Integration with RabbitMQ

This guide explains how to monitor RabbitMQ using the OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib (otelcol-contrib) and export metrics to OpenObserve for visualization.

Overview

RabbitMQ is a lightweight, open-source message broker that supports the AMQP protocol. It powers distributed systems by handling messaging between producers and consumers.With OpenTelemetry and OpenObserve, you can collect, visualize, and alert on RabbitMQ metrics such as message throughput, consumer count, and queue depth.

Steps to Integrate

Prerequisites

• OpenObserve account (Cloud or Self-Hosted)
• RabbitMQ running

Step 1: Enable Management Plugin

1. Enable management plugin:

   rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management
   

2. Create monitoring user:

   rabbitmqctl add_user otel pass123
   rabbitmqctl set_user_tags otel monitoring
   rabbitmqctl set_permissions -p / otel ".*" ".*" ".*"
   

Note: The RabbitMQ receiver supports versions 3.8, 3.9 and above.

Step 2: Install OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib

Download and install the latest otelcol-contrib.

For macOS (ARM64 example):

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -fOL \
https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases/download/v0.115.1/otelcol-contrib_0.115.1_darwin_arm64.tar.gz

tar -xvf otelcol-contrib_0.115.1_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
sudo mv otelcol-contrib /usr/local/bin/

Verify installation:

otelcol-contrib --version

Step 3: Get OpenObserve URL and Access Key

1. In OpenObserve: go to Data Sources → Custom → Metrics → Otel Collector
2. Copy the ingestion URL and Access Key
   

Step 4: Configure OpenTelemetry Collector

Create or edit the config file:

receivers:
  rabbitmq:
    endpoint: http://localhost:15672
    username: otel
    password: pass123
    collection_interval: 30s
    tls:
      insecure: true
      insecure_skip_verify: true

processors:
  batch:
    send_batch_size: 10000
    timeout: 10s

exporters:
  otlphttp/openobserve:
    endpoint: OPENOBSERVE_ENDPOINT
    headers:
      Authorization: OPENOBSERVE_TOKEN
      stream-name: OPENOBSERVE_STREAM

service:
  pipelines:
    metrics:
      receivers: [rabbitmq]
      processors: [batch]
      exporters: [otlphttp/openobserve]

Replace the following with your OpenObserve details:

• OPENOBSERVE_ENDPOINT → API endpoint (e.g., https://api.openobserve.ai)
• OPENOBSERVE_TOKEN → API token
• OPENOBSERVE_STREAM → Stream name

Step 5: Start OpenTelemetry Collector

Run the collector:

otelcol-contrib --config otel-collector-config.yaml

Logs should confirm metrics are being collected.

Step 6: Generate Test Metrics (Optional)

1. Create a test queue

   rabbitmqadmin -u otel -p pass123 declare queue name=test-queue durable=true
   

2. Publish some test messages

   rabbitmqadmin -u otel -p pass123 publish exchange=amq.default routing_key=test-queue payload="hello1"
   rabbitmqadmin -u otel -p pass123 publish exchange=amq.default routing_key=test-queue payload="hello2"
   rabbitmqadmin -u otel -p pass123 publish exchange=amq.default routing_key=test-queue payload="hello3"
   

3. Consume messages

   rabbitmqadmin -u otel -p pass123 get queue=test-queue count=3
   

   Use your own username and password rabbitmqadmin -u <username> -p <password> based on user created in step1

Step 7: Visualize in OpenObserve

1. Go to Streams → search for RabbitMQ metrics → explore metrics.

Tip

You can import prebuilt dashboards for quick monitoring.

Troubleshooting

• Collector fails to start:
  Ensure you are using otelcol-contrib (not core otelcol).

• No metrics in OpenObserve:
  Double-check endpoint, token, and stream configuration.

• Authentication errors:
  Verify user tags and permissions:
  bash rabbitmqctl list_users rabbitmqctl list_user_permissions otel

• Connection refused: Ensure ports 5672 (AMQP) and 15672 (Management API) are open.