Integrating ActiveMQ 5.3.0 with JBoss 6.0.0

This document explains how ActiveMQ 5.3.0 can be configured in JBoss Application Server 6.0.0 as an embedded broker.

Software Requirements
Here is the list of softwares used in this document.
Apache ActiveMQ 5.3.0
JBoss AS 6.0.0
JDK 1.6+
This article used Windows XP Professional as the operating system.

Intallation
Step 1: Install JDK 1.6 and verify it runs correctly. After installing Java set JAVA_HOME and update PATH environment variables.

C:\>java -version
java version "1.6.0_17"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_17-b04)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 14.3-b01, mixed mode, sharing)

Step 2:  Install JBoss Application Server 6.0.0 and make sure Server starts correctly. After downloading jboss-6.0.0M1.zip, extract it to a folder. After extrating start the server using run command.

Goto JBoss extracted folder and execute below commands.

C:\>cd JBoss\jboss-6.0.0.M1\bin
C:\JBoss\jboss-6.0.0.M1\bin>run

First few line shows the configuration used by JBoss Server. Check the last line to see whether the server has started propertly.

C:\JBoss\jboss-6.0.0.M1\bin>run
Calling C:\JBoss\jboss-6.0.0.M1\bin\run.conf.bat
===============================================================================

  JBoss Bootstrap Environment

  JBOSS_HOME: C:\JBoss\jboss-6.0.0.M1

  JAVA: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_14\bin\java

  JAVA_OPTS: -Dprogram.name=run.bat -Xms128M -Xmx512M -XX:MaxPermSize=256M -Dsun.rmi.dgc.client.gcInterval=3600000 -Dsun.rmi.dgc.server.gcInterval=3600000 -Dorg.jboss.resolver.warning=true -server

  CLASSPATH: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_14\lib\tools.jar;C:\JBoss\jboss-6.0.0.M1\bin\run.jar

===============================================================================

17:01:33,828 INFO  [AbstractJBossASServerBase] Server Configuration:
        JBOSS_HOME URL: file:/C:/JBoss/jboss-6.0.0.M1/
        Bootstrap: $JBOSS_HOME\server/default/conf/bootstrap.xml
        Common Base: $JBOSS_HOME\common/
        Common Library: $JBOSS_HOME\common/lib/
        Server Name: default
        Server Base: $JBOSS_HOME\server/
        Server Library: $JBOSS_HOME\server/default/lib/
        Server Config: $JBOSS_HOME\server/default/conf/
        Server Home: $JBOSS_HOME\server/default/
        Server Data: $JBOSS_HOME\server/default/data/
        Server Log: $JBOSS_HOME\server/default/log/
        Server Temp: $JBOSS_HOME\server/default/tmp/
17:01:33,875 INFO  [AbstractServer] Starting: JBossAS [6.0.0.M1 (build: SVNTag=JBoss_6_0_0_M1 date=200912040958)]
17:01:35,515 INFO  [AbstractMCServerBase] Starting Microcontainer, Main bootstrapURL=file:/C:/JBoss/jboss-.0.0.M1/server/default/conf/bootstrap.xml
17:01:37,250 INFO  [VFSCacheFactory] Initializing VFSCache [org.jboss.virtual.plugins.cache.CombinedVFSCache]
17:01:37,250 INFO  [VFSCacheFactory] Using VFSCache [CombinedVFSCache[real-cache: null]]
17:01:38,140 INFO  [CopyMechanism] VFS temp dir: C:\JBoss\jboss-6.0.0.M1\server\default\tmp
17:01:38,140 INFO  [ZipEntryContext] VFS force nested jars copy-mode is enabled.
17:01:41,921 INFO  [ServerInfo] Java version: 1.6.0_14,Sun Microsystems Inc.
17:01:41,921 INFO  [ServerInfo] Java Runtime: Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_14-b08)
17:01:41,921 INFO  [ServerInfo] Java VM: Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM 14.0-b16,Sun Microsystems Inc.
17:01:41,921 INFO  [ServerInfo] OS-System: Windows XP 5.1,x86
...............
...............
17:03:22,437 INFO  [AjpProtocol] Starting Coyote AJP/1.3 on ajp-127.0.0.1-8009
17:03:22,468 INFO  [AbstractServer] JBossAS [6.0.0.M1 (build: SVNTag=JBoss_6_0_0_M1 date=200912040958)] Started in 1m:48s:593ms

To ensure the server has started, visit http://localhost:8080/web-console/ in your favorite browser and make sure you can see JBoss Web Console.

Now stop JBoss Server using shutdown script(inside \bin folder) or use Ctrl-C.

Integrating Apache ActiveMQ with the JBoss Application Server. 
Download ApacheMQ using the link above. After downloading, extract it to a folder and verify that ActiveMQ RAR file is included. This file can be located at [ACTIVEMQ_INSTALL_DIR]\lib\optional folder.

