Exchanging messages over an ssl ingress

Prerequisite

Before you start, you need to have access to a running Kubernetes cluster environment. A Minikube instance running on your laptop will do fine.

Start minikube with a parametrized dns domain name

minikube start --profile tutorialtester
minikube profile tutorialtester

* [tutorialtester] minikube v1.35.0 on Fedora 42
* Using the podman driver based on user configuration
* Using Podman driver with root privileges
* Starting "tutorialtester" primary control-plane node in "tutorialtester" cluster
* Pulling base image v0.0.46 ...
* Creating podman container (CPUs=2, Memory=15900MB) ...
* Preparing Kubernetes v1.32.0 on Docker 27.4.1 ...
  - Generating certificates and keys ...
  - Booting up control plane ...
  - Configuring RBAC rules ...
* Configuring bridge CNI (Container Networking Interface) ...
* Verifying Kubernetes components...
  - Using image gcr.io/k8s-minikube/storage-provisioner:v5
* Enabled addons: storage-provisioner, default-storageclass
* Done! kubectl is now configured to use "tutorialtester" cluster and "default" namespace by default
E0911 18:26:52.628280  267436 cache.go:222] Error downloading kic artifacts:  not yet implemented, see issue #8426
* minikube profile was successfully set to tutorialtester

Enable nginx and ssl passthrough for minikube

minikube addons enable ingress
minikube kubectl -- patch deployment -n ingress-nginx ingress-nginx-controller --type='json' -p='[{"op": "add", "path": "/spec/template/spec/containers/0/args/-", "value":"--enable-ssl-passthrough"}]'

* ingress is an addon maintained by Kubernetes. For any concerns contact minikube on GitHub.
You can view the list of minikube maintainers at: https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/blob/master/OWNERS
  - Using image registry.k8s.io/ingress-nginx/kube-webhook-certgen:v1.4.4
  - Using image registry.k8s.io/ingress-nginx/kube-webhook-certgen:v1.4.4
  - Using image registry.k8s.io/ingress-nginx/controller:v1.11.3
* Verifying ingress addon...
* The 'ingress' addon is enabled
deployment.apps/ingress-nginx-controller patched

Get minikube's ip

export CLUSTER_IP=$(minikube ip --profile tutorialtester)

Make sure the domain of your cluster is resolvable

If you are running your OpenShift cluster locally, you might not be able to resolve the urls to IPs out of the blue. Follow this guide to configure your setup.

This tutorial will follow the simple /etc/hosts approach, but feel free to use the most appropriate one for you.

Deploy the operator

create the namespace

kubectl create namespace send-receive-project
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=send-receive-project

namespace/send-receive-project created
Context "tutorialtester" modified.

Go to the root of the operator repo and install it:

./deploy/install_opr.sh

Deploying operator to watch single namespace
Client Version: 4.18.14
Kustomize Version: v5.4.2
Kubernetes Version: v1.32.0
customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/activemqartemises.broker.amq.io created
customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/activemqartemisaddresses.broker.amq.io created
customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/activemqartemisscaledowns.broker.amq.io created
customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/activemqartemissecurities.broker.amq.io created
serviceaccount/activemq-artemis-controller-manager created
role.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/activemq-artemis-operator-role created
rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/activemq-artemis-operator-rolebinding created
role.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/activemq-artemis-leader-election-role created
rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/activemq-artemis-leader-election-rolebinding created
deployment.apps/activemq-artemis-controller-manager created

Wait for the Operator to start (status: running).

kubectl wait pod --all --for=condition=Ready --namespace=send-receive-project --timeout=600s

pod/activemq-artemis-controller-manager-6f4f5f699f-9mtzf condition met

Deploy the ActiveMQ Artemis Broker

For this tutorial we need to:

have a broker that is able to listen to any network interface. For that we setup an acceptor that will be listening on every interfaces on port 62626.
have the ssl protocol configured for the acceptor
have queues to exchange messages on. These are configured by the broker properties. Two queues are setup, one called APP.JOBS that is of type ANYCAST and one called APP.COMMANDS that is of type MULTICAST.

Create the certs

We'll take some inspiration from the ssl broker setup to configure the certificates.

[!NOTE] In this tutorial:

The password used for the certificates is 000000.

