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Agustinus Theodorus
Agustinus Theodorus

Posted on • Originally published at Medium on

Setting Up A Multinode RabbitMQ Cluster On Linux

#tutorial #linux #pubsub #rabbitmq

Installing RabbitMq on multiple remote servers can be a hassle. To connect multiple instances into one cluster we must first install RabbitMq on each remote server. These next two steps will walk through how we can install RabbitMq instances.

In this tutorial, we will be installing RabbitMq using a Centos 8 Linux distro. The RabbitMq version used in this tutorial is 3.8.9.

What is clustering for?

Well, clustering is used to combine multiple instances of RabbitMq into one giant central message queue. Clustering can be done on remote instances of RabbitMq on different servers. The purpose of the cluster is to handle massive amounts of message queues from apps, balancing the load on multiple servers rather than on a single server.

Add the required dependencies

Install the required repositories

Add the RabbitMq repository in the repo configurations file. Open the config file:

sudo vi /etc/yum.repos.d/rabbitmq-server.repo
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Add this to the lines below:

[rabbitmq-server]  
name=rabbitmq-server  
baseurl=[https://packagecloud.io/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/el/7/$basearch](https://packagecloud.io/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/el/7/$basearch)  
repo_gpgcheck=1  
gpgcheck=0  
enabled=1  
gpgkey=[https://packagecloud.io/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/gpgkey](https://packagecloud.io/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/gpgkey)  
sslverify=1  
sslcacert=/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt  
metadata_expire=300
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Add Hostname to the hosts file

RabbitMq is built on top of Erlang. So it would make sense for us to install it beforehand. This part is very crucial as if you do not ad the hostname to /etc/hosts then rabbitmqctl status will not work.

echo “127.0.0.1 $(hostname -s)” | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts
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Setting Up RabbitMq Server

Install RabbitMq Server

After completing the previous configuration setup steps, install RabbitMq by using this command:

sudo dnf install -y rabbitmq-server
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After installation is completed, check if the installation is correct by running:

rpm -qi rabbitmq-server
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Open Ports

Centos has a pre-installed firewall called firewalld. It blocks all ports from connecting unless asked to. So we must whitelist the TCP ports that are going to be used by RabbitMq.

sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port={5672,15672}/tcp  
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
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Start the RabbitMq service

The RabbitMq service doesn’t start on its own when you install it. You have to start it manually, then enable it to run on server startup. To start the RabbitMq service (the service might take a minute or two to start):

sudo systemctl start rabbitmq-server.service
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To enable the service run:

sudo systemctl enable rabbitmq-server.service
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To check if the service is still running:

sudo rabbitmqctl status
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Enable RabbitMq Management

If you want to enable the RabbitMq admin dashboard, run:

sudo rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management
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Then try to open the dashboard from the browser:

http://*your-server-ip*:15672
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Setting Up RabbitMq Cluster

After setting up RabbitMq on multiple servers (minimum of 2 servers) we now can continue to set up instances for the master and slave nodes. Choose one server as the master node as the cluster host, then use the other nodes as a slave cluster.

Setting Up The Master Node

Whitelist the TCP port 4369 for epmd, a helper discovery daemon used by RabbitMQ nodes and CLI tools, and port 25672 for instance finding.

sudo firewall-cmd —-zone=public —-permanent —-add-port={4369,25672}/tcp  
sudo firewall-cmd —-reload
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Add the hosts for each cluster, in the /etc/hosts file

sudo vi /etc/hosts
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In the hosts file add the IP and hostname for each instance. The configuration would be as follows:

node 1 IP node 1 hostname  
node 2 IP node 2 hostname  
node 3 IP node 3 hostname
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The order doesn’t have to be master first, but it does need to have all cluster IPs and hostnames for it to work. An example configuration is as follows:

10.240.200.111 rabbitmq-1  
10.240.200.112 rabbitmq-2  
10.240.200.113 rabbitmq-3
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Get the .erlang.cookie from the master node

sudo cat /var/lib/rabbitmq/.erlang.cookie
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Save the token output in your notepad.