C:\Softwares\apache-activemq-5.3.0\lib\optional>dir
           102,631 activeio-core-3.1.2.jar
            81,267 activemq-jmdns_1.0-5.3.0.jar
           116,081 activemq-optional-5.3.0.jar
            38,517 activemq-pool-5.3.0.jar
         6,905,784 activemq-rar-5.3.0.rar
           175,130 activemq-xmpp-5.3.0.jar
           118,726 commons-beanutils-1.6.1.jar
            30,085 commons-codec-1.2.jar
           575,389 commons-collections-3.2.1.jar
           121,757 commons-dbcp-1.2.2.jar
           305,001 commons-httpclient-3.1.jar
           197,067 commons-net-2.0.jar
            87,077 commons-pool-1.4.jar
            37,477 geronimo-j2ee-connector_1.5_spec-2.0.0.jar
            67,758 jettison-1.1.jar
           367,444 log4j-1.2.14.jar
           325,942 spring-aop-2.5.6.jar
           488,282 spring-beans-2.5.6.jar
           476,940 spring-context-2.5.6.jar
           285,491 spring-core-2.5.6.jar
           195,350 spring-jms-2.5.6.jar
            15,980 spring-oxm-tiger-1.5.8.jar
           231,173 spring-tx-2.5.6.jar
           474,413 wstx-asl-3.0.1.jar
           130,519 xbean-spring-3.6.jar
            24,544 xmlpull-1.1.3.4d_b4_min.jar
           431,406 xstream-1.3.1.jar

In our case ActiveMQ RAR file name will be activemq-rar-5.3.0.rar.

Now go to JBoss intallation folder and create a folder for ActiveMQ inside deploy directory for the required context. Here we are using default JBoss context.

C:\JBoss\jboss-6.0.0.M1\server\default\deploy>mkdir activemq-rar-5.3.0.rar

Extract the contents of ActiveMQ RAR file(activemq-rar-5.3.0.rar) to this folder.

102,631 activeio-core-3.1.2.jar
         2,923,854 activemq-core-5.3.0.jar
           147,717 activemq-protobuf-1.0.jar
            85,474 activemq-ra-5.3.0.jar
             4,467 aopalliance-1.0.jar
             1,868 broker-config.xml
            52,915 commons-logging-1.1.jar
            44,598 commons-logging-api-1.1.jar
           197,067 commons-net-2.0.jar
         2,141,382 derby-10.1.3.1.jar
            16,030 geronimo-j2ee-management_1.0_spec-1.0.jar
            20,220 geronimo-j2ee-management_1.1_spec-1.0.1.jar
           152,481 kahadb-5.3.0.jar
           367,444 log4j-1.2.14.jar
             1,625 log4j.properties
    <DIR>          META-INF
           488,282 spring-beans-2.5.6.jar
           476,940 spring-context-2.5.6.jar
           285,491 spring-core-2.5.6.jar
           130,519 xbean-spring-3.6.jar

Now we can start configuring ActiveMQ.

Edit ra.xml file inside [JBOSS_HOME]\server\default\deploy\activemq-rar-5.3.0.rar\META-INF folder.

<config-property>
   <description>
      The URL to the ActiveMQ server that you want this connection to 
      connect to. If using an embedded broker, this value should be                
      'vm://localhost'.
   </description>
   <config-property-name>ServerUrl</config-property-name>
   <config-property-type>java.lang.String</config-property-type>
   <config-property-value>vm://localhost</config-property-value>
</config-property>
<config-property>
   <description>
     Sets the XML configuration file used to configure the embedded ActiveMQ broker via 
     Spring if using embedded mode. BrokerXmlConfig is the filename which is assumed 
     to be on the classpath unless a URL is specified. So a value of foo/bar.xml 
     would be assumed to be on the classpath whereas file:dir/file.xml would use the file system. 
     Any valid URL string is supported.              
    </description>
    <config-property-name>BrokerXmlConfig</config-property-name>
    <config-property-type>java.lang.String</config-property-type>
    <config-property-value>xbean:broker-config.xml</config-property-value>
</config-property>

A Pre-Configured ra.xml can be downladed.

The broker-config.xml file inside [JBOSS_HOME]\server\default\deploy\activemq-rar-5.3.0.rar is the ActiveMQ configuration file. This is the file used to configure ActiveMQ. The default contents of this file are usable, but should be customized to suit your environment.

A Pre-Configured broker-config.xml can be downloaded.

Now start JBoss server to ensure it start without any errors using the same commands we used before. If JBoss Server starts without any errors you can move to next step. Stop the server and continue to next step.

Next step is to configure JBoss to initialize and start ActiveMQ whenever JBoss starts up. This is accomplished by putting an XML (activemq-jms-ds.xml) inside [JBOSS_HOME]\server\default\deploy.

A Pre-Configured activemq-jms-ds.xml can be downloaded.

 Now start JBoss server to ensure it start without any errors using the same commands we used before.  Examine the startup messages for ActiveMQ messages.

21:20:17,453 INFO  [RARDeployment] Required license terms exist, view vfszip:/C:
/JBoss/jboss-6.0.0.M1/server/default/deploy/mail-ra.rar/META-INF/ra.xml
21:20:17,515 INFO  [RARDeployment] Required license terms exist, view vfszip:/C:
/JBoss/jboss-6.0.0.M1/server/default/deploy/quartz-ra.rar/META-INF/ra.xml
21:20:17,968 INFO  [AdminObject] Bound admin object 'org.apache.activemq.command
.ActiveMQQueue' at 'activemq/queue/outbound'
21:20:17,984 INFO  [AdminObject] Bound admin object 'org.apache.activemq.command
.ActiveMQTopic' at 'activemq/topic/inbound'
21:20:18,171 INFO  [ConnectionFactoryBindingService] Bound ConnectionManager
'jboss.jca:service=ConnectionFactoryBinding,name=activemq/QueueConnectionFactory'
to JNDI name 'java:activemq/QueueConnectionFactory'
21:20:18,281 INFO  [ConnectionFactoryBindingService] Bound ConnectionManager
'jboss.jca:service=ConnectionFactoryBinding,name=activemq/TopicConnectionFactory' 
to JNDI name 'java:activemq/TopicConnectionFactory'

Now our environment is ready to go.