Skip to main content

​
Overview

This template provides a production‑ready RabbitMQ instance as a Monk runnable. You can:
  • Run it directly to get a managed RabbitMQ container with sensible defaults
  • Inherit it in your own runnable to seamlessly add a message broker to your stack
It exposes RabbitMQ on multiple ports (AMQP, management UI, streaming), persists data to a host volume, and includes configuration files for customization.

​
What this template manages

  • RabbitMQ container (rabbitmq image, configurable tag with management plugin)
  • Network services on multiple ports (AMQP, management UI, clustering)
  • Persistent volumes for data and configuration
  • Configuration files for RabbitMQ, advanced settings, and environment variables
  • Optional Nginx reverse proxy for the management UI

​
Quick start (run directly)

  1. Load templates
monk load MANIFEST
  1. Run RabbitMQ with defaults
monk run rabbitmq/rabbitmq
  1. Run the full stack with Nginx reverse proxy
monk run rabbitmq/stack
Once started, connect to:
  • AMQP: localhost:5672 (or the runnable hostname inside Monk networks)
  • Management UI: localhost:15672 (or localhost:8080 if using the stack with Nginx)
  • Default credentials: guest / guest

​
Configuration

Key variables you can customize in this template: 
variables:
  rabbitmq-image-tag: "3.10-management"  # container image tag
  nginx-listen-port: 8080                # Nginx proxy port (when using stack)
  nginx-image-tag: "latest"              # Nginx image version
Data is persisted under ${monk-volume-path}/rabbitmq:/var/lib/rabbitmq/ on the host.

​
Configuration files

RabbitMQ uses three configuration files that can be customized:
  • rabbitmq.conf: Primary configuration file (sysctl/ini-like format) at /etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq.conf
  • advanced.config: Erlang-based config for advanced settings at /etc/rabbitmq/advanced.config
  • rabbitmq-env.conf: Environment variables at /etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-env.conf
These files are located in the files/ directory of this repository and are mounted into the container. Inherit the RabbitMQ runnable in your application and declare a connection. Example: 
namespace: myapp
broker:
  defines: runnable
  inherits: rabbitmq/rabbitmq
api:
  defines: runnable
  containers:
    api:
      image: myorg/api
  connections:
    messagequeue:
      runnable: broker
      service: rabbitmq-amqp-1
  variables:
    rabbitmq-host:
      value: <- connection-hostname("messagequeue")
    rabbitmq-port:
      value: <- connection-port("messagequeue")
    rabbitmq-user:
      value: "guest"
    rabbitmq-password:
      value: "guest"
Then run your app group: 
monk run myapp/api

​
Ports and connectivity

RabbitMQ exposes multiple services:
  • Service: rabbitmq-amqp-1 on TCP port 5672 (AMQP protocol)
  • Service: rabbitmq-amqp-2 on TCP port 5671 (AMQP with TLS)
  • Service: rabbitmq-ui-2 on TCP port 15672 (Management UI)
  • Service: rabbitmq-ui-1 on TCP port 15671 (Management UI with TLS)
  • Service: rabbitmq-stream-1 on TCP port 5551 (Stream protocol)
  • Service: rabbitmq-stream-2 on TCP port 5552 (Stream protocol)
  • Service: rabbitmq-erl-epmd-port on TCP port 4369 (Erlang port mapper)
  • Service: rabbitmq-cli on TCP port 25672 (CLI tools)
From other runnables in the same process group, use connection-hostname("\<connection-name>") to resolve the broker host.

​
Persistence and configuration

  • Data path: ${monk-volume-path}/rabbitmq:/var/lib/rabbitmq/
  • Config files are mounted from the files/ directory in this repository
  • Modify the config files before loading the template to customize RabbitMQ behavior

​
Stack deployment

The rabbitmq/stack process group includes:
  • RabbitMQ server (rabbitmq/rabbitmq)
  • Nginx reverse proxy (rabbitmq/nginx) for the management UI on port 8080
This provides a complete setup with load balancing and proxy capabilities.

​
Default credentials

The default administrator username and password are:
  • Username: guest
  • Password: guest
Important: Change these credentials in production by modifying the configuration files or environment variables.

​
Troubleshooting

  • Check that the host volumes are writable by the container user
  • Verify that ports 5672 and 15672 are not already in use
  • View RabbitMQ logs:
monk logs -l 500 -f rabbitmq/rabbitmq
  • View Nginx logs (when using stack):
monk logs -l 500 -f rabbitmq/nginx
  • Access container shell:
monk shell rabbitmq/rabbitmq