RabbitMQ

RabbitMQ is an open source message broker software that implements the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP).

TL;DR;

$ helm install stable/rabbitmq

Introduction

This chart bootstraps a RabbitMQ deployment on a Kubernetes cluster using the Helm package manager.

Bitnami charts can be used with Kubeapps for deployment and management of Helm Charts in clusters. This chart has been tested to work with NGINX Ingress, cert-manager, fluentd and Prometheus on top of the BKPR.

Prerequisites

• Kubernetes 1.12+
• Helm 2.11+ or Helm 3.0-beta3+
• PV provisioner support in the underlying infrastructure

Installing the Chart

To install the chart with the release name my-release:

$ helm install --name my-release stable/rabbitmq

The command deploys RabbitMQ on the Kubernetes cluster in the default configuration. The configuration section lists the parameters that can be configured during installation.

Tip: List all releases using helm list

Uninstalling the Chart

To uninstall/delete the my-release deployment:

$ helm delete my-release

The command removes all the Kubernetes components associated with the chart and deletes the release.

Configuration

The following table lists the configurable parameters of the RabbitMQ chart and their default values.

Parameter	Description	Default
global.imageRegistry	Global Docker image registry	nil
global.imagePullSecrets	Global Docker registry secret names as an array	[] (does not add image pull secrets to deployed pods)
global.storageClass	Global storage class for dynamic provisioning	nil
image.registry	Rabbitmq Image registry	docker.io
image.repository	Rabbitmq Image name	bitnami/rabbitmq
image.tag	Rabbitmq Image tag	{TAG_NAME}
image.pullPolicy	Image pull policy	IfNotPresent
image.pullSecrets	Specify docker-registry secret names as an array	nil
image.debug	Specify if debug values should be set	false
nameOverride	String to partially override rabbitmq.fullname template with a string (will prepend the release name)	nil
fullnameOverride	String to fully override rabbitmq.fullname template with a string	nil
rbacEnabled	Specify if rbac is enabled in your cluster	true
podManagementPolicy	Pod management policy	OrderedReady
rabbitmq.username	RabbitMQ application username	user
rabbitmq.password	RabbitMQ application password	random 10 character long alphanumeric string
rabbitmq.existingPasswordSecret	Existing secret with RabbitMQ credentials	nil
rabbitmq.erlangCookie	Erlang cookie	random 32 character long alphanumeric string
rabbitmq.existingErlangSecret	Existing secret with RabbitMQ Erlang cookie	nil
rabbitmq.plugins	List of plugins to enable	rabbitmq_management rabbitmq_peer_discovery_k8s
rabbitmq.extraPlugins	Extra plugings to enable	nil
rabbitmq.clustering.address_type	Switch clustering mode	ip or hostname
rabbitmq.clustering.k8s_domain	Customize internal k8s cluster domain	cluster.local
rabbitmq.logs	Value for the RABBITMQ_LOGS environment variable	-
rabbitmq.setUlimitNofiles	Specify if max file descriptor limit should be set	true
rabbitmq.ulimitNofiles	Max File Descriptor limit	65536
rabbitmq.maxAvailableSchedulers	RabbitMQ maximum available scheduler threads	2
rabbitmq.onlineSchedulers	RabbitMQ online scheduler threads	1
rabbitmq.env	RabbitMQ environment variables	{}
rabbitmq.configuration	Required cluster configuration	See values.yaml
rabbitmq.extraConfiguration	Extra configuration to add to rabbitmq.conf	See values.yaml
rabbitmq.advancedConfiguration	Extra configuration (in classic format) to add to advanced.config	See values.yaml
rabbitmq.tls.enabled	Enable TLS support to rabbitmq
rabbitmq.tls.failIfNoPeerCert	When set to true, TLS connection will be rejected if client fails to provide a certificate	true
rabbitmq.tls.sslOptionsVerify	verify_peer	Should peer verification be enabled?
rabbitmq.tls.caCertificate	Ca certificate	Certificate Authority (CA) bundle content
rabbitmq.tls.serverCertificate	Server certificate	Server certificate content
rabbitmq.tls.serverKey	Server Key	Server private key content
rabbitmq.tls.existingSecret	Existing secret with certificate content to rabbitmq credentials	nil
service.type	Kubernetes Service type	ClusterIP
service.port	Amqp port	5672
service.tlsPort	Amqp TLS port	5671
service.distPort	Erlang distribution server port	25672
service.nodePort	Node port override, if serviceType NodePort	random available between 30000-32767
service.nodeTlsPort	Node port override, if serviceType NodePort	random available between 30000-32767
service.managerPort	RabbitMQ Manager port	15672
