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Installing on Debian and Ubuntu

Overview

This guide covers RabbitMQ installation on Debian, Ubuntu and distributions based on one of them.

RabbitMQ is included in standard Debian and Ubuntu repositories. However, the versions included are many releases behind latest RabbitMQ releases and may provide RabbitMQ versions that are already out of support.

Team RabbitMQ produces our own Debian packages and distributes them using Cloudsmith.

Key sections of this guide are

• Ways of installing the latest RabbitMQ version on Debian and Ubuntu
• Supported Ubuntu and Debian distributions
• Privilege requirements
• Quick start installation snippet that uses a Cloudsmith mirror repositories
• Manage the service (start it, stop it, and get its status)
• How to inspect node and service logs

Supported Erlang versions will be provisioned from one of the modern Erlang apt repositories on Launchpad or a Cloudsmith.io mirror.

Those looking for a more detailed description of the installation steps performed should refer to

• Manual installation using apt and the Cloudsmith repository

More advanced topics include

• Version Pinning of apt packages

How to Install Latest RabbitMQ on Debian and Ubuntu

With Apt

Currently, the recommended option for installing modern RabbitMQ on Debian and Ubuntu is using apt repositories on a Cloudsmith mirror (quick start script).

The repositories provide a modern version of Erlang. Alternatively, the latest version of Erlang is available via a Launchpad PPA and other repositories.

Manually Using Dpkg

Alternatively, the package can be downloaded manually and installed with dpkg -i. This option will require manual installation of all RabbitMQ package dependencies and is highly discouraged.

Supported Distributions

RabbitMQ is supported on several major Debian-based distributions that are still supported by their primary vendor or developer group.

For Debian, this means that RabbitMQ core team focus around package is on the current and prior release of Debian-based distributions, i.e. inline with distribution EOL policy.

Currently the list of supported Debian-based distributions includes

• Ubuntu 20.04 through 23.04
• Debian Bullseye (11), Bookworm (12), and Trixie ("testing")

The package may work on other Debian-based distributions if dependencies are satisfied (e.g. using a backports repository) but their testing and support is done on a best effort basis.

Where to Get Recent Erlang Version on Debian and Ubuntu

RabbitMQ needs Erlang/OTP to run. Erlang/OTP packages in standard Debian and Ubuntu repositories can be significantly out of date and not supported by modern RabbitMQ versions.

Most recent Erlang/OTP release series are available from a number of alternative apt repositories:

This guide will focus on the Debian repositories maintained by Team RabbitMQ on Launchpad and on Cloudsmith.io.

Using RabbitMQ Apt Repositories on Cloudsmith

Team RabbitMQ maintains two apt repositories on Cloudsmith, a package hosting service. They provide packages for most recent RabbitMQ and modern Erlang releases.

The Cloudsmith repository has a monthly traffic quota that can be exhausted. For this reason, examples below use a Cloudsmith repository mirror. All packages in the mirror repository are signed using the same signing key.

This guide will focus on a more traditional and explicit way of setting up additional apt repositories and installing packages.

All steps covered below are mandatory unless otherwise specified.

Cloudsmith Quick Start Script

Below is shell snippet that performs those steps and assumes that Ubuntu 22.04 is used. They are documented in more detail below.

#!/bin/sh

sudo apt-get install curl gnupg apt-transport-https -y

## Team RabbitMQ's main signing key
curl -1sLf "https://keys.openpgp.org/vks/v1/by-fingerprint/0A9AF2115F4687BD29803A206B73A36E6026DFCA" | sudo gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/com.rabbitmq.team.gpg > /dev/null
## Community mirror of Cloudsmith: modern Erlang repository
curl -1sLf https://github.com/rabbitmq/signing-keys/releases/download/3.0/cloudsmith.rabbitmq-erlang.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.key | sudo gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg > /dev/null
## Community mirror of Cloudsmith: RabbitMQ repository
curl -1sLf https://github.com/rabbitmq/signing-keys/releases/download/3.0/cloudsmith.rabbitmq-server.9F4587F226208342.key | sudo gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg > /dev/null

