Read the article to learn more about the integration of VMware RabbitMQ and Tanzu for Kubernetes. Bobcares, as a part of our Kubernetes Support offers solutions to every query that comes our way.

Overview

1. 1. What is RabbitMQ?
   2. Benefits of using RabbitMQ
   3. What is Tanzu?
   4. Benefits of using Tanzu
   5. Introduction to VMware Tanzu RabbitMQ on Kubernetes
   6. Deployment of VMware Tanzu RabbitMQ on Kubernetes
   7. Installation of VMware Tanzu RabbitMQ on Kubernetes
   8. Conclusion

What is RabbitMQ?

A software called RabbitMQ is an open-source message broker that helps with message queuing and acts as a bridge between various distributed systems. Along with supporting other messaging protocols like MQTT, it implements the AMQP.

Benefits of using RabbitMQ

Here are some of the key benefits of using RabbitMQ:

1. Message Queues and Decoupling:

Decoupling: RabbitMQ allows for the decoupling of components in a distributed system. So, producers and consumers of messages do not need to know about each other, providing flexibility as well as isolation.

Asynchronous Communication: It enables asynchronous communication between different parts of a system, allowing components in order to work independently and asynchronously.

2. Reliability and Durability:

Persistence: RabbitMQ supports message persistence, ensuring that messages are not lost even if the broker or a consumer goes down. So, persistent messages are stored on disk and can survive broker restarts.

Message Acknowledgment: Producers can receive acknowledgements from consumers, ensuring the successful processing of the messages.

3. Flexibility and Protocol Support:

Multiple Protocols: RabbitMQ supports multiple messaging protocols, including AMQP, STOMP, MQTT, and others.

Language Support: It has client libraries for various programming languages, making it accessible for developers using different technologies.

4. Scalability:

Clustering: RabbitMQ supports clustering, allowing for the creation of a scalable and fault-tolerant messaging infrastructure.

Horizontal Scaling: Multiple RabbitMQ nodes can be set up in order to distribute the load and improve performance as the demand for messaging increases.

5. Routing and Routing Patterns:

Exchange Types: RabbitMQ supports different types of message exchanges, such as direct, fanout, topic, and headers. This allows for flexible routing of messages based on various criteria.

Routing Keys: Considering routing keys, we can direct messages to specific queues, thus enabling more control over message routing.

6. High Availability:

Mirrored Queues: RabbitMQ supports mirrored queues, where a queue and its contents can be mirrored across multiple nodes for high availability as well as fault tolerance.

7. Management and Monitoring:

Management UI: RabbitMQ provides a web-based management interface for monitoring and managing the message broker.

Integration with Monitoring Tools: It can be integrated with monitoring tools and frameworks for comprehensive system monitoring and troubleshooting.

8. Security:

Authentication and Authorization: RabbitMQ supports authentication and authorization mechanisms, thus allowing control over who can access the broker and perform specific actions.

What is Tanzu?

Virtual machine Kubernetes and containerized apps are being adopted in enterprise environments more quickly and easily thanks to VMware’s Tanzu product and service portfolio. A wide range of cloud environments, including on-premises data centres and public clouds, can be used to develop, execute, and manage contemporary applications on Kubernetes with Tanzu’s all-inclusive suite of tools and solutions.

Benefits of using Tanzu

The benefits of using Tanzu include:

1. Kubernetes Orchestration:

Tanzu provides tools like Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (TKG) to simplify the deployment and management of Kubernetes clusters. This also allows organizations to leverage the power of container orchestration for deploying and scaling apps.

2. Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Cloud Deployment:

Also, Tanzu supports multi-cloud and hybrid cloud deployments, enabling organizations to run their apps seamlessly across on-premises data centres, public clouds, and edge environments. This flexibility is crucial for businesses with diverse infrastructure needs.

3. App Modernization:

Tanzu facilitates the modernization of apps by providing tools such as Tanzu Application Service. This platform supports the development as well as deployment of cloud-native apps with features like auto-scaling and built-in resilience.