service.extraPorts	Extra ports to expose in the service	nil
service.extraContainerPorts	Extra ports to be included in container spec, primarily informational	nil
persistence.enabled	Use a PVC to persist data	true
service.annotations	service annotations as an array	[]
schedulerName	Name of the k8s service (other than default)	nil
persistence.storageClass	Storage class of backing PVC	nil (uses alpha storage class annotation)
persistence.existingClaim	RabbitMQ data Persistent Volume existing claim name, evaluated as a template	""
persistence.accessMode	Use volume as ReadOnly or ReadWrite	ReadWriteOnce
persistence.size	Size of data volume	8Gi
persistence.path	Mount path of the data volume	/opt/bitnami/rabbitmq/var/lib/rabbitmq
securityContext.enabled	Enable security context	true
securityContext.fsGroup	Group ID for the container	1001
securityContext.runAsUser	User ID for the container	1001
resources	resource needs and limits to apply to the pod	{}
replicas	Replica count	1
priorityClassName	Pod priority class name	``
nodeSelector	Node labels for pod assignment	{}
affinity	Affinity settings for pod assignment	{}
tolerations	Toleration labels for pod assignment	[]
updateStrategy	Statefulset update strategy policy	RollingUpdate
ingress.enabled	Enable ingress resource for Management console	false
ingress.hostName	Hostname to your RabbitMQ installation	nil
ingress.path	Path within the url structure	/
ingress.tls	enable ingress with tls	false
ingress.tlsSecret	tls type secret to be used	myTlsSecret
ingress.annotations	ingress annotations as an array	[]
livenessProbe.enabled	would you like a livenessProbed to be enabled	true
livenessProbe.initialDelaySeconds	number of seconds	120
livenessProbe.timeoutSeconds	number of seconds	20
livenessProbe.periodSeconds	number of seconds	30
livenessProbe.failureThreshold	number of failures	6
livenessProbe.successThreshold	number of successes	1
readinessProbe.enabled	would you like a readinessProbe to be enabled	true
readinessProbe.initialDelaySeconds	number of seconds	10
readinessProbe.timeoutSeconds	number of seconds	20
readinessProbe.periodSeconds	number of seconds	30
readinessProbe.failureThreshold	number of failures	3
readinessProbe.successThreshold	number of successes	1
metrics.enabled	Start a side-car prometheus exporter	false
metrics.image.registry	Exporter image registry	docker.io
metrics.image.repository	Exporter image name	bitnami/rabbitmq-exporter
metrics.image.tag	Exporter image tag	{TAG_NAME}
metrics.image.pullPolicy	Exporter image pull policy	IfNotPresent
metrics.serviceMonitor.enabled	Create ServiceMonitor Resource for scraping metrics using PrometheusOperator	false
metrics.serviceMonitor.namespace	Namespace where servicemonitor resource should be created	nil
metrics.serviceMonitor.interval	Specify the interval at which metrics should be scraped	30s
metrics.serviceMonitor.scrapeTimeout	Specify the timeout after which the scrape is ended	nil
metrics.serviceMonitor.relabellings	Specify Metric Relabellings to add to the scrape endpoint	nil
metrics.serviceMonitor.honorLabels	honorLabels chooses the metric's labels on collisions with target labels.	false
metrics.serviceMonitor.additionalLabels	Used to pass Labels that are required by the Installed Prometheus Operator	{}
metrics.port	Prometheus metrics exporter port	9419
metrics.env	Exporter configuration environment variables	{}
metrics.resources	Exporter resource requests/limit	nil
metrics.capabilities	Exporter: Comma-separated list of extended scraping capabilities supported by the target RabbitMQ server	bert,no_sort
podLabels	Additional labels for the statefulset pod(s).	{}
volumePermissions.enabled	Enable init container that changes volume permissions in the data directory (for cases where the default k8s runAsUser and fsUser values do not work)	false
volumePermissions.image.registry	Init container volume-permissions image registry	docker.io
volumePermissions.image.repository	Init container volume-permissions image name	bitnami/minideb
volumePermissions.image.tag	Init container volume-permissions image tag	stretch
volumePermissions.image.pullPolicy	Init container volume-permissions image pull policy	Always
volumePermissions.resources	Init container resource requests/limit	nil
forceBoot.enabled	Executes 'rabbitmqctl force_boot' to force boot cluster shut down unexpectedly in an unknown order. Use it only if you prefer availability over integrity.	false
extraSecrets	Optionally specify extra secrets to be created by the chart.	{}