## Add apt repositories maintained by Team RabbitMQ
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rabbitmq.list <<EOF
## Provides modern Erlang/OTP releases
##
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu jammy main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu jammy main

# another mirror for redundancy
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu jammy main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu jammy main

## Provides RabbitMQ
##
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu jammy main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu jammy main

# another mirror for redundancy
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu jammy main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu jammy main
EOF

## Update package indices
sudo apt-get update -y

## Install Erlang packages
sudo apt-get install -y erlang-base \
                        erlang-asn1 erlang-crypto erlang-eldap erlang-ftp erlang-inets \
                        erlang-mnesia erlang-os-mon erlang-parsetools erlang-public-key \
                        erlang-runtime-tools erlang-snmp erlang-ssl \
                        erlang-syntax-tools erlang-tftp erlang-tools erlang-xmerl

## Install rabbitmq-server and its dependencies
sudo apt-get install rabbitmq-server -y --fix-missing

All steps covered below are mandatory unless otherwise specified.

Install Essential Dependencies

sudo apt-get update -y

sudo apt-get install curl gnupg -y

Enable apt HTTPS Transport

In order for apt to be able to download RabbitMQ and Erlang packages from the Cloudsmith.io mirror or Launchpad, the apt-transport-https package must be installed:

sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https

Add Repository Signing Keys

Cloudsmith signs distributed packages using their own GPG keys, one per repository.

In order to use the repositories, their signing keys must be added to the system. This will enable apt to trust packages signed by that key.

sudo apt-get install curl gnupg apt-transport-https -y

## Team RabbitMQ's main signing key
curl -1sLf "https://keys.openpgp.org/vks/v1/by-fingerprint/0A9AF2115F4687BD29803A206B73A36E6026DFCA" | sudo gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/com.rabbitmq.team.gpg > /dev/null
## Community mirror of Cloudsmith: modern Erlang repository
curl -1sLf https://github.com/rabbitmq/signing-keys/releases/download/3.0/cloudsmith.rabbitmq-erlang.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.key | sudo gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg > /dev/null
## Community mirror of Cloudsmith: RabbitMQ repository
curl -1sLf https://github.com/rabbitmq/signing-keys/releases/download/3.0/cloudsmith.rabbitmq-server.9F4587F226208342.key | sudo gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg > /dev/null

See the guide on signatures to learn more.

Add a Source List File

As with all 3rd party apt repositories, a file describing the RabbitMQ and Erlang package repositories must be placed under the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory. /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rabbitmq.list is the recommended location.

The file should have a source (repository) definition line that uses the following pattern:

## Provides modern Erlang/OTP releases from a Cloudsmith mirror
##
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu $distribution main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu $distribution main

# another mirror for redundancy
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu $distribution main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu $distribution main

## Provides RabbitMQ from a Cloudsmith mirror
##
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu $distribution main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu $distribution main

# another mirror for redundancy
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu $distribution main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu $distribution main

The next couple of sections discusses what distribution and component values are supported.

Distribution

In order to set up an apt repository that provides the correct package, a few decisions have to be made. One is determining the distribution name. It often matches the Debian or Ubuntu release used:

• jammy for Ubuntu 23.04
• jammy for Ubuntu 22.04
• focal for Ubuntu 20.04
• bionic for Ubuntu 18.04
• buster for Debian Buster, Bullseye, and Sid

Not all distributions are covered (indexed). For example, freshly released ones usually won't be recognized by the package hosting services. But there are good news: since the package indexed for these distributions is the same, any reasonably recent distribution name would suffice in practice. For example, users of Debian Sid or Debian Bullseye can both use bullseye for distribution name.

Below is a table of OS release and distribution names that should be used with the RabbitMQ apt repositories.

To add the apt repository to the source list directory (under /etc/apt/sources.list.d), use:

sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rabbitmq.list <<EOF
## Provides modern Erlang/OTP releases from a Cloudsmith mirror
##
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu $distribution main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu $distribution main

# another mirror for redundancy
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu $distribution main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu $distribution main

## Provides RabbitMQ from a Cloudsmith mirror
##
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu $distribution main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu $distribution main

# another mirror for redundancy
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu $distribution main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu $distribution main
EOF

where $distribution is the name of the Debian or Ubuntu distribution used (see the table above).

