[rabbitmq-discuss] high availability solutions?

[E R]

Hello,

I am wondering generally how one architects a rabbitmq system so that
it is tolerant of a node going down or being taken offline.

Specifically...

1. Is there ever a need to stop and restart the rabbitmq process, i.e.
for maintenance, re-configuration, etc.?

2. If there is a need to restart the rabbitmq process, how do people
generally assure that the queuing system is available when a rabbitmq
server is down? Put retry code in the client? Have multiple servers
that the client automatically fails over to?

3. As a solution to the above problem, what about running a "buffering
queue" in front of a main queue server? This would allow the main
server to be taken offline for short periods of time while still
allowing the application to continue inject messages into the queuing
system. Good idea? overkill? introduces other problems?

In my particular case latency in the queuing system is not a concern,
but I don't want to hold up the application if a queuing node goes
down or is taken offline.

Thanks,
ER