# Configuring the Transport

In this chapter we'll describe the concepts required for understanding Apache
ActiveMQ Artemis transports and where and how they're configured.

## Acceptors

One of the most important concepts in Apache ActiveMQ Artemis transports is the
*acceptor*. Let's dive straight in and take a look at an acceptor defined in
xml in the configuration file `broker.xml`.

```xml
<acceptor name="netty">tcp://localhost:61617</acceptor>
```

Acceptors are always defined inside an `acceptors` element. There can be one or
more acceptors defined in the `acceptors` element. There's no upper limit to
the number of acceptors per server.

Each acceptor defines a way in which connections can be made to the Apache
ActiveMQ Artemis server.

In the above example we're defining an acceptor that uses
[Netty](https://netty.io/) to listen for connections at port `61617`.

The `acceptor` element contains a `URL` that defines the kind of Acceptor to
create along with its configuration. The `schema` part of the `URL` defines the
Acceptor type which can either be `tcp` or `vm` which is `Netty` or an In VM
Acceptor respectively. For `Netty` the host and the port of the `URL` define
what host and port the `acceptor` will bind to. For In VM the `Authority` part
of the `URL` defines a unique server id.

The `acceptor` can also be configured with a set of key=value pairs used to
configure the specific transport, the set of valid key=value pairs depends on
the specific transport be used and are passed straight through to the
underlying transport. These are set on the `URL` as part of the query, like so:

```xml
<acceptor name="netty">tcp://localhost:61617?sslEnabled=true&keyStorePath=/path</acceptor>
```

## Connectors

Whereas acceptors are used on the server to define how we accept connections,
connectors are used to define how to connect to a server.

Let's look at a connector defined in our `broker.xml` file:

```xml
<connector name="netty">tcp://localhost:61617</connector>
```

Connectors can be defined inside a `connectors` element. There can be one or
more connectors defined in the `connectors` element. There's no upper limit to
the number of connectors per server.

A `connector` is used when the server acts as a client itself, e.g.:

- When one server is bridged to another
- When a server takes part in a cluster

In these cases the server needs to know how to connect to other servers.
That's defined by `connectors`.

## Configuring the Transport Directly from the Client

How do we configure a core `ClientSessionFactory` with the information that it
needs to connect with a server?

Connectors are also used indirectly when configuring a core
`ClientSessionFactory` to directly talk to a server. Although in this case
there's no need to define such a connector in the server side configuration,
instead we just specify the appropriate URI.

Here's an example of creating a `ClientSessionFactory` which will connect
directly to the acceptor we defined earlier in this chapter, it uses the
standard Netty TCP transport and will try and connect on port 61617 to
localhost (default):

```java
ServerLocator locator = ActiveMQClient.createServerLocator("tcp://localhost:61617");

ClientSessionFactory sessionFactory = locator.createClientSessionFactory();

ClientSession session = sessionFactory.createSession(...);
```

Similarly, if you're using JMS, you can configure the JMS connection factory
directly on the client side:

```java
ConnectionFactory connectionFactory = new ActiveMQConnectionFactory("tcp://localhost:61617");

Connection jmsConnection = connectionFactory.createConnection();
```

## Configuring the Netty transport

Out of the box, Apache ActiveMQ Artemis currently uses
[Netty](https://netty.io/), a high performance low level network library.

Our Netty transport can be configured in several different ways; to use
straightforward TCP sockets, SSL, or to tunnel over HTTP or HTTPS..

We believe this caters for the vast majority of transport requirements.

### Single Port Support

Apache ActiveMQ Artemis supports using a single port for all protocols, Apache
ActiveMQ Artemis will automatically detect which protocol is being used CORE,
AMQP, STOMP or OPENWIRE and use the appropriate Apache ActiveMQ Artemis
handler. It will also detect whether protocols such as HTTP or Web Sockets are
being used and also use the appropriate decoders

It is possible to limit which protocols are supported by using the `protocols`
parameter on the Acceptor like so:

```xml
<acceptor name="netty">tcp://localhost:61617?protocols=CORE,AMQP</acceptor>
```

### Configuring Netty TCP

Netty TCP is a simple unencrypted TCP sockets based transport. If you're
running connections across an untrusted network please bear in mind this
transport is unencrypted. You may want to look at the SSL or HTTPS
configurations.

With the Netty TCP transport all connections are initiated from the client side
(i.e. the server does not initiate any connections to the client). This works
well with firewall policies that typically only allow connections to be
initiated in one direction.

