How to verify if RabbitMQ environment is utilizing SSL/HTTPS connections

Products

• VMware Tanzu Data Suite

Issue/Introduction

You may need to verify if the RabbitMQ environment is still utilizing SSL/HTTPS connections.

Environment

• VMware Tanzu Data Suite
• VMware RabbitMQ (all versions)

Resolution

To confirm if your RabbitMQ setup is currently using HTTPS/SSL, follow these verification steps:

1. Verify Active Listeners

Check which ports the RabbitMQ node is currently listening on. This confirms the active communication protocols.

Review this command before running it.

bash

rabbitmq-diagnostics listeners

• Plaintext Only: If the output only lists port 5672 (TCP) and 15672 (HTTP), SSL is not active.
• SSL Active: Port 5671 (AMQPS) and 15671 (HTTPS) indicate active SSL/TLS listeners.

2. Check Environment Configuration

Inspect the internal environment settings to see if SSL options are defined.

Review this command before running it.

bash

rabbitmqctl-diagnostics environment | grep -i ssl_options

• If the ssl_options flag is blank or empty, the environment is not configured to use SSL for connections. 

3. Review Startup Logs

Examine the RabbitMQ startup logs for explicit listener status messages.

• A non-TLS management setup will report: Management plugin: HTTP (non-TLS) listener started on port 15672. 
  
  
• A TLS-enabled setup will report: started TLS (amqps) listener on [::]:5671.

4. Inspect Configuration Files

Review the rabbitmq.conf or advanced.config files for the following entries:

• listeners.ssl.default
• ssl_options.cacertfile
• ssl_options.certfile
• ssl_options.keyfile

If these entries are absent or commented out, RabbitMQ will not require or use SSL certificates for client connections.