unable to start rabbitmq-server

Question

I installed rabbitmq using homebrew. I am trying to start rabbitmq server but I always get this error which I am unable to figure out why!

I have erlang installed and there is no other application running on the same port.

$ rabbitmq-server 
{error_logger,{{2013,2,11},{22,37,49}},"Can't set short node name!\nPlease check your configuration\n",[]}
{error_logger,{{2013,2,11},{22,37,49}},crash_report,[[{initial_call,{net_kernel,init,['Argument__1']}},{pid,},{registered_name,[]},{error_info,{exit,{error,badarg},[{gen_server,init_it,6,[{file,"gen_server.erl"},{line,320}]},{proc_lib,init_p_do_apply,3,[{file,"proc_lib.erl"},{line,227}]}]}},{ancestors,[net_sup,kernel_sup,]},{messages,[]},{links,[]},{dictionary,[{longnames,false}]},{trap_exit,true},{status,running},{heap_size,610},{stack_size,24},{reductions,249}],[]]}
{error_logger,{{2013,2,11},{22,37,49}},supervisor_report,[{supervisor,{local,net_sup}},{errorContext,start_error},{reason,{'EXIT',nodistribution}},{offender,[{pid,undefined},{name,net_kernel},{mfargs,{net_kernel,start_link,[[rabbitmqprelaunch1593,shortnames]]}},{restart_type,permanent},{shutdown,2000},{child_type,worker}]}]}
{error_logger,{{2013,2,11},{22,37,49}},supervisor_report,[{supervisor,{local,kernel_sup}},{errorContext,start_error},{reason,shutdown},{offender,[{pid,undefined},{name,net_sup},{mfargs,{erl_distribution,start_link,[]}},{restart_type,permanent},{shutdown,infinity},{child_type,supervisor}]}]}
{error_logger,{{2013,2,11},{22,37,49}},std_info,[{application,kernel},{exited,{shutdown,{kernel,start,[normal,[]]}}},{type,permanent}]}
{"Kernel pid terminated",application_controller,"{application_start_failure,kernel,{shutdown,{kernel,start,[normal,[]]}}}"}

Crash dump was written to: erl_crash.dump
Kernel pid terminated (application_controller) ({application_start_failure,kernel,{shutdown,{kernel,start,[normal,[]]}}})

btw, erl -sname abc gives the same output

Update:

This is what I have in /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1   localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost 

Solution 1

I looked for a similar error on google, and it looks like it can happen if your /etc/hosts file is in the wrong format. Try fixing it and see if that helps.

References:

• http://www.ejabberd.im/node/18
• Explanation on RabbitMQ Mailing list

---

Edit: For completeness, it seems like setting a long name (of the form abc@abc) worked.

Solution 2

check your computer name and your short host name or alias name in /etc/hosts, match this

• Check your computer name [wendy@nyc123]$ nyc123 is your computer name

• Check your short hostname

  [wendy@nyc123]$ hostname -s

  [wendy@nyc123]$ nyc456

This error could happen because your computer name and short host name didn't match. To match this, you can change the computer hostname or alias name.

• Change computer host name

  [wendy@nyc123]$ hostname nyc456

  close your terminal and open again [wendy@nyc456]$ the computer name has changed

or

• Change alias name in /etc/hosts

  127.0.0.1 nyc123.com nyc123

  save and check again

  [wendy@nyc123]$ hostname -s

  [wendy@nyc123]$ nyc123

Restart your rabbitmq!

[root@nyc123]$ rabbitmq-server start</p>


    RabbitMQ 3.6.0. Copyright (C) 2007-2015 Pivotal Software, Inc.</p>
##  ##      Licensed under the MPL.  See http://www.rabbitmq.com/</p>
##  ##</p>
##########  Logs: /var/log/rabbitmq/[email protected]</p>
######  ##        /var/log/rabbitmq/[email protected]</p>
##########</p>
          Starting broker... completed with 6 plugins.</p>

Solution 3

Found the answer here: control rabbitmq 'name' not 'sname'

Set your machine name to something simple and make it an alias to locahost

Solution 4

I also encountered this problem yesterday and found the root cause: I had changed my system's hostname to a "long" name, pm3(hc desktop).

If your server's hostname is long or invalid, Linux can still work and no error message is prompted to you. As you just modify the /etc/hostname file and reboot. However, the rabbitmq server may not work and give this "short-name" error message to you.

I changed hostname back to "pm3", rebooted and everything went well.

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Comments

[Madhusudhan]

all i have in /etc/hosts is 127.0.0.1 localhost 255.255.255.255 broadcasthost

[Luke Bakken]

This is the correct answer. Since the original poster is on OS X, there needs to be an entry in /etc/hosts for 127.0.0.1 that matches the output of hostname -s