[rabbitmq-discuss] Unable to get automatic clustering to work

[Mark J. Reed]

I'm running 1.7.2 (because that's what's in the repos for Ubuntu
10.04) and trying to bring up clusters via automated configuration
management, but the nodes are not clustering; they just come up
standalone.

I've read and followed
http://www.rabbitmq.com/clustering.html#auto-config, and it's just not
working for me. I found
http://lists.rabbitmq.com/pipermail/rabbitmq-discuss/2010-November/010104.html,
but didn't see a solution, just a "never mind, it's working now"...

If I manually cluster the nodes, it works fine, so I know that basic
functionality and connectivity between the nodes is there.

I know my rabbitmq.config file is in the right place because I can
change it and see the impact when I restart.

For a simple test, I have two hosts.  I give them both the same
rabbitmq.config file, with nothing in it but this:

[{rabbit, [ {cluster_nodes, [ 'rabbit at rabbit2', 'rabbit at rabbit1' ]} ] } ].

(I've tried both bare node names and FQDNs, BTW.  FQDNs don't work
with the cluster command, either.).

On each host, I perform these steps:

$ sudo rabbitmqctl stop_app
$ sudo rabbitmqctl reset
$ sudo rabbitmqctl stop
$ sudo /etc/init.d/rabbitmqctl-server start

But when I check the status, no clustering:

rabbit1$ sudo rabbitmqctl status
Status of node rabbit at rabbit1 ...
[{running_applications,[{rabbit,"RabbitMQ","1.7.2"},
                        {mnesia,"MNESIA  CXC 138 12","4.4.12"},
                        {os_mon,"CPO  CXC 138 46","2.2.4"},
                        {sasl,"SASL  CXC 138 11","2.1.8"},
                        {stdlib,"ERTS  CXC 138 10","1.16.4"},
                        {kernel,"ERTS  CXC 138 10","2.13.4"}]},
 {nodes,[rabbit at rabbit1]},
 {running_nodes,[rabbit at rabbit1]}]
...done.

As I said, it works fine if I use the cluster command:

rabbit1$ sudo rabbitmqctl stop_app
rabbit1$ sudo rabbitmqctl reset
rabbit1$ sudo rabbitmqctl cluster rabbit at rabbit2
rabbit1$ sudo rabbitmqctl start_app
rabbit1$ sudo rabbitmqctl status
Status of node rabbit at rabbit1 ...
[{running_applications,[{rabbit,"RabbitMQ","1.7.2"},
                        {mnesia,"MNESIA  CXC 138 12","4.4.12"},
                        {os_mon,"CPO  CXC 138 46","2.2.4"},
                        {sasl,"SASL  CXC 138 11","2.1.8"},
                        {stdlib,"ERTS  CXC 138 10","1.16.4"},
                        {kernel,"ERTS  CXC 138 10","2.13.4"}]},
 {nodes,[rabbit at rabbit1,rabbit at rabbit2]},
 {running_nodes,[rabbit at rabbit2,rabbit at rabbit1]}]
...done.

So what are my next steps in troubleshooting this?


-- 
Mark J. Reed <markjreed at gmail.com>