NetWorker: Server RabbitMQ process crashes during start up

The NetWorker server /nsr/logs/daemon.raw reports the following error:

127106 1777471849 1 5 0 2845669184 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR notice 44 Startup in progress; starting all daemons... 0
144355 1777471849 1 5 0 2845669184 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR notice 21 Daemon %s is running. 1 0 8 rmq-epmd
144355 1777471851 1 5 0 2845669184 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR notice 21 Daemon %s is running. 1 0 3 rmq
0 1777471852 1 5 0 2777708288 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR notice 6 %s: %s 2 0 3 rmq 0 103 {"init terminating in do_boot",{undef,[{rabbit,boot,[],[]},{init,start_em,1,[]},{init,do_boot,3,[]}]}}
0 1777471852 1 5 0 2777708288 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR notice 6 %s: %s 2 0 3 rmq 0 101 init terminating in do_boot ({undef,[{rabbit,boot,[],[]},{init,start_em,1,[]},{init,do_boot,3,[]}]})
0 1777471852 1 5 0 2777708288 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR notice 6 %s: %s 2 0 3 rmq 0 1
0 1777471852 1 5 0 2777708288 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR notice 6 %s: %s 2 0 3 rmq 0 73 Crash dump is being written to: /nsr/tmp/rabbitmq/cores/erl_crash.dump...
0 1777471852 1 5 0 2777708288 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR notice 6 %s: %s 2 0 3 rmq 0 5 done
144354 1777471852 1 5 0 2845669184 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR notice 21 Daemon %s terminated. 1 0 3 rmq
144359 1777471852 3 5 0 2845669184 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR error 45 Scheduling restart of daemon %s in %u seconds 2 20 50 /opt/nsr/rabbitmq-server-4.1.1/bin/rabbitmq-server 5 1 5
137911 1777471852 5 5 0 2845669184 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR critical 29 Aborting startup sequence: %s 1 49 148 137909 66 Process %s exited in less than %d seconds at startup: exit code %d 3 20 50 /opt/nsr/rabbitmq-server-4.1.1/bin/rabbitmq-server 1 2 10 1 1 1
127108 1777471852 5 5 0 2845669184 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR critical 45 Failed to start all daemons; shutting down... 0
0 1777471853 1 5 0 2777708288 13680 0 NW_SERVERNAME nsrctld NSR notice 6 %s: %s 2 0 8 rmq-epmd 0 65 epmd: Wed Apr 29 08:10:53 2026: got KILL_REQ - terminates normal

To render the daemon.raw, see: NetWorker: How to use nsr_render_log to render .raw log files

The /nsr/tmp/rabbitmq/cores/erl_crash.dump reports:

Current Process Internal State: ACT_PRIO_NORMAL | USR_PRIO_NORMAL | PRQ_PRIO_NORMAL | ACTIVE | RUNNING | ACTIVE_SYS
Current Process Program counter: 0x00007faebd5b1ed0 (init:boot_loop/2 + 56)
Current Process CP: 0x00005651bc4d68b8 (<terminate process normally>)

The /opt/nsr/rabbitmq-server-#.#.#/var directory is not getting created.

NetWorker services shutdown.

A third-party Erlang package is installed on the host resulting in a erl binary in /usr/bin.

[root@nsr ~]# which erl
/usr/bin/erl

In a working scenario, this should not return anything:

[root@nsr ~]# which erl
/usr/bin/which: no erl in (/root/.local/bin:/root/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin)

The NetWorker server implementation of RabbitMQ provides its own erl binary in the rabbitmq-server folder path, it is not in /usr/bin. The OS erl package is different from the version required by NetWorker:

[root@nsr ~]# /opt/nsr/rabbitmq-server-4.1.1/erts-14.2.5.11/bin/erl -version
Erlang (SMP,ASYNC_THREADS) (BEAM) emulator version 14.2.5.11

[root@nsr ~]# /usr/bin/erl -version
Erlang (SMP,ASYNC_THREADS) (BEAM) emulator version 10.4.4

In this instance, RabbitMQ 4.1.1 is attempting to initialize Erlang using erl 10.4.4 which is not possible. This results in the observed rmq crash reported. The versions shown in this article are, for example, purposes only.

Erlang packages are found on the OS:

rpm -qa | grep erlang

Erlang is not a standard OS package, and it is not expected to be installed unless in an environment system image or installed by an OS administrator. The erl implementation used by NetWorker is not returned by the above command. Any Erlang package shown was installed separately from NetWorker. The OS installed Erlang packages are conflicting with NetWorker. 

From the erl_crash.dump, the presence of init:boot_loop/2 indicates that the failure occurs during Erlang runtime initialization. RabbitMQ never reaches application initialization, which explains why the RabbitMQ var directory is not created.

The NetWorker startup reports init terminating in do_boot with {undef,[{rabbit,boot,[],[]}]}. In Erlang, undef indicates that a function or module could not be resolved at runtime. In this context, it means that the Erlang VM was unable to load the RabbitMQ application module. Incompatible or incorrect Erlang runtime usage will cause RabbitMQ startup failures.

If they are not required by another application, remove them from the system. You can check with the following command:

rpm -q --whatrequires erlang

If packages are returned, you must consult with the OS administrator regarding any Erlang packages found and if they can be removed.
To remove Erlang use:

dnf remove erlang\*

Once Erlang is removed, perform the following steps from a root prompt on the NetWorker server:

1. Get a list of the currently installed NetWorker software:

rpm -qa | grep lgto

2. Uninstall each NetWorker package returned by the above command:

rpm -e package1 package2 package3 package4 so_forth

3. Rename the RabbitMQ folders. You must specify the folder version name for your NetWorker install.

mv /opt/nsr/rabbitmq-server-#.#.# /opt/nsr/rabbitmq-server-#.#.#_$(date -I)
mv /nsr/rabbitmq /nsr/rabbitmq_$(date -I)

4. Reinstall the NetWorker:

yum localinstall --nogpgcheck -y package1 package2 package3 package4 so_forth

5. Run the post installation AUTHC configuration script:

/opt/nsr/authc-server/scripts/authc_configure.sh

6. Start NetWorker services:

systemctl start networker

7. Monitor the server /nsr/logs/daemon.raw to confirm server startup.
   NetWorker: How to use nsr_render_log to render .raw log files

If the NetWorker server is also the NetWorker Management Console (NMC) or NetWorker Web User Interface (NWUI) server, run their configuration scripts:

/opt/lgtonmc/bin/nmc_config
/opt/nwui/scripts/nwui_configure.sh

RabbitMQ may fail to start for other causes than the cause outlined in this article. In this specific scenario, the RabbitMQ /var directory is not created. If /var is created and logs are available, review the additional RabbitMQ logs for more insight. RabbitMQ debugging may also be required: NetWorker: How to enable RabbitMQ Debugging