Learning MCollective

Chapter 10. Middleware Configuration

In this chapter, we will go deeper into the configuration of the middleware and explain each option and parameter in more detail. If you are just learning MCollective, it is not essential that you understand everything in this chapter. If MCollective is working properly in your environment and meets your needs, you can set this chapter aside and read it later.

Here are some reasons to carefully read this chapter:

• You are having difficulty with connectivity to your middleware broker.

• You are tuning ActiveMQ to handle more hosts.

• You wish to implement a network of brokers at remote sites.

• You are looking for master/slave redundancy.

For any change to the middleware, most especially for changes intended to handle growth issues, it will be essential for you to understand the middleware configuration in detail. That is what this chapter will provide for you.

Messaging Brokers

MCollective uses publish/subscribe middleware to provide a messaging service between clients, servers, and listeners. By design, MCollective uses connector plugins to communicate with the middleware broker, thus allowing flexibility in the choice of middleware and the type of communication. As of this writing, the core installation contains the following middleware plugins (note, however, that it is possible to create your own middleware connector based on a different technology):  

• ActiveMQ 5.8 or higher (preferred)

• RabbitMQ 2.8 or higher

Each of these middleware ...