All the valid keys for the `tcp` URL scheme used for Netty are defined in the
class
`org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.remoting.impl.netty.TransportConstants`.
Most parameters can be used either with acceptors or connectors, some only work
with acceptors. The following parameters can be used to configure Netty for
simple TCP:

> **Note:**
>
> The `host` and `port` parameters are only used in the core API, in XML
> configuration these are set in the URI host and port.

- `host`. This specifies the host name or IP address to connect to (when
  configuring a connector) or to listen on (when configuring an acceptor). The
  default value for this property is `localhost`. When configuring acceptors,
  multiple hosts or IP addresses can be specified by separating them with commas.
  It is also possible to specify `0.0.0.0` to accept connection from all the
  host's network interfaces. It's not valid to specify multiple addresses when
  specifying the host for a connector; a connector makes a connection to one
  specific address.

  > **Note:**
  >
  > Don't forget to specify a host name or IP address! If you want your server
  > able to accept connections from other nodes you must specify a hostname or
  > IP address at which the acceptor will bind and listen for incoming
  > connections. The default is localhost which of course is not accessible
  > from remote nodes!

- `port`. This specified the port to connect to (when configuring a connector)
  or to listen on (when configuring an acceptor). The default value for this
  property is `61616`.

- `tcpNoDelay`. If this is `true` then [Nagle's
  algorithm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagle%27s_algorithm) will be
  disabled. This is a [Java (client) socket
  option](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/net/socketOpt.html).
  The default value for this property is `true`.

- `tcpSendBufferSize`. This parameter determines the size of the TCP send
  buffer in bytes. The default value for this property is `32768` bytes
  (32KiB).

  TCP buffer sizes should be tuned according to the bandwidth and latency of
  your network. Here's a good link that explains the theory behind
  [this](http://www-didc.lbl.gov/TCP-tuning/).

  In summary TCP send/receive buffer sizes should be calculated as:

      buffer_size = bandwidth * RTT.

  Where bandwidth is in *bytes per second* and network round trip time (RTT) is
  in seconds. RTT can be easily measured using the `ping` utility.

  For fast networks you may want to increase the buffer sizes from the
  defaults.

- `tcpReceiveBufferSize`. This parameter determines the size of the TCP receive
  buffer in bytes. The default value for this property is `32768` bytes
  (32KiB).
    
- `writeBufferLowWaterMark`. This parameter determines the low water mark of
  the Netty write buffer. Once the number of bytes queued in the write buffer
  exceeded the high water mark and then dropped down below this value, Netty's
  channel will start to be writable again. The default value for this property is
  `32768` bytes (32KiB).
 
- `writeBufferHighWaterMark`. This parameter determines the high water mark of
  the Netty write buffer. If the number of bytes queued in the write buffer
  exceeds this value, Netty's channel will start to be not writable. The default
  value for this property is `131072` bytes (128KiB).

- `batchDelay`. Before writing packets to the transport, Apache ActiveMQ
  Artemis can be configured to batch up writes for a maximum of `batchDelay`
  milliseconds. This can increase overall throughput for very small messages. It
  does so at the expense of an increase in average latency for message transfer.
  The default value for this property is `0` ms.

- `directDeliver`. When a message arrives on the server and is delivered to
  waiting consumers, by default, the delivery is done on the same thread as
  that on which the message arrived. This gives good latency in environments with
  relatively small messages and a small number of consumers, but at the cost of
  overall throughput and scalability - especially on multi-core machines. If you
  want the lowest latency and a possible reduction in throughput then you can use
  the default value for `directDeliver` (i.e. `true`). If you are willing to take
  some small extra hit on latency but want the highest throughput set
  `directDeliver` to `false`.

- `nioRemotingThreads` This is deprecated. It is replaced by `remotingThreads`,
  if you are using this please update your configuration

- `remotingThreads`. Apache ActiveMQ Artemis will, by default, use a number of
  threads equal to three times the number of cores (or hyper-threads) as
  reported by `Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors()` for processing
  incoming packets. If you want to override this value, you can set the number of
  threads by specifying this parameter. The default value for this parameter is
  `-1` which means use the value from
  `Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors()` \* 3.

- `localAddress`. When configured a Netty Connector it is possible to specify
  which local address the client will use when connecting to the remote
  address. This is typically used in the Application Server or when running
  Embedded to control which address is used for outbound connections. If the
  local-address is not set then the connector will use any local address
  available

- `localPort`. When configured a Netty Connector it is possible to specify
  which local port the client will use when connecting to the remote address.
  This is typically used in the Application Server or when running Embedded to
  control which port is used for outbound connections. If the local-port default
  is used, which is 0, then the connector will let the system pick up an
  ephemeral port. valid ports are 0 to 65535

- `connectionsAllowed`. This is only valid for acceptors. It limits the number
  of connections which the acceptor will allow. When this limit is reached a
  DEBUG level message is issued to the log, and the connection is refused. The
  type of client in use will determine what happens when the connection is
  refused. In the case of a `core` client, it will result in a
  `org.apache.activemq.artemis.api.core.ActiveMQConnectionTimedOutException`.

