While the NATS server has many flags that allow for simple testing of features, the NATS server products provide a flexible configuration format that combines the best of traditional formats and newer styles such as JSON and YAML.
The NATS configuration file supports the following syntax:
- Lines can be commented with
#
and//
- Values can be assigned to properties with:
- Equals sign:
foo = 2
- Colon:
foo: 2
- Whitespace:
foo 2
- Equals sign:
- Arrays are enclosed in brackets:
["a", "b", "c"]
- Maps are enclosed in braces:
{foo: 2}
- Maps can be assigned with no key separator
- Semicolons can be used as terminators
The NATS configuration file is parsed with UTF-8 encoding.
The configuration parser is very forgiving, as you have seen:
- values can be a primitive, or a list, or a map
- strings and numbers typically do the right thing
- numbers support units such as, 1K for 1000, 1Kb for 1024
String values that start with a digit can create issues. To force such values as strings, quote them.
BAD Config:
listen: 127.0.0.1:4222
authorization: {
# BAD!
token: 3secret
}
Fixed Config:
listen: 127.0.0.1:4222
authorization: {
token: "3secret"
}
Server configurations can specify variables. Variables allow you to reference a value from one or more sections in the configuration.
Variables:
- Are block-scoped
- Are referenced with a
$
prefix. - Can be resolved from environment variables having the same name
If the environment variable value begins with a number you may have trouble resolving it depending on the server version you are running.
# Define a variable in the config
TOKEN: "secret"
# Reference the variable
authorization {
token: $TOKEN
}
A similar configuration, but this time, the value is in the environment:
# TOKEN is defined in the environment
authorization {
token: $TOKEN
}
export TOKEN="hello"; nats-server -c /config/file
The include
directive allows you to split a server configuration into several files. This is useful for separating configuration into chunks that you can easily reuse between different servers.
Includes must use relative paths, and are relative to the main configuration (the one specified via the -c
option):
server.conf:
listen: 127.0.0.1:4222
include ./auth.conf
Note that
include
is not followed by=
or:
, as it is a directive.
auth.conf:
authorization: {
token: "f0oBar"
}
> nats-server -c server.conf
Property | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
host |
Host for client connections. | 0.0.0.0 |
port |
Port for client connections. | 4222 |
listen |
Listen specification <host>:<port> for client connections. Either use this or the options host and/or port . |
same as host , port |
client_advertise |
Alternative client listen specification <host>:<port> or just <host> to advertise to clients and other server. Useful in cluster setups with NAT. |
Advertise what host and port specify. |
tls |
Configuration map for tls for client and http monitoring. | |
cluster |
Configuration map for cluster. | |
gateway |
Configuration map for gateway. | |
leafnode |
Configuration map for a leafnode. | |
mqtt |
Configuration map for mqtt. | |
websocket |
Configuration map for websocket. |
Property | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
ping_interval |
Duration at which pings are sent to clients, leaf nodes and routes. In the presence of client traffic, such as messages or client side pings, the server will not send pings. Therefore it is recommended to keep this value bigger than what clients use. | "2m" |
ping_max |
After how many unanswered pings the server will allow before closing the connection. | 2 |
write_deadline |
Maximum number of seconds the server will block when writing. Once this threshold is exceeded the connection will be closed. See slow consumer on how to deal with this on the client. | "2s" |
Property | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
max_connections |
Maximum number of active client connections. | 64K |
max_control_line |
Maximum length of a protocol line (including combined length of subject and queue group). Increasing this value may require client changes to be used. Applies to all traffic. | 4Kb |
max_payload |
Maximum number of bytes in a message payload. Reducing this size may force you to implement chunking in your clients. Applies to client and leafnode payloads. It is not recommended to use values over 8Mb but max_payload can be set up to 64Mb. |
1Mb |
max_pending |
Maximum number of bytes buffered for a connection Applies to client connections. | 64Mb |
max_subscriptions |
Maximum numbers of subscriptions per client and leafnode accounts connection. | 0 , unlimited |
Property | Description |
---|---|
authorization |
Configuration map for client authentication/authorization. |
accounts |
Configuration map for multi tenancy via accounts. |
no_auth_user |
Username present in the authorization block or an account . A client connecting without any form of authentication will be associated with this user, its permissions and account. |
The Configuration options here refer to JWT based authentication and authorization.
Property | Description |
---|---|
operator |
Path to an operator JWT. |
resolver |
Resolver type MEMORY or URL(<url>) for account JWTs. (When the operator JWT contains an account URL, it will be used as default. In this case resolver is only needed to overwrite the default.) |
resolver_tls |
tls configuration map for tls connections to the resolver. (This is for an outgoing connection and therefore does not use timeout , verify and map_and_verify ) |
resolver_preload |
Map to preload account public keys and their corresponding JWT. Keys consist of <account public nkey> , value is the <corresponding jwt> . Only used when resolver=MEMORY . |
Property | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
disable_sublist_cache |
If true disable subscription caches for all accounts. This is saves resources in situations where different subjects are used all the time. |
false , cache enabled |
lame_duck_duration |
In lame duck mode the server rejects new clients and slowly closes client connections. After this duration is over the server shuts down. Start lame duck mode with: nats-server --signal ldm . |
"2m" |
Property | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
server_name |
The servers name, shows up in logging. Defaults to the server's id. When JetStream is used, withing a domain, all server names need to be unique. | Generated Server ID |
trace |
If true enable protocol trace log messages. Excludes the system account. |
false , disabled |
trace_verbose |
If true enable protocol trace log messages. Includes the system account. |
false , disabled |
debug |
If true enable debug log messages |
false , disabled |
logtime |
If set to false , log without timestamps |
true , include timestamp |
log_file |
Log file name, relative to... | No log file |
log_size_limit |
Size in bytes after the log file rolls over to a new one | 0 , unlimited |
max_traced_msg_len |
Set a limit to the trace of the payload of a message. | 0 , unlimited |
syslog |
Log to syslog. | false , disabled |
remote_syslog |
Syslog server address. | |
http_port |
http port for server monitoring. | |
http |
Listen specification <host>:<port> for server monitoring. |
|
https_port |
https port for server monitoring. This is influenced by the tls property. | |
http_base_path |
base path for monitoring endpoints. | / |
https |
Listen specification <host>:<port> for TLS server monitoring. |
|
system_account |
Name of the system account. Users of this account can subscribe to system events. See System Accounts for more details. | |
pid_file |
File containing PID, relative to ... This can serve as input to nats-server --signal | |
port_file_dir |
Directory to write a file containing the servers open ports to, relative to ... | |
connect_error_reports |
Number of attempts at which a repeated failed route, gateway or leaf node connection is reported. Connect attempts are made once every second. | 3600 , approx every hour |
reconnect_error_reports |
Number of failed attempt to reconnect a route, gateway or leaf node connection. Default is to report every attempt. | 1 , every failed attempt |
A server can reload most configuration changes without requiring a server restart or clients to disconnect by sending the nats-server a signal:
> nats-server --signal reload