The above parameters map to the env variables defined in bitnami/rabbitmq. For more information please refer to the bitnami/rabbitmq image documentation.

Specify each parameter using the --set key=value[,key=value] argument to helm install. For example,

$ helm install --name my-release \
  --set rabbitmq.username=admin,rabbitmq.password=secretpassword,rabbitmq.erlangCookie=secretcookie \
    stable/rabbitmq

The above command sets the RabbitMQ admin username and password to admin and secretpassword respectively. Additionally the secure erlang cookie is set to secretcookie.

Alternatively, a YAML file that specifies the values for the parameters can be provided while installing the chart. For example,

$ helm install --name my-release -f values.yaml stable/rabbitmq

Tip: You can use the default values.yaml

Production configuration and horizontal scaling

This chart includes a values-production.yaml file where you can find some parameters oriented to production configuration in comparison to the regular values.yaml.

$ helm install --name my-release -f ./values-production.yaml stable/rabbitmq

• Resource needs and limits to apply to the pod:

- resources: {}
+ resources:
+   requests:
+     memory: 256Mi
+     cpu: 100m

• Replica count:

- replicas: 1
+ replicas: 3

• Node labels for pod assignment:

- nodeSelector: {}
+ nodeSelector:
+   beta.kubernetes.io/arch: amd64

• Enable ingress with TLS:

- ingress.tls: false
+ ingress.tls: true

• Start a side-car prometheus exporter:

- metrics.enabled: false
+ metrics.enabled: true

• Enable init container that changes volume permissions in the data directory:

- volumePermissions.enabled: false
+ volumePermissions.enabled: true

To horizontally scale this chart once it has been deployed you have two options:

• Use kubectl scale command:

$ kubectl scale statefulset my-release-rabbitmq --replicas=3

• Use helm upgrade command:

RABBITMQ_PASSWORD="$(kubectl get secret my-release-rabbitmq -o jsonpath='{.data.rabbitmq-password}' | base64 --decode)"
RABBITMQ_ERLANG_COOKIE="$(kubectl get secret my-release-rabbitmq -o jsonpath='{.data.rabbitmq-erlang-cookie}' | base64 --decode)"
$ helm upgrade my-release stable/rabbitmq \
  --set replicas=3 \
  --set rabbitmq.password="$RABBITMQ_PASSWORD" \
  --set rabbitmq.erlangCookie="$RABBITMQ_ERLANG_COOKIE"

Note: please note it's mandatory to indicate the password and erlangCookie that was set the first time the chart was installed to upgrade the chart. Otherwise, new pods won't be able to join the cluster.

Rolling VS Immutable tags

It is strongly recommended to use immutable tags in a production environment. This ensures your deployment does not change automatically if the same tag is updated with a different image.

Bitnami will release a new chart updating its containers if a new version of the main container, significant changes, or critical vulnerabilities exist.

