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Where you are now, and where you end up
Concrete state changes, not deliverable counts. This is what actually differs about your RabbitMQ estate when the engagement closes.
Running an end-of-life RabbitMQ version with known CVEs and no viable upgrade plan.
On a current supported release, with a documented and repeatable upgrade procedure your team can run for the next version themselves.
Classic mirrored queues that block the move to RabbitMQ 4.x, with unknown migration risk.
Migrated to quorum queues with correct member counts and sizing, validated under production-equivalent load.
Upgrades attempted in a single long maintenance window that overruns and gets rolled back.
A rolling node-by-node upgrade executed with the cluster serving traffic throughout, and a tested rollback at each step.
No confidence that client applications will behave correctly against the new broker version.
Client library compatibility verified per application, with the specific version bumps and code changes identified before the upgrade begins.
Feature flags left disabled from prior upgrades, silently blocking future ones.
All required feature flags enabled in the correct order, with the dependency chain documented.
How it actually runs
Every phase has a defined duration and a concrete artifact handed over at the end of it. You always know what stage you're in and what you've received.
Upgrade Assessment
We inventory what you actually run — RabbitMQ and Erlang/OTP versions per node, queue types and counts, enabled and pending feature flags, plugins, and every client library and version connecting to the cluster. The upgrade path is determined by the constraint you have least control over, and it is usually not the broker.
- Full version and dependency inventory across the estate
- Target version recommendation with the reasoning stated
- Identified blockers ranked by effort and risk
- Client library compatibility matrix per application
Upgrade Path & Runbook
RabbitMQ upgrades are not always single-hop. We define the intermediate versions required, the feature flag enablement order, and whether classic-to-quorum queue migration needs to happen before, during, or after. Every step gets a validation check and a rollback procedure.
- Step-by-step upgrade runbook with per-step validation
- Rollback procedure tested at each hop, not just at the end
- Queue migration plan where classic queues are in scope
- Maintenance window requirements with realistic durations
Rehearsal in Non-Production
We run the full upgrade against an environment that matches production in the ways that matter — queue types, message volumes, and client behavior. This is where the surprises surface, which is the entire point of doing it. If you don't have a suitable environment, building one is part of the engagement.
- Completed rehearsal with timings for each step
- Runbook corrected against what actually happened
- Performance comparison before and after upgrade
- Confirmed rollback works from each intermediate state
Production Execution
A senior engineer runs or supervises the production upgrade with your team, node by node, with the cluster serving traffic. We monitor queue state, client reconnection, and message flow at every step, and we stop rather than push through if a validation check fails.
- Executed production upgrade with live validation at each node
- Post-upgrade verification report
- Feature flag enablement completed in correct order
- Handover so your team can run the next upgrade independently
What's covered
Real RabbitMQ Results
See how enterprises trust AceMQ for their most critical RabbitMQ workloads.
Questions about RabbitMQ upgrades
Talk to a RabbitMQ Expert
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305-204-2607info@acemq.comMiami, FL 33130
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