For example, on Debian Bullseye and Bookworm it would be

sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rabbitmq.list <<EOF
## Provides modern Erlang/OTP releases from a Cloudsmith mirror
##
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/debian bullseye main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/debian bullseye main

deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/debian bullseye main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/debian bullseye main

## Provides RabbitMQ from a Cloudsmith mirror
##
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/debian bullseye main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa1.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/debian bullseye main

# another mirror for redundancy
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/debian bullseye main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa2.novemberain.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/debian bullseye main
EOF

Install Packages

After updating the list of apt sources it is necessary to run apt-get update:

sudo apt-get update -y

Then install the package with

## Install Erlang packages
sudo apt-get install -y erlang-base \
                        erlang-asn1 erlang-crypto erlang-eldap erlang-ftp erlang-inets \
                        erlang-mnesia erlang-os-mon erlang-parsetools erlang-public-key \
                        erlang-runtime-tools erlang-snmp erlang-ssl \
                        erlang-syntax-tools erlang-tftp erlang-tools erlang-xmerl

## Install rabbitmq-server and its dependencies
sudo apt-get install rabbitmq-server -y --fix-missing

Debian Package Version and Repository Pinning

Version pinning is an optional step. If not used, apt will install the most recent version available.

When the same package (e.g. erlang-base) is available from multiple apt repositories operators need to have a way to indicate what repository should be preferred. It may also be desired to restrict Erlang version to avoid undesired upgrades. apt package pinning feature can be used to address both problems.

Package pinning is configured with a file placed under the /etc/apt/preferences.d/ directory, e.g. /etc/apt/preferences.d/erlang. After updating apt preferences it is necessary to run apt-get update:

sudo apt-get update -y

The following preference file example will configure apt to install erlang-* packages from the Cloudsmith mirror used in the examples above:

# /etc/apt/preferences.d/erlang
Package: erlang*
Pin: origin ppa1.novemberain.com
# Note: priority of 1001 (greater than 1000) allows for downgrading.
# To make package downgrading impossible, use a value of 999
Pin-Priority: 1001

The following is similar to the example above but prefers Launchpad:

# /etc/apt/preferences.d/erlang
Package: erlang*
Pin: origin ppa.launchpad.net
# Note: priority of 1001 (greater than 1000) allows for downgrading.
# To make package downgrading impossible, use a value of 999
Pin-Priority: 1001

Effective package pinning policy can be verified with

sudo apt-cache policy

The following preference file example will pin all erlang-* packages to 25.3 (assuming package epoch for the package is 1):

# /etc/apt/preferences.d/erlang
Package: erlang*
Pin: version 1:25.3.2.5-1
# Note: priority of 1001 (greater than 1000) allows for downgrading.
# To make package downgrading impossible, use a value of 999
Pin-Priority: 1001

The following preference file example will pin rabbitmq-server package to 3.12.5 (assuming package epoch for the package is 1):

# /etc/apt/preferences.d/rabbitmq
Package: rabbitmq-server
Pin: version 1:3.12.5-1
# Note: priority of 1001 (greater than 1000) allows for downgrading.
# To make package downgrading impossible, use a value of 999
Pin-Priority: 1001

Manual Installation with Dpkg

In some cases it may be easier to download the package directly from GitHub and install it manually using sudo dpkg -i. Below is a download link.

When installing manually with dpkg, it is necessary to install package dependencies first. dpkg, unlike apt, does not resolve or manage dependencies.

Here's an example that does that, installs wget, downloads the RabbitMQ package and installs it:

# sync package metadata
sudo apt-get update
# install dependencies manually
sudo apt-get -y install socat logrotate init-system-helpers adduser

# download the package
sudo apt-get -y install wget
wget https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/releases/download/v3.12.5/rabbitmq-server_3.12.5-1_all.deb

# install the package with dpkg
sudo dpkg -i rabbitmq-server_3.12.5-1_all.deb

rm rabbitmq-server_3.12.5-1_all.deb

Installation via apt repositories is recommended over downloading the package directly and installing via dpkg -i. When the RabbitMQ package is installed manually with dpkg -i the operator is responsible for making sure that all package dependencies are met.

