RabbitMQ Installation — Ubuntu/Debian

Infrastructure: RabbitMQ Message Broker
Platform: Ubuntu 22/24, Debian 11/12

Overview

This page covers the manual installation of RabbitMQ and Erlang on Ubuntu and Debian systems.

Prerequisites

Before starting, confirm the following:

Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 or Debian 11/12 — fully updated (apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y)
Root or sudo access on the target host
Internet access available (to download packages)
Port 5672 open from Diskover web and worker hosts
Port 15672 open from admin workstations (optional, for management UI)

Step 1 — Install Prerequisites

Install the packages needed to add external repositories:

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

Step 2 — Add the RabbitMQ and Erlang Repositories

Import the repository signing keys:

# RabbitMQ main signing key
curl -1sLf "https://keys.openpgp.org/vks/v1/by-fingerprint/0A9AF2115F4687BD29803A206B73A36E6026DFCA" | gpg --dearmor | tee /usr/share/keyrings/com.rabbitmq.team.gpg > /dev/null

# Erlang repository signing key
curl -1sLf "https://github.com/rabbitmq/signing-keys/releases/download/3.0/cloudsmith.rabbitmq-erlang.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.key" | gpg --dearmor | tee /usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg > /dev/null

# RabbitMQ server repository signing key
curl -1sLf "https://github.com/rabbitmq/signing-keys/releases/download/3.0/cloudsmith.rabbitmq-server.9F4587F226208342.key" | gpg --dearmor | tee /usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg > /dev/null

Add the Erlang and RabbitMQ apt repositories. Replace $distribution with your Ubuntu/Debian codename (e.g., jammy for Ubuntu 22.04, noble for Ubuntu 24.04, bookworm for Debian 12):

# Determine your distribution codename
DISTRO_CODENAME=$(lsb_release -cs)

# Add Erlang repository
tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/erlang.list <<EOF
deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa1.rabbitmq.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu $DISTRO_CODENAME main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.E495BB49CC4BBE5B.gpg] https://ppa1.rabbitmq.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-erlang/deb/ubuntu $DISTRO_CODENAME main
EOF

# Add RabbitMQ server repository
tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rabbitmq.list <<EOF
deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa1.rabbitmq.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu $DISTRO_CODENAME main
deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/rabbitmq.9F4587F226208342.gpg] https://ppa1.rabbitmq.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/deb/ubuntu $DISTRO_CODENAME main
EOF

Update the package index:

apt-get update

Step 3 — Install RabbitMQ and Erlang

Install Erlang first, then RabbitMQ:

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

apt-get install -y rabbitmq-server

Why install Erlang packages individually? This ensures you get only the Erlang modules RabbitMQ needs from the RabbitMQ-maintained repository, avoiding conflicts with system Erlang packages.

Step 4 — Start and Enable the Service

systemctl start rabbitmq-server
systemctl enable rabbitmq-server
systemctl status rabbitmq-server

You should see the service in an active (running) state:

● rabbitmq-server.service - RabbitMQ broker
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/rabbitmq-server.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since ...
   Main PID: 12345 (beam.smp)
     ...

Step 5 — Configure RabbitMQ for Diskover

Enable the management plugin and create a dedicated Diskover user:

# Enable the management UI plugin
rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management

# Secure the default guest account (this password is not used by Diskover)
rabbitmqctl change_password guest your-guest-password

# Create a dedicated Diskover user (choose your own username and password)
rabbitmqctl add_user diskover your-rabbitmq-password

# Grant administrator privileges
rabbitmqctl set_user_tags diskover administrator

# Set permissions on the default vhost (configure, write, read)
rabbitmqctl set_permissions -p / diskover ".*" ".*" ".*"

# Restart to apply changes
systemctl restart rabbitmq-server
systemctl status rabbitmq-server

Step 6 — Verify the Installation

Check the service status:

systemctl status rabbitmq-server

Run a quick health check:

rabbitmqctl status

Example output from the health check:

Status of node rabbit@test-worker ...
Runtime

OS PID: 945
OS: Linux
Uptime (seconds): 86357
Is under maintenance?: false
RabbitMQ version: 4.2.4
RabbitMQ release series support status: see https://www.rabbitmq.com/release-information
Node name: rabbit@test-worker
Erlang configuration: Erlang/OTP 26 [erts-14.2.5] [source] [64-bit] [smp:16:16] [ds:16:16:10] [async-threads:1] [jit]
Crypto library: OpenSSL 3.5.1 1 Jul 2025
Erlang processes: 441 used, 1048576 limit
Scheduler run queue: 1
Cluster heartbeat timeout (net_ticktime): 60

Step 7 — Connect Diskover to RabbitMQ

After RabbitMQ is running, configure the connection in Diskover Admin:

Navigate to Diskover Admin (http://your-web-host:8000/diskover_admin/config/)
Go to System → Message Queue
Enter the RabbitMQ host IP, port (5672), and the diskover user credentials you created above
Save the configuration
Click the Test button to ensure Diskover Web is able to connect to RabbitMQ

Service Management

Action	Command
Start	`systemctl start rabbitmq-server`
Stop	`systemctl stop rabbitmq-server`
Restart	`systemctl restart rabbitmq-server`
Status	`systemctl status rabbitmq-server`
Enable on boot	`systemctl enable rabbitmq-server`
Logs (journald)	`journalctl -fu rabbitmq-server`
Logs (file)	`/var/log/rabbitmq/`

Helpful RabbitMQ Commands

# Quick status check
rabbitmqctl status

# Detailed diagnostics (plugins, memory, disk, listeners)
rabbitmq-diagnostics status

# List all queues with message counts and memory usage
rabbitmqctl list_queues

# List active connections
rabbitmqctl list_connections

# Check cluster status (useful for multi-node setups)
rabbitmqctl cluster_status

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Solution
RabbitMQ fails to start	Erlang version mismatch or corrupt Mnesia database	Check `journalctl -fu rabbitmq-server` for errors. Verify Erlang is installed: `erl -version`. If Mnesia is corrupt, stop the service, remove `/var/lib/rabbitmq/mnesia/`, and restart (this resets all configuration — you'll need to recreate users and permissions)
`{:badrpc}` error when enabling management plugin	RabbitMQ service not running or node name mismatch	Ensure RabbitMQ is running (`systemctl status rabbitmq-server`). Check logs: `journalctl -fu rabbitmq-server`
Celery cannot connect to RabbitMQ	Wrong host/port/credentials in Diskover Admin, or port 5672 blocked	Verify the RabbitMQ connection settings in Diskover Admin. Test connectivity from the worker host: `nc -zv your-rabbitmq-host 5672`. Check that the `diskover` user exists: `rabbitmqctl list_users`
Management UI not accessible on port 15672	Management plugin not enabled or firewall blocking	Enable the plugin: `rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management`. Check firewall rules allow port 15672 from your workstation

Support

Diskover Support Portal: https://support.diskoverdata.com
Diskover Knowledge Base: https://support.diskoverdata.com/hc/en-us
RabbitMQ Official Documentation: https://www.rabbitmq.com/docs
RabbitMQ Installation (Debian/Ubuntu): https://www.rabbitmq.com/docs/install-debian