- `handshake-timeout`. Prevents an unauthorised client opening a large number
  of connections and just keeping them open. As connections each require a file
  handle this consumes resources that are then unavailable to other clients. Once
  the connection is authenticated, the usual rules can be enforced regarding
  resource consumption. Default value is set to 10 seconds. Each integer is valid
  value. When set value to zero or negative integer this feature is turned off.
  Changing value needs to restart server to take effect.

### Configuring Netty Native Transport

Netty Native Transport support exists for selected OS platforms.  This allows
Apache ActiveMQ Artemis to use native sockets/io instead of Java NIO.

These Native transports add features specific to a particular platform,
generate less garbage, and generally improve performance when compared to Java
NIO based transport.

Both Clients and Server can benefit from this.
 
Current Supported Platforms.
- Linux running 64bit JVM
- MacOS running 64bit JVM

Apache ActiveMQ Artemis will by default enable the corresponding native
transport if a supported platform is detected.

If running on an unsupported platform or any issues loading native libs, Apache
ActiveMQ Artemis will fallback onto Java NIO.

#### Linux Native Transport

On supported Linux platforms Epoll is used, @see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epoll. 

The following properties are specific to this native transport:

- `useEpoll` enables the use of epoll if a supported linux platform is running
  a 64bit JVM is detected.  Setting this to `false` will force the use of Java
  NIO instead of epoll. Default is `true`

#### MacOS Native Transport

On supported MacOS platforms KQueue is used, @see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kqueue. 

The following properties are specific to this native transport:

- `useKQueue` enables the use of kqueue if a supported MacOS platform running a
  64bit JVM is detected.  Setting this to `false` will force the use of Java
  NIO instead of kqueue. Default is `true`

### Configuring Netty SSL

Netty SSL is similar to the Netty TCP transport but it provides additional
security by encrypting TCP connections using the Secure Sockets Layer SSL

Please see the examples for a full working example of using Netty SSL.

Netty SSL uses all the same properties as Netty TCP but adds the following
additional properties:

- `sslEnabled`

  Must be `true` to enable SSL. Default is `false`.

- `keyStorePath`

  When used on an `acceptor` this is the path to the SSL key store on the
  server which holds the server's certificates (whether self-signed or signed by
  an authority).

  When used on a `connector` this is the path to the client-side SSL key store
  which holds the client certificates. This is only relevant for a `connector` if
  you are using 2-way SSL (i.e. mutual authentication). Although this value is
  configured on the server, it is downloaded and used by the client. If the
  client needs to use a different path from that set on the server then it can
  override the server-side setting by either using the customary
  "javax.net.ssl.keyStore" system property or the ActiveMQ-specific
  "org.apache.activemq.ssl.keyStore" system property. The ActiveMQ-specific
  system property is useful if another component on client is already making use
  of the standard, Java system property.

- `keyStorePassword`

  When used on an `acceptor` this is the password for the server-side keystore.

  When used on a `connector` this is the password for the client-side keystore.
  This is only relevant for a `connector` if you are using 2-way SSL (i.e. mutual
  authentication). Although this value can be configured on the server, it is
  downloaded and used by the client.  If the client needs to use a different
  password from that set on the server then it can override the server-side
  setting by either using the customary "javax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword" system
  property or the ActiveMQ-specific "org.apache.activemq.ssl.keyStorePassword"
  system property. The ActiveMQ-specific system property is useful if another
  component on client is already making use of the standard, Java system
  property.

- `trustStorePath`

  When used on an `acceptor` this is the path to the server-side SSL key store
  that holds the keys of all the clients that the server trusts. This is only
  relevant for an `acceptor` if you are using 2-way SSL (i.e. mutual
  authentication).

  When used on a `connector` this is the path to the client-side SSL key store
  which holds the public keys of all the servers that the client trusts. Although
  this value can be configured on the server, it is downloaded and used by the
  client. If the client needs to use a different path from that set on the server
  then it can override the server-side setting by either using the customary
  "javax.net.ssl.trustStore" system property or the ActiveMQ-specific
  "org.apache.activemq.ssl.trustStore" system property. The ActiveMQ-specific
  system property is useful if another component on client is already making use
  of the standard, Java system property.

- `trustStorePassword`

  When used on an `acceptor` this is the password for the server-side trust
  store. This is only relevant for an `acceptor` if you are using 2-way SSL (i.e.
  mutual authentication).