User Privilege Requirements

RabbitMQ Debian package will require sudo privileges to install and manage. In environments where sudo isn't available, consider using the generic binary build instead.

Run RabbitMQ Server

Start the Server

The server is started as a daemon by default when the RabbitMQ server package is installed. It will run as a non-privileged user rabbitmq.

As an administrator, start and stop the server as usual for Debian-based systems:

systemctl start rabbitmq-server

Configuring RabbitMQ

On most systems, a node should be able to start and run with all defaults. Please refer to the Configuration guide to learn more and Production Checklist for guidelines beyond development environments.

Note: the node is set up to run as system user rabbitmq. If location of the node database or the logs is changed, the files and directories must be owned by this user.

Port Access

RabbitMQ nodes bind to ports (open server TCP sockets) in order to accept client and CLI tool connections. Other processes and tools such as SELinux may prevent RabbitMQ from binding to a port. When that happens, the node will fail to start. Refer to the Networking Guide for more details.

Default User Access

The broker creates a user guest with password guest. Unconfigured clients will in general use these credentials. By default, these credentials can only be used when connecting to the broker as localhost so you will need to take action before connecting from any other machine.

See the documentation on access control for information on how to create more users and delete the guest user.

Controlling System Limits on Linux

RabbitMQ installations running production workloads may need system limits and kernel parameters tuning in order to handle a decent number of concurrent connections and queues. The main setting that needs adjustment is the max number of open files, also known as ulimit -n. The default value on many operating systems is too low for a messaging broker (1024 on several Linux distributions). We recommend allowing for at least 65536 file descriptors for user rabbitmq in production environments. 4096 should be sufficient for many development workloads.

There are two limits in play: the maximum number of open files the OS kernel allows (fs.file-max) and the per-user limit (ulimit -n). The former must be higher than the latter.

With systemd (Recent Linux Distributions)

On distributions that use systemd, the OS limits are controlled via a configuration file at /etc/systemd/system/rabbitmq-server.service.d/limits.conf. For example, to set the max open file handle limit (nofile) to 64000:

[Service]
LimitNOFILE=64000

See systemd documentation to learn about the supported limits and other directives.

With Docker

To configure kernel limits for Docker contains, use the "default-ulimits" key in Docker daemon configuration file. The file has to be installed on Docker hosts at /etc/docker/daemon.json:

{
  "default-ulimits": {
    "nofile": {
      "Name": "nofile",
      "Hard": 64000,
      "Soft": 64000
    }
  }
}

Verifying the Limit

RabbitMQ management UI displays the number of file descriptors available for it to use on the Overview tab.

rabbitmq-diagnostics status

includes the same value.

The following command

cat /proc/$RABBITMQ_BEAM_PROCESS_PID/limits

can be used to display effective limits of a running process. $RABBITMQ_BEAM_PROCESS_PID is the OS PID of the Erlang VM running RabbitMQ, as returned by rabbitmq-diagnostics status.

Managing the Service

To start and stop the server, use the systemctl tool. The service name is rabbitmq-server:

# stop the local node
sudo systemctl stop rabbitmq-server

# start it back
sudo systemctl start rabbitmq-server

systemctl status rabbitmq-server will report service status as observed by systemd (or similar service manager):

# check on service status as observed by service manager
sudo systemctl status rabbitmq-server

It will produce output similar to this:

Redirecting to /bin/systemctl status rabbitmq-server.service
● rabbitmq-server.service - RabbitMQ broker
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/rabbitmq-server.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
  Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/rabbitmq-server.service.d
           └─limits.conf
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2021-05-07 10:21:32 UTC; 25s ago
 Main PID: 957 (beam.smp)
   Status: "Initialized"
   CGroup: /system.slice/rabbitmq-server.service
           ├─ 957 /usr/lib/erlang/erts-10.2/bin/beam.smp -W w -A 64 -MBas ageffcbf -MHas ageffcbf -MBlmbcs 512 -MHlmbcs 512 -MMmcs 30 -P 1048576 -t 5000000 -stbt db -zdbbl 128000 -K true -- -root /usr/lib/erlang -progname erl -- -home /var/lib/rabbitmq -- ...
           ├─1411 /usr/lib/erlang/erts-10.2/bin/epmd -daemon
           ├─1605 erl_child_setup 400000
           ├─2860 inet_gethost 4
           └─2861 inet_gethost 4

