7.7-r19

• The RabbitMQ container has been migrated to a non-root user approach. Previously the container ran as the root user and the RabbitMQ daemon was started as the rabbitmq user. From now on, both the container and the RabbitMQ daemon run as user 1001. As a consequence, the data directory must be writable by that user. You can revert this behavior by changing USER 1001 to USER root in the Dockerfile.

3.6.5-r2

The following parameters have been renamed:

From	To
RABBITMQ_ERLANG_COOKIE	RABBITMQ_ERL_COOKIE

3.6.5-r2

The following parameters have been renamed:

From	To
RABBITMQ_ERLANGCOOKIE	RABBITMQ_ERLANG_COOKIE
RABBITMQ_NODETYPE	RABBITMQ_NODE_TYPE
RABBITMQ_NODEPORT	RABBITMQ_NODE_PORT
RABBITMQ_NODENAME	RABBITMQ_NODE_NAME
RABBITMQ_CLUSTERNODENAME	RABBITMQ_CLUSTER_NODE_NAME
RABBITMQ_MANAGERPORT	RABBITMQ_MANAGER_PORT

Contributing

We'd love for you to contribute to this container. You can request new features by creating an issue, or submit a pull request with your contribution.

Issues

If you encountered a problem running this container, you can file an issue. For us to provide better support, be sure to include the following information in your issue:

• Host OS and version
• Docker version (docker version)
• Output of docker info
• Version of this container (echo $BITNAMI_IMAGE_VERSION inside the container)
• The command you used to run the container, and any relevant output you saw (masking any sensitive information)

License

Copyright (c) 2018 Bitnami

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.