Implementing Queue Expiration w/RabbitMQ

The latest versions of RabbitMQ support a feature where idle queues can be automatically deleted from the server.  For queues used in an RPC or workflow model this can save a lot of grief - as the consumers for these queues typically vanish leaving the queue behind. Over time these unused queues accumulate and consume resources on the server(s). If you are using pyamqplib setting the expiration on a queue is as simple as:

import amqplib.client_0_8 as amq
connection = amq.Connection(host="localhost:5672", userid=*, password=*, virtual_host="/", insist=False)
channel = connection.channel()
queue = channel.queue_declare(queue="testQueue", durable=True, exclusive=False, auto_delete=False, arguments={'x-expires': 9000})
channel.exchange_declare(exchange='testExchange', type="fanout", durable=False, auto_delete=False)
channel.queue_bind(queue="testQueue", exchange='exchange')

Now if that queue goes unused for 9 seconds it will be dropped by the server [the value is in milliseconds]. So long as the queue has consumers it will persist, but once the last consumer has disconnected and no further operations have occurred - poof, you get your resources back.