Dec 26 10:21:30 localhost.localdomain rabbitmq-server[957]: ##  ##
Dec 26 10:21:30 localhost.localdomain rabbitmq-server[957]: ##  ##      RabbitMQ 3.12.0. Copyright (c) 2007-2023 VMware, Inc. or its affiliates.
Dec 26 10:21:30 localhost.localdomain rabbitmq-server[957]: ##########  Licensed under the MPL 2.0. Website: https://www.rabbitmq.com/
Dec 26 10:21:30 localhost.localdomain rabbitmq-server[957]: ######  ##
Dec 26 10:21:30 localhost.localdomain rabbitmq-server[957]: ##########  Logs: /var/log/rabbitmq/rabbit@localhost.log
Dec 26 10:21:30 localhost.localdomain rabbitmq-server[957]: /var/log/rabbitmq/rabbit@localhost_upgrade.log
Dec 26 10:21:30 localhost.localdomain rabbitmq-server[957]: Starting broker...
Dec 26 10:21:32 localhost.localdomain rabbitmq-server[957]: systemd unit for activation check: "rabbitmq-server.service"
Dec 26 10:21:32 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Started RabbitMQ broker.
Dec 26 10:21:32 localhost.localdomain rabbitmq-server[957]: completed with 6 plugins.

rabbitmqctl, rabbitmq-diagnostics, and other CLI tools will be available in PATH and can be invoked by a sudo-enabled user:

# checks if the local node is running and CLI tools can successfully authenticate with it
sudo rabbitmq-diagnostics ping

# prints enabled components (applications), TCP listeners, memory usage breakdown, alarms
# and so on
sudo rabbitmq-diagnostics status

# prints cluster membership information
sudo rabbitmq-diagnostics cluster_status

# prints effective node configuration
sudo rabbitmq-diagnostics environment

All rabbitmqctl commands will report an error if no node is running. See the CLI tools and Monitoring guides to learn more.

Log Files and Management

Server logs can be found under the configurable directory, which usually defaults to /var/log/rabbitmq when RabbitMQ is installed via a Linux package manager.

RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE can be used to override log directory location.

Assuming a systemd-based distribution, system service logs can be inspected using

journalctl --system

which requires superuser privileges. Its output can be filtered to narrow it down to RabbitMQ-specific entries:

sudo journalctl --system | grep rabbitmq

The output will look similar to this:

Dec 26 11:03:04 localhost rabbitmq-server[968]: ##  ##
Dec 26 11:03:04 localhost rabbitmq-server[968]: ##  ##      RabbitMQ 3.12.0. Copyright (c) 2007-2023 VMware, Inc. or its affiliates.
Dec 26 11:03:04 localhost rabbitmq-server[968]: ##########  Licensed under the MPL 2.0. Website: https://www.rabbitmq.com/
Dec 26 11:03:04 localhost rabbitmq-server[968]: ######  ##
Dec 26 11:03:04 localhost rabbitmq-server[968]: ##########  Logs: /var/log/rabbitmq/rabbit@localhost.log
Dec 26 11:03:04 localhost rabbitmq-server[968]: /var/log/rabbitmq/rabbit@localhost_upgrade.log
Dec 26 11:03:04 localhost rabbitmq-server[968]: Starting broker...
Dec 26 11:03:05 localhost rabbitmq-server[968]: systemd unit for activation check: "rabbitmq-server.service"
Dec 26 11:03:06 localhost rabbitmq-server[968]: completed with 6 plugins.

Log Rotation

The broker always appends to the log files, so a complete log history is retained.

logrotate is the recommended way of log file rotation and compression. By default, the package will set up logrotate to run weekly on files located in default /var/log/rabbitmq directory. Rotation configuration can be found in /etc/logrotate.d/rabbitmq-server.

Install Erlang from an Apt Repository (PPA) on Launchpad

This additional section covers installation of modern Erlang packages from Launchpad. To install modern Erlang and RabbitMQ, please refer to Install RabbitMQ from a Cloudsmith mirror.

