Installation of single ActiveMQ on Redhat Server

Default Configuration

Installing ActiveMQ

1. Download the latest stable ActiveMQ release (apache-activemq-x.y.z.tar.gz).
2. Move to the installation root cd /usr/local.
3. Unpack the release tar xzvf /path/to/apache-activemq-x.y.z.tar.gz
4. Create ActiveMQ user account useradd activemq
5. Set up key store in /usr/local/apache-activemq-x.y.z/conf/broker.ks
6. Create trust store and import trusted certificates into /usr/local/apache-activemq-x.y.z/conf/broker.ts
7. Edit the configuration files vim /usr/local/apache-activemq-x.y.z/conf/{activemq,jetty}.xml
8. Give the activemq user ownership of the installation directory chown -R activemq:activemq /usr/local/apache-activemq-x.y.z/ (or at least the data-directory which houses the log file)
9. Make sure the keystore is only readable by the activemq user (chmod 600 /usr/local/apache-activemq-x.y.z/conf/broker.ks)
10. Setup service script
11. Make sure the relevant ports are open in the firewall (8161 if the administration interface should be accessible, 61617 for SSL if this guide is followed and optionally 61616 for TCP)

Importing certificates into java trust store

If (re-)starting from scratch remove the trust store file beforehand as duplicate aliases are not allowed.

#!/bin/bash

TRUST_STORE=broker.ts
CERTIFICATES=*.crt # This could be a list instead e.g. "clientA.crt other_file.crt"

for cert in ${CERTIFICATES};
do
        # imports each certificate under an alias that matches its file name
        keytool -alias "${cert}" -importcert -noprompt -keystore "${TRUST_STORE}" -storepass 123456 -file "${cert}"
done

Configuring ActiveMQ

Allowing SSL access to the ActiveMQ broker is done by adding a suitable transport connector to the activemq.xml configuration file (NOTE: elements must occur in alphabetical order):

    <transportConnectors>
        <transportConnector uri="ssl://0.0.0.0:61617?wantClientAuth=true&amp;needClientAuth=true"/>
    </transportConnectors>

If connections are allowed only over SSL the tcp transportConnector should be removed.

Specifying the location of the key and trust stores used by the server is done in the sslContext section of the same configuration file (again placed in alphabetical order, which will usually mean just before transportConnectors):

    <sslContext>
        <sslContext keyStore="file://${activemq.base}/conf/broker.ks"
                    keyStorePassword="123456"
                    trustStore="file://${activemq.base}/conf/broker.ts"
                    trustStorePassword="123456"/>
    </sslContext>

To join multiple brokers into a network of brokers create suitable networkConnector-elements in the configuration file:

    <networkConnectors>
        <networkConnector name="other-broker-name" uri="static:(ssl://other-host-name:61617)"/>
    </networkConnectors>

Service/Init Script

Something like this should work:

1. Create the three files mentioned below...
2. chmod +x /etc/init.d/activemq
3. chkconfig --add activemq
4. chkconfig activemq on
5. /etc/init.d/activemq start

/home/activemq/activemq-start.sh

#!/bin/bash
echo Starting ActiveMQ....
sh /usr/local/apache-activemq-x.y.z/bin/activemq start

/home/activemq/activemq-stop.sh

#!/bin/bash
echo Stopping ActiveMQ....
sh /usr/local/apache-activemq-x.y.z/bin/activemq stop

/etc/init.d/activemq

#!/bin/bash
#
# activemq       Starts ActiveMQ.
#
# chkconfig: 345 88 12
# description: ActiveMQ is a JMS Messaging Queue Server.
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: $activemq
### END INIT INFO

# Source function library.
. /etc/init.d/functions

[ -f /home/activemq/activemq-start.sh ] || exit 0
[ -f /home/activemq/activemq-stop.sh ] || exit 0

RETVAL=0

umask 077

start() {
       echo -n $"Starting ActiveMQ: "
       daemon su -c /home/activemq/activemq-start.sh activemq
       echo
       return $RETVAL
}
stop() {
       echo -n $"Shutting down ActiveMQ: "
       daemon su -c /home/activemq/activemq-stop.sh activemq
       echo
       return $RETVAL
}
restart() {
       stop
       start
}
case "$1" in
start)
       start
       ;;
stop)
       stop
       ;;
restart|reload)
       restart
       ;;
*)
       echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"
       exit 1
esac

exit $?