4. Infrastructure as Code (IaC):

Tanzu incorporates Infrastructure as Code principles, allowing organizations to define and manage infrastructure through code. This improves consistency, repeatability, and automation in infrastructure provisioning.

5. Developer Productivity:

Tanzu aims to enhance developer productivity by providing tools like Tanzu Build Service, which automates the building as well as the packaging of container images. This streamlines the development and delivery pipeline for applications.

6. Centralized Cluster Management:

Tanzu Mission Control offers centralized management for Kubernetes clusters. This includes monitoring, policy enforcement, and governance features, making it easier for administrators to manage multiple clusters across different environments.

7. Observability and Monitoring:

Tanzu Observability, based on technologies like Wavefront, provides robust monitoring and observability solutions. This helps organizations gain insights into the performance and health of their applications running on Kubernetes.

8. Security:

Tanzu incorporates security features in order to ensure the protection of containerized applications and Kubernetes environments. This includes identity and access management, as well as compliance and policy enforcement.

9. Vendor-Neutral Approach:

Tanzu’s approach is vendor-neutral, allowing organizations to choose the underlying infrastructure and cloud providers that best suit their needs. So, this flexibility reduces vendor lock-in and provides the freedom to adapt to changing business requirements.

10. Community and Ecosystem:

Tanzu benefits from the broader Kubernetes and open-source ecosystem. It leverages popular tools and standards, making it easier for organizations to integrate with existing technologies and workflows.

Introduction to VMware Tanzu RabbitMQ on Kubernetes

RabbitMQ can be linked with Tanzu Application Service (previously Pivotal Cloud Foundry) to facilitate messaging across various microservices or cloud-native application components. Building resilient and decoupled architectures is aided by this integration.

Deployment of VMware Tanzu RabbitMQ on Kubernetes

With Tanzu RabbitMQ for Kubernetes, users can use both the commercially curated version of RabbitMQ—Tanzu RabbitMQ—and the open source version—which has been improved by VMware’s RabbitMQ engineering team. In any case, developers can now use the same low-code methodology to manage their messaging systems almost anywhere by using quick and easy Kubernetes deployment, minimal DevOps maintenance, and logging, monitoring, and tracking capabilities inside the Kubernetes ecosystem.

Installation of VMware Tanzu RabbitMQ on Kubernetes

1. Local Registry Setup:

i. Firstly, set up the VMware RabbitMQ release tarball from VMware Tanzu Network.

ii. After that, the file needs to be saved to the filesystem of a computer on the network that is hosting the target registry. To load the tarball into the registry on that machine, run:

iii. Pull bundle on a host that is connected to and targets the Kubernetes cluster by executing:

2. Namespace Generation:

Now, make a new namespace, rabbitmq-system, by using the following code:

3. Details of imagePullSecrets

i. ImagePullSecrets are required in order for the target Kubernetes cluster to access the images as it will be retrieving them from the local registry. So, make a registry credential first. tanzu-registry-creds is a secret that uses kubectl.

ii. This secret needs to be created in the rabbitmq-system namespace and in every namespace where we intend to deploy RabbitmqClusters.

iii. If we mount the Docker authentication credentials as a Secret, it would be more easy, assuming we have already authenticated with the registry:

4. Bundle Installation

VMware RabbitMQ uses TLS certificates for cluster admission Webhooks. The steps are as follows:

i. Install Cert-manager 1.2.0+ on the cluster first. To use version 1.3.1, for instance, run:

ii. Installing the RabbitMQ operators next entails running:

5. Observability

It’s crucial to set up observability for RabbitMQ clusters. To obtain this, follow the guidelines provided in the Operator monitoring guide or the Cluster Operator repository.

6. Setting up the Topology Objects and Rabbitmq Clusters

After installation, we can create RabbitMQ objects using the Carvel tooling by using the RabbitMQ Topology Operator.

The VMware RabbitMQ container image in the cluster will be in use when overlays/rabbitmqcluster.yml is in use with a manifest of the RabbitmqCluster object.

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Conclusion

To conclude, organisations may use a robust messaging platform in Kubernetes settings using RabbitMQ and Tanzu, which helps to build scalable and resilient cloud-native apps.