Modern Erlang on Ubuntu

Standard Debian and Ubuntu repositories tend to provide outdated versions of Erlang/OTP. Team RabbitMQ maintains several apt repositories that includes packages of latest Erlang/OTP releases on Launchpad:

• For the latest Erlang major (currently 26.x)
• For Erlang 25.3.x
• For Erlang 24.3.x

The Erlang repositores on Launchpad currently target the following Ubuntu distributions:

• Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy)
• Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal)
• Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic)

Alternatively, Cloudsmith and its mirror (see above) supports the same versions and also can be used on Debian distributions, not just Ubuntu.

In order to use the repository, it is necessary to

• Install prerequisites needed to download signing keys and packages over HTTPS
• Add repository signing key to your system. apt will verify package signatures during installation.
• Add a source list file for the repository
• Update package metadata
• Install Erlang packages required by RabbitMQ

Install Essential Dependencies

sudo apt-get update -y

sudo apt-get install curl gnupg -y

Add Repository Signing Key

In order to use the repository, add RabbitMQ signing key to the system. This will enable apt to trust packages signed by that key.

# primary RabbitMQ signing key
curl -1sLf "https://github.com/rabbitmq/signing-keys/releases/download/3.0/rabbitmq-release-signing-key.asc" | sudo gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/com.github.rabbitmq.signing.gpg > /dev/null

# Launchpad PPA signing key for apt
curl -1sLf "https://keyserver.ubuntu.com/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xf77f1eda57ebb1cc" | sudo gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/net.launchpad.ppa.rabbitmq.erlang.gpg > /dev/null

See the guide on signatures to learn more.

Enable apt HTTPS Transport

In order for apt to be able to download RabbitMQ and Erlang packages from the Cloudsmith.io mirror or Launchpad, the apt-transport-https package must be installed:

sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https

Add a Source List File

As with all 3rd party Apt (Debian) repositories, a file describing the repository must be placed under the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory. /etc/apt/sources.list.d/erlang.list is the recommended location.

The file should have a source (repository) definition line that uses the following pattern:

# This Launchpad PPA repository provides Erlang packages produced by the RabbitMQ team
#
# Replace $distribution with the name of the Ubuntu release used. On Debian,
# use "bionic"
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/net.launchpad.ppa.rabbitmq.erlang.gpg] http://ppa.launchpad.net/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/ubuntu $distribution main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/net.launchpad.ppa.rabbitmq.erlang.gpg] http://ppa.launchpad.net/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/ubuntu $distribution main

The next section discusses what distribution values are supported by the Launchpad PPA.

Distribution

In order to set up an apt repository that provides the correct package, a few decisions have to be made. One is determining the distribution name. It typically matches the Debian or Ubuntu release used but only a handful of distributions are supported (indexed) by the Erlang Debian packages maintained by Team RabbitMQ:

• jammy for Ubuntu 22.04
• focal for Ubuntu 20.04
• bionic for Ubuntu 18.04
• bionic for Debian Bullseye, Bookworm, and Sid

However, not all distributions are covered (indexed). But there are good news: since the package indexed for these distributions is identical, any reasonably recent distribution name would suffice in practice. For example, users of Debian Buster, Debian Sid, Ubuntu Disco and Ubuntu Eoan can use both stretch and bionic for distribution name.

Below is a table of OS release and distribution names that should be used with the Launchpad repository.

Install Erlang Packages

After updating the list of apt sources it is necessary to run apt-get update:

sudo apt-get update -y

Then packages can be installed just like with the standard Debian repositories:

# This is recommended. Metapackages such as erlang and erlang-nox must only be used
# with apt version pinning. They do not pin their dependency versions.
sudo apt-get install -y erlang-base \
                        erlang-asn1 erlang-crypto erlang-eldap erlang-ftp erlang-inets \
                        erlang-mnesia erlang-os-mon erlang-parsetools erlang-public-key \
                        erlang-runtime-tools erlang-snmp erlang-ssl \
                        erlang-syntax-tools erlang-tftp erlang-tools erlang-xmerl