The secret name is send-receive-sslacceptor-secret composed from the broker name send-receive and the acceptor name sselacceptor

export CLUSTER_IP=$(minikube ip --profile tutorialtester)

printf "000000\n000000\n${CLUSTER_IP}.nip.io\narkmq-org\nRed Hat\nGrenoble\nAuvergne Rhône Alpes\nFR\nyes\n" | keytool -genkeypair -alias artemis -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -storetype PKCS12 -keystore broker.ks -validity 3000
printf '000000\n' | keytool -export -alias artemis -file broker.cert -keystore broker.ks
printf '000000\n000000\nyes\n' | keytool -import -v -trustcacerts -alias artemis -file broker.cert -keystore client.ts

Owner: CN=192.168.58.2.nip.io, OU=arkmq-org, O=Red Hat, L=Grenoble, ST=Auvergne Rhône Alpes, C=FR
Issuer: CN=192.168.58.2.nip.io, OU=arkmq-org, O=Red Hat, L=Grenoble, ST=Auvergne Rhône Alpes, C=FR
Serial number: 7a8bd0830dd0e450
Valid from: Thu Sep 11 18:28:17 CEST 2025 until: Mon Nov 28 17:28:17 CET 2033
Certificate fingerprints:
	 SHA1: A4:D5:E7:B5:E5:E0:2A:EF:F0:59:97:F7:08:13:03:B8:6E:CF:1B:1B
	 SHA256: AC:B4:B3:46:9F:AC:45:9C:DD:87:81:46:3F:2E:41:85:AD:2F:73:CD:3B:ED:0C:EF:BF:B4:56:F1:BA:27:4D:92
Signature algorithm name: SHA384withRSA
Subject Public Key Algorithm: 2048-bit RSA key
Version: 3

Extensions: 

#1: ObjectId: 2.5.29.14 Criticality=false
SubjectKeyIdentifier [
KeyIdentifier [
0000: 04 59 8C 0B 45 1E A7 E9   2A E7 11 8F F2 F6 3C 5E  .Y..E...*.....<^
0010: B7 F0 02 D6                                        ....
]
]

Enter keystore password:  Re-enter new password: Enter the distinguished name. Provide a single dot (.) to leave a sub-component empty or press ENTER to use the default value in braces.
What is your first and last name?
  [Unknown]:  What is the name of your organizational unit?
  [Unknown]:  What is the name of your organization?
  [Unknown]:  What is the name of your City or Locality?
  [Unknown]:  What is the name of your State or Province?
  [Unknown]:  What is the two-letter country code for this unit?
  [Unknown]:  Is CN=192.168.58.2.nip.io, OU=arkmq-org, O=Red Hat, L=Grenoble, ST=Auvergne Rhône Alpes, C=FR correct?
  [no]:  
Generating 2,048 bit RSA key pair and self-signed certificate (SHA384withRSA) with a validity of 3,000 days
	for: CN=192.168.58.2.nip.io, OU=arkmq-org, O=Red Hat, L=Grenoble, ST=Auvergne Rhône Alpes, C=FR
Enter keystore password:  Certificate stored in file <broker.cert>
Enter keystore password:  Re-enter new password: Trust this certificate? [no]:  Certificate was added to keystore
[Storing client.ts]

Create the secret in kubernetes

kubectl create secret generic send-receive-sslacceptor-secret --from-file=broker.ks --from-file=client.ts --from-literal=keyStorePassword='000000' --from-literal=trustStorePassword='000000' -n send-receive-project

secret/send-receive-sslacceptor-secret created

Get the path of the cert folder for later

export CERT_FOLDER=$(pwd)

Start the broker

kubectl apply -f - << EOF
apiVersion: broker.amq.io/v1beta1
kind: ActiveMQArtemis
metadata:
  name: send-receive
  namespace: send-receive-project
spec:
  ingressDomain: ${CLUSTER_IP}.nip.io
  acceptors:
    - name: sslacceptor
      port: 62626
      expose: true
      sslEnabled: true
      sslSecret: send-receive-sslacceptor-secret
  brokerProperties:
    - addressConfigurations."APP.JOBS".routingTypes=ANYCAST
    - addressConfigurations."APP.JOBS".queueConfigs."APP.JOBS".routingType=ANYCAST
    - addressConfigurations."APP.COMMANDS".routingTypes=MULTICAST
EOF

activemqartemis.broker.amq.io/send-receive created

Wait for the Broker to be ready:

kubectl wait ActiveMQArtemis send-receive --for=condition=Ready --namespace=send-receive-project --timeout=240s

activemqartemis.broker.amq.io/send-receive condition met

Create a route to access the ingress:

