Install RabbitMQ on Azure Cobalt 100

Install RabbitMQ on Azure Cobalt 100

This guide describes the end-to-end installation of RabbitMQ 4.2.0 on an Azure Cobalt 100 (Arm-based) Ubuntu Pro 24.04 virtual machine. It covers system preparation, Erlang installation, RabbitMQ setup, service configuration, and validation with the management plugin enabled.

Update system and install build dependencies

This step ensures the operating system is up to date and installs all required packages needed to build Erlang and run RabbitMQ reliably.

    

        
        
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential libssl-dev libncurses-dev libtinfo-dev \
                    libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libpng-dev libssh-dev \
                    unixodbc-dev wget tar xz-utils git

    

Build and install Erlang OTP 26

RabbitMQ 4.2.0 requires Erlang OTP 26. This section builds Erlang from source to ensure full compatibility on Arm64.

    

        
        
# Clone Erlang source
git clone https://github.com/erlang/otp.git
cd otp

# Checkout OTP 26 branch
git checkout OTP-26

# Clean previous builds
make clean

# Configure build with SSL/crypto support
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/erlang-26 \
            --enable-smp-support \
            --enable-threads \
            --enable-kernel-poll \
            --with-ssl

# Build and install
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

    

Make Erlang PATH persistent

This step ensures the Erlang binaries are permanently available in the system PATH across sessions and reboots.

    

        
        
echo 'export ERLANG_HOME=/usr/local/erlang-26' | sudo tee /etc/profile.d/erlang.sh
echo 'export PATH=$ERLANG_HOME/bin:$PATH' | sudo tee -a /etc/profile.d/erlang.sh

    

Download and install RabbitMQ

Download the official RabbitMQ 4.2.0 generic Unix distribution and install it under /opt/rabbitmq.

    

        
        
cd ~
wget https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/releases/download/v4.2.0/rabbitmq-server-generic-unix-4.2.0.tar.xz
sudo mkdir -p /opt/rabbitmq
sudo tar -xvf rabbitmq-server-generic-unix-4.2.0.tar.xz -C /opt/rabbitmq --strip-components=1

# Create directories for logs and database
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/rabbitmq /var/log/rabbitmq
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/lib/rabbitmq /var/log/rabbitmq

    

Update PATH environment variable

Make RabbitMQ CLI tools available in the current shell. Add this to ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile for persistence across sessions.

    

        
        
export PATH=/usr/local/erlang-26/bin:/opt/rabbitmq/sbin:$PATH

    

Add this line to ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile for persistence.

Configure RabbitMQ systemd service

Configure RabbitMQ to run as a managed systemd service, enabling automatic startup and controlled lifecycle management.

Create /etc/systemd/system/rabbitmq.service:

    

        
        
[Unit]
Description=RabbitMQ broker
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=azureuser
Group=azureuser

Environment=HOME=/home/azureuser
Environment=RABBITMQ_HOME=/opt/rabbitmq
Environment=RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE=/var/lib/rabbitmq
Environment=RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE=/var/log/rabbitmq
Environment=PATH=/usr/local/erlang-26/bin:/opt/rabbitmq/sbin:/usr/bin

ExecStart=/opt/rabbitmq/sbin/rabbitmq-server
ExecStop=/opt/rabbitmq/sbin/rabbitmqctl shutdown

Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
LimitNOFILE=65536

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

    

Reload systemd and start RabbitMQ:

    

        
        
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable rabbitmq
sudo systemctl start rabbitmq
sudo systemctl status rabbitmq

    

Enable RabbitMQ management plugin

This step enables the RabbitMQ management plugin, which provides a web-based UI and HTTP API for monitoring and administration.

    

        
        
# Ensure config directory exists
sudo mkdir -p /opt/rabbitmq/etc/rabbitmq
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /opt/rabbitmq/etc/rabbitmq

# Enable management plugin
rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management

    

Verify installation

This section validates that both Erlang and RabbitMQ are installed correctly and running with the expected versions.

Erlang version:

    

        
        
erl -eval 'io:format("~s~n", [erlang:system_info(system_version)]), halt().' -noshell

    

You should see an output similar to:

    

        
        Erlang/OTP 26 [erts-14.2.5.12] [source] [64-bit] [smp:4:4] [ds:4:4:10] [async-threads:1] [jit]

        
    

Verify RabbitMQ version:

    

        
        
rabbitmqctl version

    

You should see an output similar to:

    

        
        4.2.0

        
    

RabbitMQ 4.2.0 is successfully installed on an Azure Cobalt 100 Ubuntu Pro 24.04 Arm64 VM with systemd management, persistent storage, logging, and the management plugin enabled.