File and Directory Locations

Overview

Every RabbitMQ node uses a number of files and directories to load configuration: store data, metadata, log files, and so on. Their location can be changed.

This guide covers:

• How to customise location of various directories and files used RabbitMQ nodes
• Default locations of key files and directories on various operating systems
• Other topics related to file and directory locations

This guide accompanies the main Configuration guide.

Overriding Locations

A number of environment variables specifies where RabbitMQ should locate certain things. In most environments default values should work just fine.

Path and Directory Name Restrictions

Some of the environment variable configure paths and locations (node's base or data directory, plugin source and expansion directories, and so on). Those paths have must exclude a number of characters:

• * and ? (on Linux, macOS, BSD and other UNIX-like systems)
• ^ and !
• [ and ]
• {} and }

The above characters will render the node unable to start or function as expected (e.g. load plugin code modules and other files).

Required File and Directory Permissions

When changing file or directory locations, it is important to make sure that they have sufficient permissions for RabbitMQ node OS process to read and write from. It's best to assume that most directories and files used by RabbitMQ require read, write, and file creation permissions.

Debian, RPM, Homebrew and Windows installer packages will set up file system permissions suitable for most environments, however, when strict default permissions are used system-wide, it may be necessary to run additional configuration steps after installation to make sure RabbitMQ node file and directories have sufficient permissions

Environment Variables

Name	Description
RABBITMQ_BASE	Note: Windows-specific. This base directory contains sub-directories for the RabbitMQ server's database and log files. Instead of overriding RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE and RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE individually, it may be easier to override the base directory instead.
RABBITMQ_CONFIG_FILE	The path to the configuration file, without the .config extension. If the configuration file is present it is used by the server to configure RabbitMQ components. See Configuration guide for more information.
RABBITMQ_CONFIG_FILES	Path to a directory of RabbitMQ configuration files in the new-style (.conf) format. The files will be loaded in alphabetical order. Prefixing each files with a number is a common practice. See Configuration guide for more information.
RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE	This base directory contains sub-directories for the RabbitMQ server's node database, message store and cluster state files, one for each node, unless RABBITMQ_MNESIA_DIR is set explicitly. It is important that effective RabbitMQ user has sufficient permissions to read, write and create files and subdirectories in this directory at any time. This variable is typically not overridden. Usually RABBITMQ_MNESIA_DIR is overridden instead.
RABBITMQ_MNESIA_DIR	The directory where this RabbitMQ node's data is stored. This includes a schema database, message stores, cluster member information and other persistent node state.
RABBITMQ_SCHEMA_DIR	The directory where RabbitMQ keeps its configuration schema used by the new style configuration file.
RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE	This base directory contains the RabbitMQ server's log files, unless RABBITMQ_LOGS is set.
RABBITMQ_LOGS	The path of the RabbitMQ server's Erlang log file. This variable cannot be overridden on Windows.
RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_DIR	The list of directories where plugin archive files are located and extracted from. This is PATH-like variable, where different paths are separated by an OS-specific separator (: for Unix, ; for Windows). Plugins can be installed to any of the directories listed here.
RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_EXPAND_DIR	Working directory used to expand enabled plugins when starting the server. It is important that effective RabbitMQ user has sufficient permissions to read and create files and subdirectories in this directory.
RABBITMQ_ENABLED_PLUGINS_FILE	This file records explicitly enabled plugins. When a plugin is enabled or disabled, this file will be recreated. It is important that effective RabbitMQ user has sufficient permissions to read, write and create this file at any time.
RABBITMQ_PID_FILE	File in which the process id is placed for use by rabbitmqctl wait.

Default Locations on Linux, macOS, BSD

In the following table the ${install_prefix} to some paths is indicated. Debian and RPM package installations use an empty ${install_prefix}.

Homebrew installations use the installation-prefix (Homebrew Cellar) when installed. By default this is /opt/homebrew on Apple Silicon-based Macs.

Name	Location
RABBITMQ_BASE	(Not used - Windows only)
RABBITMQ_CONFIG_FILE	${install_prefix}/etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq
RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE	${install_prefix}/var/lib/rabbitmq/mnesia
RABBITMQ_MNESIA_DIR	$RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE/$RABBITMQ_NODENAME
RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE	${install_prefix}/var/log/rabbitmq
RABBITMQ_LOGS	$RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE/$RABBITMQ_NODENAME.log
RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_DIR	/usr/lib/rabbitmq/plugins:$RABBITMQ_HOME/plugins Note that /usr/lib/rabbitmq/plugins is used only when RabbitMQ is installed into the standard (default) location.
RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_EXPAND_DIR	$RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE/$RABBITMQ_NODENAME-plugins-expand
RABBITMQ_ENABLED_PLUGINS_FILE	${install_prefix}/etc/rabbitmq/enabled_plugins
RABBITMQ_PID_FILE	$RABBITMQ_MNESIA_DIR.pid

Default Locations on Windows

Name	Location
RABBITMQ_BASE	%APPDATA%\RabbitMQ
RABBITMQ_CONFIG_FILE	%RABBITMQ_BASE%\rabbitmq
RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE	%RABBITMQ_BASE%\db
RABBITMQ_MNESIA_DIR	%RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE%\%RABBITMQ_NODENAME%-mnesia
RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE	%RABBITMQ_BASE%\log
RABBITMQ_LOGS	%RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE%\%RABBITMQ_NODENAME%.log
RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_DIR	Installation-directory/plugins
RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_EXPAND_DIR	%RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE%\%RABBITMQ_NODENAME%-plugins-expand
RABBITMQ_ENABLED_PLUGINS_FILE	%RABBITMQ_BASE%\enabled_plugins
RABBITMQ_PID_FILE	(Not currently supported)

Generic Binary Build Defaults

These are the defaults obtained when a generic binary build archive is unpacked without any modification. In this table $RABBITMQ_HOME refers to the directory produced when extracting the archive.

These paths are not relevant for installation options that use the same package type but heavily customize it, such as the Homebrew formula.

Name	Location
RABBITMQ_BASE	(Not used)
RABBITMQ_CONFIG_FILE	$RABBITMQ_HOME/etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq
RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE	$RABBITMQ_HOME/var/lib/rabbitmq/mnesia
RABBITMQ_MNESIA_DIR	$RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE/$RABBITMQ_NODENAME
RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE	$RABBITMQ_HOME/var/log/rabbitmq
RABBITMQ_LOGS	$RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE/$RABBITMQ_NODENAME.log
RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_DIR	$RABBITMQ_HOME/plugins
RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_EXPAND_DIR	$RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE/$RABBITMQ_NODENAME-plugins-expand
RABBITMQ_PID_FILE	$RABBITMQ_MNESIA_DIR.pid