RabbitMQ consultants

Q: What happens to messages if n8n is down or restarting?

If n8n is not connected to RabbitMQ, messages accumulate in the queue. RabbitMQ persists them to disk (if the queue is configured as durable), so nothing is lost. When n8n reconnects, it starts consuming the backlog from where it left off. This is one of the key benefits of using a message broker — your automation layer can go offline for maintenance without losing any events.

Q: Can you set up dead-letter queues for failed messages?

Yes. We configure dead-letter exchanges (DLX) in RabbitMQ so that messages that fail processing (after a defined number of retries) are routed to a separate dead-letter queue instead of being lost. We then build a monitoring workflow in n8n that alerts your team when messages land in the dead-letter queue, so failed events can be investigated and reprocessed.

We can help you automate your business with RabbitMQ and hundreds of other systems to improve efficiency and productivity. Get in touch if you’d like to discuss implementing RabbitMQ.

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About RabbitMQ

RabbitMQ is an open-source message broker that sits between services in your software architecture and handles the reliable delivery of messages between them. Instead of Service A calling Service B directly (and failing if B is down or overloaded), Service A publishes a message to RabbitMQ, and Service B consumes it when ready. This decoupling makes systems more resilient, scalable, and easier to maintain. RabbitMQ supports the AMQP protocol and offers features like message persistence, routing, dead-letter queues, and clustering for high availability.

The n8n RabbitMQ node lets workflows publish messages to RabbitMQ queues and consume messages from them. This is valuable when n8n is part of a larger microservices architecture — it can consume messages published by other services (e.g., a new order event from your e-commerce platform) and trigger automations, or it can publish messages that other services pick up (e.g., sending a processed data payload to a downstream service for further handling).

At Osher, we use RabbitMQ with n8n for clients who have event-driven architectures or need reliable message delivery between systems that process data at different speeds. If your backend services need to communicate reliably without tight coupling, or if you need n8n to process events from a message queue rather than polling APIs, our system integration services can architect and implement the RabbitMQ layer that ties everything together.

RabbitMQ FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about how RabbitMQ consultants can help with integration and implementation

When should I use RabbitMQ instead of direct API calls between services?

Use RabbitMQ when you need resilience (messages are not lost if a service is temporarily down), when services process data at different speeds (RabbitMQ buffers the messages), when you need one event to trigger multiple consumers (fan-out pattern), or when you want to decouple services so they can be deployed and scaled independently. Direct API calls are simpler but create tight coupling and fail if the receiving service is unavailable.

How does n8n consume messages from RabbitMQ?

The n8n RabbitMQ Trigger node subscribes to a queue and starts a workflow execution every time a message arrives. The message payload (typically JSON) becomes the input data for the workflow, which then processes it — transforming data, calling APIs, updating databases, or sending notifications. n8n acknowledges the message after successful processing, or rejects it (with optional requeue) if the workflow fails.

What happens to messages if n8n is down or restarting?

Can you set up dead-letter queues for failed messages?

How does RabbitMQ compare to other message brokers like Kafka or Redis?

RabbitMQ is a traditional message broker optimised for reliable delivery, flexible routing, and moderate throughput. Kafka is a distributed event streaming platform designed for very high throughput and long-term event retention (log-style). Redis Pub/Sub is lightweight and fast but does not persist messages — if a subscriber is offline, messages are lost. For most business automation use cases, RabbitMQ provides the right balance of reliability, features, and operational simplicity.

Do you host and manage RabbitMQ, or does it run on our infrastructure?

Either option works. RabbitMQ can run on your own servers (on-premise or cloud VM), as a Docker container alongside n8n, or as a managed service (CloudAMQP, Amazon MQ, Azure Service Bus with AMQP). We recommend managed services for most clients because they handle clustering, patching, and backups. We configure the setup, connect n8n, and ensure everything is production-ready regardless of where RabbitMQ runs.

How it works

We work hand-in-hand with you to implement RabbitMQ

As RabbitMQ consultants we work with you hand in hand build more efficient and effective operations. Here’s how we will work with you to automate your business and integrate RabbitMQ with integrate and automate 800+ tools.

Step 1

Map Your Service Architecture and Message Flows

We document your existing services, how they communicate today (direct API calls, shared databases, manual processes), and where message queuing would add resilience or decoupling. We identify the events that need to flow between services and the data each message needs to carry.

Step 2

Design the Queue and Exchange Architecture

Based on the message flow map, we design the RabbitMQ topology — which exchanges route messages, which queues hold them, what routing keys and bindings connect exchanges to queues, and how dead-letter handling works. We also define message formats (JSON schemas) and acknowledge/reject policies.

Step 3

Deploy and Configure RabbitMQ

We deploy RabbitMQ on your chosen infrastructure (cloud VM, Docker, or managed service), configure the exchanges, queues, bindings, and user permissions, enable the management dashboard for monitoring, and set up TLS for secure connections. If you already have RabbitMQ running, we review and optimise the existing configuration.

Step 4

Build the n8n Producer and Consumer Workflows

We build the n8n workflows that publish messages to RabbitMQ (producer workflows triggered by events in your business systems) and consume messages from queues (consumer workflows that process events and perform business actions). Each workflow includes message validation, error handling, and proper acknowledgement logic.

Step 5

Implement Monitoring and Dead-Letter Handling

We set up monitoring for queue depth, consumer lag, and connection health — alerting your team if queues are growing faster than consumers can process or if connections drop. Dead-letter queues capture failed messages, and a monitoring workflow notifies your team with the failure details for investigation.

Step 6

Load Test, Document, and Hand Over

We run load tests to verify the system handles your expected message volume with headroom to spare, document the full architecture (queues, exchanges, workflows, monitoring), and hand everything over with a walkthrough for your team. Post-launch support covers the first two weeks of production traffic.

Transform your business with RabbitMQ

Unlock hidden efficiencies, reduce errors, and position your business for scalable growth. Contact us to arrange a no-obligation RabbitMQ consultation.

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