Check for the ingress availability:

kubectl get ingress --show-labels

NAME                                 CLASS   HOSTS                                                                         ADDRESS        PORTS     AGE    LABELS
send-receive-sslacceptor-0-svc-ing   nginx   send-receive-sslacceptor-0-svc-ing-send-receive-project.192.168.58.2.nip.io   192.168.58.2   80, 443   110s   ActiveMQArtemis=send-receive,application=send-receive-app,statefulset.kubernetes.io/pod-name=send-receive-ss-0

Exchanging messages between a producer and a consumer

Get the actual broker version

export BROKER_VERSION=$(kubectl get ActiveMQArtemis send-receive --namespace=send-receive-project -o json | jq .status.version.brokerVersion -r)
echo broker version: $BROKER_VERSION

broker version: 2.42.0

Download the broker

wget --quiet https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/apache/activemq/apache-artemis/${BROKER_VERSION}/apache-artemis-${BROKER_VERSION}-bin.tar.gz
tar -zxf apache-artemis-${BROKER_VERSION}-bin.tar.gz apache-artemis-${BROKER_VERSION}/
# make the rest of commands version agnostic
mv apache-artemis-${BROKER_VERSION}/ apache-artemis/

Figure out the broker endpoint

The artemis will need to point to the https endpoint generated in earlier with a couple of parameters set:

sslEnabled = true
verifyHost = false
trustStorePath = /some/path/broker.ks
trustStorePassword = 000000

To use the consumer and the producer you'll need to give the path to the broker.ks file you've created earlier. In the following commands the file is located to ${CERT_FOLDER}/broker.ks.

export INGRESS_URL=$(kubectl get ingress send-receive-sslacceptor-0-svc-ing -o json | jq -r '.spec.rules[] | .host')

Craft the broker url for artemis

export BROKER_URL="tcp://${INGRESS_URL}:443?sslEnabled=true&verifyHost=false&trustStorePath=${CERT_FOLDER}/broker.ks&trustStorePassword=000000&useTopologyForLoadBalancing=false"

Test the connection

./artemis check queue --name TEST --produce 10 --browse 10 --consume 10 --url ${BROKER_URL} --verbose

Executing org.apache.activemq.artemis.cli.commands.check.QueueCheck check queue --name TEST --produce 10 --browse 10 --consume 10 --url tcp://send-receive-sslacceptor-0-svc-ing-send-receive-project.192.168.58.2.nip.io:443?sslEnabled=true&verifyHost=false&trustStorePath=/tmp/4079053363/broker.ks&trustStorePassword=000000&useTopologyForLoadBalancing=false --verbose 
Home::/tmp/4079053363/apache-artemis, Instance::null
Connection brokerURL = tcp://send-receive-sslacceptor-0-svc-ing-send-receive-project.192.168.58.2.nip.io:443?sslEnabled=true&verifyHost=false&trustStorePath=/tmp/4079053363/broker.ks&trustStorePassword=000000&useTopologyForLoadBalancing=false
Running QueueCheck
Checking that a producer can send 10 messages to the queue TEST ... success
Checking that a consumer can browse 10 messages from the queue TEST ... success
Checking that a consumer can consume 10 messages from the queue TEST ... success
Checks run: 3, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.412 sec - QueueCheck

ANYCAST

For this use case, run first the producer, then the consumer.

./artemis producer --destination queue://APP.JOBS --url ${BROKER_URL}

Connection brokerURL = tcp://send-receive-sslacceptor-0-svc-ing-send-receive-project.192.168.58.2.nip.io:443?sslEnabled=true&verifyHost=false&trustStorePath=/tmp/4079053363/broker.ks&trustStorePassword=000000&useTopologyForLoadBalancing=false
Producer ActiveMQQueue[APP.JOBS], thread=0 Started to calculate elapsed time ...

