How to Install and Configure RabbitMQ with Erlang on Linux

Installation – Erlang

To run RabbitMQ you must first install Erlang. The current stable version is R16B, which can be downloaded from the Erlang website.

cd /usr/save
wget http://www.erlang.org/download/otp_src_R16B.tar.gz
tar xvfz /usr/save/otp_src_R16B.tar.gz

After downloading, install Erlang from source:

cd otp_src_R16B
LANG=C; export LANG
./configure
make
make install

Verification – Erlang

Run erl to start the Erlang shell, confirming successful installation.

# erl
Erlang R16B (erts-5.10.1) ...

Download RabbitMQ

The stable RabbitMQ server version is 3.0.4. Choose the appropriate Linux package; this example uses the Generic Unix build.

cd /usr/save
wget http://www.rabbitmq.com/releases/rabbitmq-server/v3.0.4/rabbitmq-server-generic-unix-3.0.4.tar.gz
tar xvfz rabbitmq-server-generic-unix-3.0.4.tar.gz
cd rabbitmq_server-3.0.4

Start RabbitMQ Server

Start the server in detached mode:

# cd /usr/save/rabbitmq_server-3.0.4
# sbin/rabbitmq-server -detached
Warning: PID file not written; -detached was passed.

If you encounter could_not_start_tcp_listener, see the troubleshooting section.

Verify RabbitMQ Status

Use rabbitmqctl status to check the server status and rabbitmqctl stop to stop it.

# sbin/rabbitmqctl status
... (output omitted for brevity) ...
# sbin/rabbitmqctl stop

Troubleshooting

Problem: On CentOS 6, installing RabbitMQ may fail with “could_not_start_tcp_listener” due to a port conflict with the Matahari package (qpidd) that also uses port 5672.

Solution: Stop and disable the qpidd service, or uninstall the Matahari packages.

# chkconfig --list | grep -i qpid
qpidd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off

# service qpidd stop
Stopping Qpid AMQP daemon [ OK ]

# chkconfig qpidd off
# chkconfig --list | grep -i qpid
qpidd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:off 6:off

After disabling qpidd, RabbitMQ should start correctly.