Load Definitions

It is possible to load a RabbitMQ definitions file to configure RabbitMQ. Because definitions may contain RabbitMQ credentials, store the JSON as a Kubernetes secret. Within the secret's data, choose a key name that corresponds with the desired load definitions filename (i.e. load_definition.json) and use the JSON object as the value. For example:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: rabbitmq-load-definition
type: Opaque
stringData:
  load_definition.json: |-
    {
      "vhosts": [
        {
          "name": "/"
        }
      ]
    }

Then, specify the management.load_definitions property as an extraConfiguration pointing to the load definition file path within the container (i.e. /app/load_definition.json) and set loadDefinition.enable to true.

Any load definitions specified will be available within in the container at /app.

Loading a definition will take precedence over any configuration done through Helm values.

If needed, you can use extraSecrets to let the chart create the secret for you. This way, you don't need to manually create it before deploying a release. For example :

extraSecrets:
  load-definition:
    load_definition.json: |
      {
        "vhosts": [
          {
            "name": "/"
          }
        ]
      }
rabbitmq:
  loadDefinition:
    enabled: true
    secretName: load-definition
  extraConfiguration: |
    management.load_definitions = /app/load_definition.json

Persistence

The Bitnami RabbitMQ image stores the RabbitMQ data and configurations at the /opt/bitnami/rabbitmq/var/lib/rabbitmq/ path of the container.

The chart mounts a Persistent Volume at this location. By default, the volume is created using dynamic volume provisioning. An existing PersistentVolumeClaim can also be defined.

Existing PersistentVolumeClaims

1. Create the PersistentVolume
2. Create the PersistentVolumeClaim
3. Install the chart

$ helm install --set persistence.existingClaim=PVC_NAME rabbitmq

Adjust permissions of the persistence volume mountpoint

As the image runs as non-root by default, it is necessary to adjust the ownership of the persistent volume so that the container can write data into it.

By default, the chart is configured to use Kubernetes Security Context to automatically change the ownership of the volume. However, this feature does not work in all Kubernetes distributions. As an alternative, this chart supports using an initContainer to change the ownership of the volume before mounting it in the final destination.

You can enable this initContainer by setting volumePermissions.enabled to true.

Enabling TLS support

To enable TLS support you must generate the certificates using RabbitMQ documentation.

You must include in your values.yaml the caCertificate, serverCertificate and serverKey files.

  caCertificate: |-
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    MIIDRTCCAi2gAwIBAgIJAJPh+paO6a3cMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMDExIDAeBgNV
    ...
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
  serverCertificate: |-
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    MIIDqjCCApKgAwIBAgIBATANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADAxMSAwHgYDVQQDDBdUTFNH
    ...
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
  serverKey: |-
    -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
    MIIEpAIBAAKCAQEA2iX3M4d3LHrRAoVUbeFZN3EaGzKhyBsz7GWwTgETiNj+AL7p
    ....
    -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

This will be generate a secret with the certs, but is possible specify an existing secret using existingSecret: name-of-existing-secret-to-rabbitmq

Disabling failIfNoPeerCert allows a TLS connection if client fails to provide a certificate

sslOptionsVerify: When the sslOptionsVerify option is set to verify_peer, the client does send us a certificate, the node must perform peer verification. When set to verify_none, peer verification will be disabled and certificate exchange won't be performed.

Upgrading

To 6.0.0

This new version updates the RabbitMQ image to a new version based on bash instead of node.js. However, since this Chart overwrites the container's command, the changes to the container shouldn't affect the Chart. To upgrade, it may be needed to enable the fastBoot option, as it is already the case from upgrading from 5.X to 5.Y.

To 5.0.0

This major release changes the clustering method from ip to hostname. This change is needed to fix the persistence. The data dir will now depend on the hostname which is stable instead of the pod IP that might change.

IMPORTANT: Note that if you upgrade from a previous version you will lose your data.

To 3.0.0

Backwards compatibility is not guaranteed unless you modify the labels used on the chart's deployments. Use the workaround below to upgrade from versions previous to 3.0.0. The following example assumes that the release name is rabbitmq:

$ kubectl delete statefulset rabbitmq --cascade=false