So I did try solutions from the answers you linked, and the error message did change, so they may have addressed the “fully qualified domain name” issue – ie. that rabbitmq couldn’t find the instance of itself running on the same server. However, rabbitMQ still times out and can’t start. At this point we’ve concluded that this may be a lack of resources on our old-school donated server from 2006. 
classic moments from the grassroots…
We are now in the process of getting a faster machine, but have learned a few more things:
- It would be great to include both minimum and recommended system requirements in documentation. If it already exists I can’t find it. I remember seeing an issue on github as well where somebody tried with 512mb of ram and it failed, so I think this would be useful to others. It’s tough to specify processor speed, but perhaps a recommendation of at least a mid-range processor that’s less than 10 years old? and then I’d say at least 2gb ram in order to not crawl along using swap.
- Not 100% sure, but I think we saw a performance reduction in the virtual machine vs. the “barebone” base system. Yet another potential reason to bite the bullet and look into docker. Haven’t so far just because we have no knowledge/experience with it. https://github.com/ned-kelly/docker-multicontainer-libretime right? @ned-kelly g’day!
Many thanks all!
-ryan