  When used on a `connector` this is the password for the client-side
  truststore. Although this value can be configured on the server, it is
  downloaded and used by the client. If the client needs to use a different
  password from that set on the server then it can override the server-side
  setting by either using the customary "javax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword" system
  property or the ActiveMQ-specific "org.apache.activemq.ssl.trustStorePassword"
  system property. The ActiveMQ-specific system property is useful if another
  component on client is already making use of the standard, Java system
  property.

- `enabledCipherSuites`

  Whether used on an `acceptor` or `connector` this is a comma separated list
  of cipher suites used for SSL communication. The default value is `null` which
  means the JVM's default will be used.

- `enabledProtocols`

  Whether used on an `acceptor` or `connector` this is a comma separated list
  of protocols used for SSL communication. The default value is `null` which
  means the JVM's default will be used.

- `needClientAuth`

  This property is only for an `acceptor`. It tells a client connecting to this
  acceptor that 2-way SSL is required. Valid values are `true` or `false`.
  Default is `false`.
    
  **Note:** This property takes precedence over `wantClientAuth` and if its
  value is set to true then `wantClientAuth` will be ignored.
    
- `wantClientAuth`

  This property is only for an `acceptor`. It tells a client connecting to this
  acceptor that 2-way SSL is requested but not required.  Valid values are `true`
  or `false`. Default is `false`. 
    
  **Note:** If the property `needClientAuth` is set to `true` then that
  property will take precedence and this property will be ignored.

- `verifyHost`

  When used on an `acceptor` the `CN` of the connecting client's SSL
  certificate will be compared to its hostname to verify they match. This is
  useful only for 2-way SSL.

  When used on a `connector` the `CN` of the server's SSL certificate will be
  compared to its hostname to verify they match. This is useful for both 1-way
  and 2-way SSL.

  Valid values are `true` or `false`. Default is `false`.
    
- `trustAll`

  When used on a `connector` the client will trust the provided server
  certificate implicitly, regardless of any configured trust store.  **Warning:**
  This setting is primarily for testing purposes only and should not be used in
  production.

  Valid values are `true` or `false`. Default is `false`.
    
- `forceSSLParameters`

  When used on a `connector` any SSL settings that are set as parameters on the
  connector will be used instead of JVM system properties including both
  javax.net.ssl and ActiveMQ system properties to configure the SSL context for
  this connector.

  Valid values are `true` or `false`. Default is `false`.

- `useDefaultSslContext`

  Only valid on a `connector`. Allows the `connector` to use the "default" SSL
  context (via `SSLContext.getDefault()`) which can be set programmatically by
  the client (via `SSLContext.setDefault(SSLContext)`). If set to `true` all
  other SSL related parameters except for `sslEnabled` are ignored.

  Valid values are `true` or `false`. Default is `false`.

- `sslProvider`
    
  Used to change the SSL Provider between `JDK` and `OPENSSL`. The default is
  `JDK`.  If used with `OPENSSL` you can add `netty-tcnative` to your classpath
  to use the native installed openssl. This can be useful if you want to use
  special ciphersuite - elliptic curve combinations which are support through
  openssl but not through the JDK provider. See
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_TLS_implementations for more
  information's.

- `sniHost`

  When used on an `acceptor` the `sniHost` is a *regular expression* used to
  match the [`server_name`](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6066) extension on
  incoming SSL connections. If the name doesn't match then the connection to
  the acceptor will be rejected. A WARN message will be logged if this happens.
  If the incoming connection doesn't include the `server_name` extension then
  the connection will be accepted.

  When used on a `connector` the `sniHost` value is used for the `server_name`
  extension on the SSL connection.

### Configuring Netty HTTP

Netty HTTP tunnels packets over the HTTP protocol. It can be useful in
scenarios where firewalls only allow HTTP traffic to pass.

Please see the examples for a full working example of using Netty HTTP.

Netty HTTP uses the same properties as Netty TCP but adds the following
additional properties:

- `httpEnabled`. This is now no longer needed. With single port support Apache
  ActiveMQ Artemis will now automatically detect if http is being used and
  configure itself.

- `httpClientIdleTime`. How long a client can be idle before sending an empty
  http request to keep the connection alive

- `httpClientIdleScanPeriod`. How often, in milliseconds, to scan for idle
  clients

- `httpResponseTime`. How long the server can wait before sending an empty http
  response to keep the connection alive

- `httpServerScanPeriod`. How often, in milliseconds, to scan for clients
  needing responses

- `httpRequiresSessionId`. If `true` the client will wait after the first call
  to receive a session id. Used the http connector is connecting to servlet
  acceptor (not recommended)