How to configure rabbitmq.config inside Docker containers? - docker

Question

I'm using the official RabbitMQ Docker image (https://hub.docker.com/_/rabbitmq/)
I've tried editing the rabbitmq.config file inside the container after running
docker exec -it <container-id> /bin/bash
However, this seems to have no effect on the rabbitmq server running in the container. Restarting the container obviously didn't help either since Docker starts a completely new instance.
So I assumed that the only way to configure rabbitmq.config for a Docker container was to set it up before the container starts running, which I was able to partly do using the image's supported environment variables.
Unfortunately, not all configuration options are supported by environment variables. For instance, I want to set {auth_mechanisms, ['PLAIN', 'AMQPLAIN', 'EXTERNAL']} in rabbitmq.config.
I then found the RABBITMQ_CONFIG_FILE environment variable, which should allow me to point to the file I want to use as my conifg file. However, I've tried the following with no luck:
docker service create --name rabbitmq --network rabbitnet \
-e RABBITMQ_ERLANG_COOKIE='mycookie' --hostname = "{{Service.Name}}{{.Task.Slot}}" \
--mount type=bind,source=/root/mounted,destination=/root \
-e RABBITMQ_CONFIG_FILE=/root/rabbitmq.config rabbitmq
The default rabbitmq.config file containing:
[ { rabbit, [ { loopback_users, [ ] } ] } ]
is what's in the container once it starts
What's the best way to configure rabbitmq.config inside Docker containers?

Answer 1

the config file lives in /etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq.config so if you mount your own config file with something like this (I'm using docker-compose here to setup the image)
volumes:
- ./conf/myrabbit.conf:/etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq.config
that should do it.
In case you are having issues that the configuration file get's created as directory, try absolute paths.

Answer 2

I'm able to run RabbitMQ with a mounted config using the following bash script:
#RabbitMQ props
env=dev
rabbitmq_name=dev_rabbitmq
rabbitmq_port=5672
#RabbitMQ container
if [ "$(docker ps -aq -f name=${rabbitmq_name})" ]; then
echo Cleanup the existed ${rabbitmq_name} container
docker stop ${rabbitmq_name} && docker rm ${rabbitmq_name}
echo Create and start new ${rabbitmq_name} container
docker run --name ${rabbitmq_name} -d -p ${rabbitmq_port}:15672 -v $PWD/rabbitmq/${env}/data:/var/lib/rabbitmq:rw -v $PWD/rabbitmq/${env}/definitions.json:/opt/definitions.json:ro -v $PWD/rabbitmq/${env}/rabbitmq.config:/etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq.config:ro rabbitmq:3-management
else
echo Create and start new ${rabbitmq_name} container
docker run --name ${rabbitmq_name} -d -p ${rabbitmq_port}:15672 -v $PWD/rabbitmq/${env}/data:/var/lib/rabbitmq:rw -v $PWD/rabbitmq/${env}/definitions.json:/opt/definitions.json:ro -v $PWD/rabbitmq/${env}/rabbitmq.config:/etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq.config:ro rabbitmq:3-management
fi
I also have the following config files in my rabbitmq/dev dir
definitions.json
{
"rabbit_version": "3.7.3",
"users": [{
"name": "welib",
"password_hash": "su55YoHBYdenGuMVUvMERIyUAqJoBKeknxYsGcixXf/C4rMp",
"hashing_algorithm": "rabbit_password_hashing_sha256",
"tags": ""
}, {
"name": "admin",
"password_hash": "x5RW/n1lq35QfY7jbJaUI+lgJsZp2Ioh6P8CGkPgW3sM2/86",
"hashing_algorithm": "rabbit_password_hashing_sha256",
"tags": "administrator"
}],
"vhosts": [{
"name": "/"
}, {
"name": "dev"
}],
"permissions": [{
"user": "welib",
"vhost": "dev",
"configure": ".*",
"write": ".*",
"read": ".*"
}, {
"user": "admin",
"vhost": "/",
"configure": ".*",
"write": ".*",
"read": ".*"
}],
"topic_permissions": [],
"parameters": [],
"global_parameters": [{
"name": "cluster_name",
"value": "rabbit#98c821300e49"
}],
"policies": [],
"queues": [],
"exchanges": [],
"bindings": []
}
rabbitmq.config
[
{rabbit, [
{loopback_users, []},
{vm_memory_high_watermark, 0.7},
{vm_memory_high_watermark_paging_ratio, 0.8},
{log_levels, [{channel, warning}, {connection, warning}, {federation, warning}, {mirroring, info}]},
{heartbeat, 10}
]},
{rabbitmq_management, [
{load_definitions, "/opt/definitions.json"}
]}
].