RabbitMQ Stack - Local RabbitMQ Environment

This repository provides a Docker Compose setup for running a local RabbitMQ environment with management UI and SSL/TLS support for secure messaging.

📁 Contents

• docker-compose.yml: RabbitMQ with management plugin enabled
• rabbitmq.conf: RabbitMQ configuration for SSL/TLS support
• assets/: Architecture diagrams
• README.md: This documentation file

⚙️ Prerequisites

• Docker 24+ and Docker Compose v2
• SSL certificates for secure connections (optional, see Configuration section)

🏗️ Architecture

• RabbitMQ: Message broker implementing the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) with support for multiple messaging protocols
• Management UI: Web-based interface for managing queues, exchanges, bindings, users, and monitoring cluster health
• SSL/TLS Support: Secure connections using custom certificates for encrypted messaging

All containers run within a dedicated rabbitmq-network Docker bridge network for inter-service communication.

🚀 Setup & Usage

This setup is designed for local development and learning. Do not use in production environments without proper security hardening.

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1. Start the RabbitMQ stack

docker compose up -d

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2. Stop the services

docker compose down -v

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3. Rebuild and restart the service

docker compose up -d --force-recreate --no-deps --build rabbitmq

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4. Check service status

docker compose ps

🛠️ Customization

• Modify docker-compose.yml to adjust service settings, ports, or environment variables
• Edit rabbitmq.conf to configure SSL/TLS settings and other RabbitMQ parameters
• Change default credentials via environment variables RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER and RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS

📊 Service Endpoints & Ports

• Docs: RabbitMQ Documentation
• AMQP Protocol (SSL/TLS only): localhost:5671
  • Secure AMQP port for encrypted client connections
  • Requires SSL certificates configured in rabbitmq.conf
  • Non-SSL port (5672) is disabled for security
• Management UI: http://localhost:15672
  • Default credentials: admin / password
  • Queue, exchange, and binding management
  • User and virtual host management
  • Cluster monitoring and metrics

Features:

• RabbitMQ 4 with management plugin
• SSL/TLS support for secure messaging
• Health checks for container reliability
• Persistent storage for message durability
• Custom hostname: rabbitmq.docker.local

🔒 SSL/TLS Configuration

The stack is configured to support SSL/TLS connections using custom certificates. The certificates are mounted from:

${DOCKER_LOCAL_CERT_PATH:-$HOME/Github/dev-certs/docker-local}/

Certificate files required:

• docker-local.crt - Server certificate
• docker-local.key - Private key

SSL Configuration (in rabbitmq.conf):

• SSL listener on port 5671
• Client certificate verification disabled by default (verify_none)
• Suitable for development; enable strict verification for production

📝 Default Credentials

• Username: admin
• Password: password

⚠️ Change these credentials in production environments by modifying the environment variables in docker-compose.yml.

🔍 Monitoring & Management

Access the RabbitMQ Management UI at http://localhost:15672 to:

• View and manage queues, exchanges, and bindings
• Monitor message rates and queue depths
• Manage users and permissions
• View connection and channel statistics
• Configure policies and parameters

📦 Volumes

The stack uses named volumes for data persistence:

• vol_rabbitmq-lib: RabbitMQ data directory (message store, metadata)
• vol_rabbitmq-logs: RabbitMQ log files

🧪 Testing Connections

SSL Connection (required)

# Using Python pika with SSL
pip install pika
python -c "import pika, ssl; context = ssl.create_default_context(); context.check_hostname = False; context.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_NONE; connection = pika.BlockingConnection(pika.ConnectionParameters('localhost', 5671, credentials=pika.PlainCredentials('admin', 'password'), ssl_options=pika.SSLOptions(context))); print('Connected via SSL!')"

Note: Non-SSL connections on port 5672 are disabled. All client connections must use SSL/TLS on port 5671.

⚙️ Configuration Details

• RabbitMQ runs within the rabbitmq-network Docker bridge network
• Custom hostname: rabbitmq.docker.local for consistent DNS resolution
• Health checks: Container readiness verified via rabbitmq-diagnostics check_port_connectivity
• Persistent volumes:
  • Message data and metadata stored in vol_rabbitmq-lib
  • Logs stored in vol_rabbitmq-logs
• SSL/TLS: Configured via rabbitmq.conf with custom certificates
• Default vhost: / (can be customized via configuration)
• Ports can be changed in docker-compose.yml as needed

🌐 Community & Support

• 🤝 Contributing Guide – see .github/CONTRIBUTING.md
• 🤗 Code of Conduct – see .github/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
• 🆘 Support Guide – see .github/SUPPORT.md
• 🔒 Security Policy – see .github/SECURITY.md

📄 License

This project is licensed under the terms of the repository's main LICENSE file.