Producer ActiveMQQueue[APP.JOBS], thread=0 Produced: 1000 messages
Producer ActiveMQQueue[APP.JOBS], thread=0 Elapsed time in second : 6 s
Producer ActiveMQQueue[APP.JOBS], thread=0 Elapsed time in milli second : 6065 milli seconds

./artemis consumer --destination queue://APP.JOBS --url ${BROKER_URL}

Connection brokerURL = tcp://send-receive-sslacceptor-0-svc-ing-send-receive-project.192.168.58.2.nip.io:443?sslEnabled=true&verifyHost=false&trustStorePath=/tmp/4079053363/broker.ks&trustStorePassword=000000&useTopologyForLoadBalancing=false
Consumer:: filter = null
Consumer ActiveMQQueue[APP.JOBS], thread=0 wait 3000ms until 1000 messages are consumed
Received 1000
Consumer ActiveMQQueue[APP.JOBS], thread=0 Consumed: 1000 messages
Consumer ActiveMQQueue[APP.JOBS], thread=0 Elapsed time in second : 0 s
Consumer ActiveMQQueue[APP.JOBS], thread=0 Elapsed time in milli second : 67 milli seconds
Consumer ActiveMQQueue[APP.JOBS], thread=0 Consumed: 1000 messages
Consumer ActiveMQQueue[APP.JOBS], thread=0 Consumer thread finished

MULTICAST

For this use case, run first the consumer(s), then the producer. More details there.

in n other terminal(s) connect n consumer(s):

./artemis consumer --destination topic://APP.COMMANDS --url ${BROKER_URL}

Connection brokerURL = tcp://send-receive-sslacceptor-0-svc-ing-send-receive-project.192.168.58.2.nip.io:443?sslEnabled=true&verifyHost=false&trustStorePath=/tmp/4079053363/broker.ks&trustStorePassword=000000&useTopologyForLoadBalancing=false
Consumer:: filter = null
Consumer ActiveMQTopic[APP.COMMANDS], thread=0 wait 3000ms until 1000 messages are consumed
Received 1000
Consumer ActiveMQTopic[APP.COMMANDS], thread=0 Consumed: 1000 messages
Consumer ActiveMQTopic[APP.COMMANDS], thread=0 Elapsed time in second : 5 s
Consumer ActiveMQTopic[APP.COMMANDS], thread=0 Elapsed time in milli second : 5596 milli seconds
Consumer ActiveMQTopic[APP.COMMANDS], thread=0 Consumed: 1000 messages
Consumer ActiveMQTopic[APP.COMMANDS], thread=0 Consumer thread finished

connect the producer to start broadcasting messages.

sleep 5s
./artemis producer --destination topic://APP.COMMANDS --url ${BROKER_URL}

Connection brokerURL = tcp://send-receive-sslacceptor-0-svc-ing-send-receive-project.192.168.58.2.nip.io:443?sslEnabled=true&verifyHost=false&trustStorePath=/tmp/4079053363/broker.ks&trustStorePassword=000000&useTopologyForLoadBalancing=false
Producer ActiveMQTopic[APP.COMMANDS], thread=0 Started to calculate elapsed time ...

Producer ActiveMQTopic[APP.COMMANDS], thread=0 Produced: 1000 messages
Producer ActiveMQTopic[APP.COMMANDS], thread=0 Elapsed time in second : 0 s
Producer ActiveMQTopic[APP.COMMANDS], thread=0 Elapsed time in milli second : 626 milli seconds

cleanup

To leave a pristine environment after executing this tutorial you can simply, delete the minikube cluster and clean the /etc/hosts file.

minikube delete --profile tutorialtester

* Deleting "tutorialtester" in podman ...
* Deleting container "tutorialtester" ...
* Removing /home/dbruscin/.minikube/machines/tutorialtester ...
* Removed all traces of the "tutorialtester" cluster.

Prerequisite​

Start minikube with a parametrized dns domain name​

Enable nginx and ssl passthrough for minikube​

Get minikube's ip​

Make sure the domain of your cluster is resolvable​

Deploy the operator​

create the namespace​

Deploy the ActiveMQ Artemis Broker​

Create the certs​

Start the broker​

Create a route to access the ingress:​

Exchanging messages between a producer and a consumer​

Get the actual broker version​

Download the broker​

Figure out the broker endpoint​

Test the connection​

ANYCAST​

MULTICAST​

cleanup​