In this article, you will learn to set up a RabbitMQ server for the development purpose using docker-compose. We will download the official rabbitmq docker image, run it.

Prerequisites (Docker)

1. Installation of RabbitMQ – docker-compose

Step-1) Make sure you have the docker installed in your system by running the below commands.

$ docker -v
Docker version 19.03.5, build 633a0ea

$ docker-compose -v
docker-compose version 1.24.1, build 4667896b

Step-2) Create a docker-compose.yaml file with the below content.

YAML
version: "3.6"
# https://docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/

services:
  rabbitmq:
    image: 'rabbitmq:3.6-management-alpine'
    ports:
      # The standard AMQP protocol port
      - '5672:5672'
      # HTTP management UI
      - '15672:15672'
    environment:
      # The location of the RabbitMQ server.  "amqp" is the protocol;
      # "rabbitmq" is the hostname.  Note that there is not a guarantee
      # that the server will start first!  Telling the pika client library
      # to try multiple times gets around this ordering issue.
      AMQP_URL: 'amqp://rabbitmq?connection_attempts=5&retry_delay=5'
      RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER: "guest"
      RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS: "guest"
    networks:
      - network
networks:
  # Declare our private network.  We must declare one for the magic
  # Docker DNS to work, but otherwise its default settings are fine.
  network: {}

Step-3)

Run the docker-compose up command in a terminal, wait for the command to complete its execution. This will download the specified rabbitmq docker image, run the rabbitmq-admin UI on #15672 and the Server listens on #5672 for messaging. Once the server is up, you will see a similar log in your terminal.

rabbitmq_1  | =INFO REPORT==== 10-Mar-2020::16:11:17 ===
rabbitmq_1  | started TCP Listener on [::]:5672
rabbitmq_1  | 
rabbitmq_1  | =INFO REPORT==== 10-Mar-2020::16:11:17 ===
rabbitmq_1  | Management plugin started. Port: 15672
rabbitmq_1  | 
rabbitmq_1  | =INFO REPORT==== 10-Mar-2020::16:11:17 ===
rabbitmq_1  | Statistics database started.
rabbitmq_1  |  completed with 6 plugins.
rabbitmq_1  | 
rabbitmq_1  | =INFO REPORT==== 10-Mar-2020::16:11:18 ===
rabbitmq_1  | Server startup complete; 6 plugins started.
rabbitmq_1  |  * rabbitmq_management
rabbitmq_1  |  * rabbitmq_web_dispatch
rabbitmq_1  |  * cowboy
rabbitmq_1  |  * rabbitmq_management_agent
rabbitmq_1  |  * amqp_client

Step-4) Login

Navigate to http://localhost:15672 in your browser and log in to the management dashboard with guest as both username and password. You should be able to see the RabbitMQ admin management dashboard as shown below. I have overridden the username and password as rabbitmq by changing the properties RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER and RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS in the above docker-compose.yml file. You can just keep the username and password unchanged.

RabbitMQ admin page
RabbitMQ admin login
RabbitMQ management UI
RabbitMQ management UI

If you are able to see the above UI, it means the installation is successful. I will add the installation guides on Windows, Mac, and Linux a little later.

2. Install on Windows

Here are the updated steps with the correct URLs and more precise instructions for installing RabbitMQ on Windows:

Steps to Install RabbitMQ on Windows

RabbitMQ requires Erlang to be installed first.

Step 1: Download Erlang

  • Visit the Erlang Downloads page.
  • Under the “Windows” section, download the installer that matches your system architecture (32-bit or 64-bit).

Step 2: Install Erlang

  • Run the downloaded installer.
  • Follow the installation prompts and accept the default settings.
  • Ensure that the installation path is added to the system’s PATH environment variable (this is usually done automatically by the installer).

Step 3: Download RabbitMQ

  • Go to the RabbitMQ Downloads page.
  • Under the “Installing RabbitMQ on Windows” section, find the link to download the RabbitMQ installer for Windows.

Step 4: Install RabbitMQ

  • Run the downloaded RabbitMQ installer.
  • Follow the installation prompts and accept the default settings.
  • The installer will place RabbitMQ files in the C:\Program Files\RabbitMQ Server directory by default.

Step 5: Set RABBITMQ_SERVER Environment Variable

  • Open the Windows Control Panel and go to System and Security > System > Advanced system settings.
  • Click on Environment Variables.
  • Under System variables, click New and create a new variable:
  • Variable name: RABBITMQ_SERVER
  • Variable value: C:\Program Files\RabbitMQ Server\rabbitmq_server-<version> (replace <version> with the installed version number).

Step 6: Enable the Management Plugin

  • Open a Command Prompt window as an administrator.
  • Navigate to the RabbitMQ sbin directory: cd C:\Program Files\RabbitMQ Server\rabbitmq_server-<version>\sbin.
  • Run the following command to enable the management plugin:
  rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management

Step 7: Start RabbitMQ Server

  • In the same Command Prompt window, start the RabbitMQ server by running:
  rabbitmq-server.bat
  • Alternatively, you can start the RabbitMQ server as a Windows service:
  rabbitmq-service install
  rabbitmq-service start

Step 8: Access the Management UI

  • Open a web browser and go to http://localhost:15672.
  • The default login credentials are:
  • Username: guest
  • Password: guest

Summary

By following these steps, you should have RabbitMQ installed and running on your Windows system. You can now use the management interface to configure RabbitMQ, create queues, exchanges, and manage your messaging setup.

Note

Ensure that you download the correct versions of Erlang and RabbitMQ that are compatible with each other. The RabbitMQ installation guide usually specifies the compatible Erlang versions.

3. Install RabbitMQ on macOS

1. Install Homebrew

Homebrew is a package manager for macOS that makes it easy to install software. If you don’t have Homebrew installed, you can install it by running the following command in your terminal:

Bash
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

2. Install Erlang

RabbitMQ requires Erlang to be installed first. You can install Erlang using Homebrew:

Bash
brew install erlang

3. Install RabbitMQ

Once Erlang is installed, you can install RabbitMQ using Homebrew:

Bash
brew install rabbitmq

4. Start RabbitMQ Server

After installing RabbitMQ, you need to start the RabbitMQ server:

Bash
brew services start rabbitmq

This command will start RabbitMQ as a background service that will automatically start when your computer boots up.

5. Enable the RabbitMQ Management Plugin

To manage RabbitMQ through a web interface, you need to enable the management plugin:

Bash
rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management

6. Access RabbitMQ Management Interface

Once the management plugin is enabled, you can access the RabbitMQ management interface:

  • Open a web browser and go to http://localhost:15672.
  • The default login credentials are:
  • Username: guest
  • Password: guest

7. Verify Installation

To verify that RabbitMQ is running, you can use the following command:

Bash
rabbitmqctl status

This command will provide information about the running RabbitMQ server.

By following these steps, you should have RabbitMQ installed and running on your macOS system. The management interface will help you configure RabbitMQ, create queues, exchanges, and manage your messaging setup. Using Homebrew simplifies the installation process and ensures that dependencies like Erlang are correctly installed.

By |Last Updated: May 22nd, 2024|Categories: RabbitMQ|

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