Setting Up The Slave Nodes

Whitelist the TCP port 4369 for epmd a helper discovery daemon used by RabbitMQ nodes and CLI tools, and port 25672 for instance finding.

sudo firewall-cmd —-zone=public —-permanent —-add-port={4369,25672}/tcp  
sudo firewall-cmd —-reload
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Add the hosts for each cluster, in the /etc/hosts file

sudo vi /etc/hosts
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In the hosts file add the IP and hostname for each instance. The configuration would be as follows:

node 1 IP node 1 hostname  
node 2 IP node 2 hostname  
node 3 IP node 3 hostname
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The order doesn’t have to be master first, but it does need to have all cluster IPs and hostnames for it to work. An example configuration is as follows:

10.240.200.111 rabbitmq-1  
10.240.200.112 rabbitmq-2  
10.240.200.113 rabbitmq-3
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Stop the rabbitmq-server instance and replace the .erlang.cookie inside the slave node with the masters.

sudo su  
systemctl stop rabbitmq-server  
echo -n “*erlang cookie from master node*” > /var/lib/rabbitmq/.erlang.cookie  
systemctl start rabbitmq-server
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Repeat this setup on all the nodes!

Join The Slave Nodes With The Master Node

Stop the rabbitmq-server instance, reset the node and join it with the master node.

sudo rabbitmqctl stop_app  
sudo rabbitmqctl reset  
sudo rabbitmqctl join_cluster rabbit@*master node hostname*  
sudo rabbitmqctl start_app
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Reset The Master Node

Reset the rabbitmq-server in the master node.

sudo rabbitmqctl stop_app  
sudo rabbitmqctl reset  
sudo rabbitmqctl start_app
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Check The Cluster Status

To check the cluster status, run this command:

sudo rabbitmqctl cluster_status
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Conclusion

In the end, when we have finished installation, login to the RabbitMq management dashboard for one of the nodes and it would have more than one cluster like so:

undefined

Of course, there are advantages in using manual installs for RabbitMq. The pros would be:

  • You can save space on each server by only installing RabbitMq and nothing else.
  • Particularly on VMs, you can use Ansible to speed up the installation process by doing the repeatable tasks from a single command line.
  • You understand thoroughly the process of building a RabbitMq instance from the ground up.

Then the cons would be:

  • Managing the firewalls for each server can be complicated.
  • It is faster for us to use Docker during container set up for each server.

But if you want to read more on this topic, and read some of the references I had when making this tutorial you can check out these links below:

  1. Official RabbitMQ Clustering Guide.
  2. How to Install RabbitMQ on RHEL 8 / CentOS 8 — Linux Windows and android Tutorials (osradar.com).
  3. [How to config rabbitmq server cluster 3 nodes](https://gist.github.com/pobsuwan/22aa4a9e0a217d22e12800a432933881).

Now we have an open playbook for you to use the next time you want to setup RabbitMq on your systems manually.

Top comments (1)

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kalmenolve74306 profile image
Kalmen Olver •

Example related to rabbits as pets, imagine setting up a RabbitMQ cluster named "WarrenCluster" where each node represents a unique rabbit:

Install RabbitMQ: Install RabbitMQ on each node in the WarrenCluster.

Configure Nodes: Assign unique names to each RabbitMQ node, such as "Fluffy", "Cotton", and "Hopper". Modify the RabbitMQ configuration files on each node to reflect their respective names.

Set Up Networking: Ensure that Fluffy, Cotton, and Hopper can communicate with each other over the network. Open the necessary ports, allowing them to connect and form a cluster.

Join the Cluster: Using the rabbitmqctl command, execute the appropriate command on each node to join the WarrenCluster. For instance, on Fluffy, you would run the command rabbitmqctl join_cluster --ram rabbit@Cotton.

Verify Cluster Status: Run the command rabbitmqctl cluster_status on any node to verify that the WarrenCluster is formed successfully. It should display information about Fluffy, Cotton, and Hopper being part of the cluster.

By following these steps, you can set up a multinode RabbitMQ cluster on Linux, forming a reliable and scalable messaging system for your applications.

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