Node-RED AMQP input and output nodes

node-red-contrib-amqp is a Node-RED package that connects directly to an AMQP server (e.g. RabbitMQ). It contains an input, an output and a configuration node to connect to AMQP exchanges or queues for Node-RED.

It uses the amqp-ts library for the AMQP connectivity.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Overview
• Known issues
• What's new
• Roadmap

Installation

If you have installed Node-RED as a global node.js package (you use the command node-red anywhere to start it), you need to install node-red-contrib-amqp as a global package as well:

$[sudo] npm install -g node-red-contrib-amqp

If you have installed the .zip or cloned your own copy of Node-RED from github, you can install it as a normal npm package inside the Node-RED project directory:

<path/to/node-red>$ npm install node-red-contrib-amqp

Overview

The package contains the following Node-RED nodes:

input: amqp

Subscribes to an AMQP exchange or queue and reads messages from it. It outputs an object called msg containing the following fields:

• msg.payload is a string or an object containing the content of the AMQP message.
• msg.topic is a string containing the routing-key of the AMQP message.
• msg.amqpMessage is an amqp-ts Message object containing the received message.sendto

If a topic is defined in the input node definition, that will be sent as msg.topic instead of the routing key.

In the settings you can only define the exchange type or queue and it's name. If you need to use an exchange or a queue with specific settings you can define the exchange or queue in the topology tab of the AMQP server configuration node. The input node will use the exchange or queue defined in the topology.

output: amqp

Delivers incoming the message payload to the specified exchange or queue. It expects an object called msg containing the following fields:

• msg.payload: string or an object containing the content of the AMQP message to be sent.
• msg.topic: string containing the routing-key of the AMQP message to be sent.
• msg.options: object containing specific AMQP properties for the message to be sent, see the amqplib publish documentation for more information.

If a topic is defined in the output node definition, that will be sent as routing-key instead of the msg.topic. If the msg.payload field does not exist, the whole msg object will be sent.

In the settings you can only define the exchange type or queue and it's name. If you need to use an exchange or a queue with specific settings you can define the exchange or queue in the topology tab of the AMQP server configuration node. The output node will use the exchange or queue defined in the topology.

configuration: amqp-server

Defines the connection to the AMQP server. You can also define in more detail the exchanges and queues that are used in the input and output nodes and even define bindings between exchanges and queues in the topology tab.

topology tab

In the topology tab you can define the AMQP server exchange and queue topology (exchanges, queues and bindings). You define the topology in the JSON editor.

Topology configuration example:

{
    "exchanges": [
        {"name": "exchange1", "type": "direct", "options": {"durable": false}},
        {"name": "exchange2"}
    ],
    "queues": [
        {"name": "queue1", "options": {"messageTtl": 60000}},
        {"name": "queue2"}
    ],
    "bindings": [
        {"source": "exchange1", "queue": "queue1", "pattern": "debug", "args": {}},
        {"source": "exchange1", "exchange": "exchange2", "pattern": "error"},
        {"source": "exchange2", "queue": "queue2"}
    ]
};

Known issues

• Entering invalid credentials (username/password) in the AMQP configuration node can cause node-red to malfunction
• Package library 'amqlib' is outdated, requiring breaking changes
• Build libraries 'typescript' and 'gulp-typescript' are outdated, requiring breaking changes

What's new

version 1.0.1

• bugfix, introduced by v1.0.0: Connections would not establish on startup, but would after a deploy.

version 1.0.0

• Use Credentials/Credentials fields descriptions changed to 'Use Local CA File' and 'CA File Location' with accompanying functional change:

• The 'CA File Location' field no longer specifies an explicit certificate, but a local disk location to load

  This is important as many certs have binary data in them, which is incompatible with a copy/paste in NodeRed GUI.

• When a custom CA file location is not specified, an attempt is made to load the default system CA certificate

  Currently default supports ubuntu and alpine.

  Other distros should contribute their locations to this project as desired, but could still manually enter the location to be able to enjoy the functionality. If you were previously using non-system-default cert text in an AMQP node, this update would be a breaking change.

• Some small GUI quality of life improvement to disable/enable TLS related fields when TLS enabled checkbox is exercised

• bugfix, 'Enable secure connection' + 'Use Local CA File' checkbox drives whether to use the 'CA File Location' field;

  before it would use the field even when the checkbox was unchecked

• Library dependencies upgraded to address all non-low vulnerabilities. Remaining low vulnerability will require upgrading typescript and gulp-typescript, along with breaking updates.

version 0.4.5

• Unknown, just documenting this version existed. It is available in NPM, but not documented here

version 0.4.4

• bugfix, topology editor not visible in amqp-server config node

version 0.4.3

• bugfix, fixed routingkey not working in configuration/definition (thanks to exogenesick)

version 0.4.0

• major refactor, made preparations for better testable code:
  • javascript source code has been translated to typescript
  • gulp build system added

version 0.3.0

• connection to AMQP server now only established when amqp input and/or AMQP output nodes exist
• major refactor and code cleanup
• fixed errors in readme

version 0.2.0

• fixed user credentials not working
• improved readme

version 0.1.0

• initial release

Roadmap

• Resume active maintenance of the project into 2019!
• I would like to see version 1.1.0 aim to accomplish:

• All dependencies upgraded to current
• Test suite in place