# Intercepting Operations

Apache ActiveMQ Artemis supports *interceptors* to intercept packets entering
and exiting the server. Incoming and outgoing interceptors are be called for
any packet entering or exiting the server respectively. This allows custom code
to be executed, e.g. for auditing packets, filtering or other reasons.
Interceptors can change the packets they intercept. This makes interceptors
powerful, but also potentially dangerous.

## Implementing The Interceptors

All interceptors are protocol specific.

An interceptor for the core protocol must implement the interface
`Interceptor`:

```java
package org.apache.activemq.artemis.api.core.interceptor;

public interface Interceptor
{
   boolean intercept(Packet packet, RemotingConnection connection) throws ActiveMQException;
}
```

For stomp protocol an interceptor must implement the interface `StompFrameInterceptor`:

```java
package org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.protocol.stomp;

public interface StompFrameInterceptor extends BaseInterceptor<StompFrame>
{
   boolean intercept(StompFrame stompFrame, RemotingConnection connection);
}
```

Likewise for MQTT protocol, an interceptor must implement the interface
`MQTTInterceptor`:
 
```java
package org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.protocol.mqtt;

public interface MQTTInterceptor extends BaseInterceptor<MqttMessage>
{
    boolean intercept(MqttMessage mqttMessage, RemotingConnection connection);
}
```

The returned boolean value is important:

- if `true` is returned, the process continues normally

- if `false` is returned, the process is aborted, no other interceptors will be
  called and the packet will not be processed further by the server.

## Configuring The Interceptors

Both incoming and outgoing interceptors are configured in `broker.xml`:

```xml
<remoting-incoming-interceptors>
   <class-name>org.apache.activemq.artemis.jms.example.LoginInterceptor</class-name>
   <class-name>org.apache.activemq.artemis.jms.example.AdditionalPropertyInterceptor</class-name>
</remoting-incoming-interceptors>

<remoting-outgoing-interceptors>
   <class-name>org.apache.activemq.artemis.jms.example.LogoutInterceptor</class-name>
   <class-name>org.apache.activemq.artemis.jms.example.AdditionalPropertyInterceptor</class-name>
</remoting-outgoing-interceptors>
```

See the documentation on [adding runtime dependencies](using-server.md) to
understand how to make your interceptor available to the broker.

## Interceptors on the Client Side

The interceptors can also be run on the Apache ActiveMQ Artemis client side to
intercept packets either sent by the client to the server or by the server to
the client.  This is done by adding the interceptor to the `ServerLocator` with
the `addIncomingInterceptor(Interceptor)` or
`addOutgoingInterceptor(Interceptor)` methods.

As noted above, if an interceptor returns `false` then the sending of the
packet is aborted which means that no other interceptors are be called and the
packet is not be processed further by the client.  Typically this process
happens transparently to the client (i.e. it has no idea if a packet was
aborted or not). However, in the case of an outgoing packet that is sent in a
`blocking` fashion a `ActiveMQException` will be thrown to the caller. The
exception is thrown because blocking sends provide reliability and it is
considered an error for them not to succeed. `Blocking` sends occurs when, for
example, an application invokes `setBlockOnNonDurableSend(true)` or
`setBlockOnDurableSend(true)` on its `ServerLocator` or if an application is
using a JMS connection factory retrieved from JNDI that has either
`block-on-durable-send` or `block-on-non-durable-send` set to `true`. Blocking
is also used for packets dealing with transactions (e.g. commit, roll-back,
etc.). The `ActiveMQException` thrown will contain the name of the interceptor
that returned false.

As on the server, the client interceptor classes (and their dependencies) must
be added to the classpath to be properly instantiated and invoked.

## Examples

See the following examples which show how to use interceptors:

- [Interceptor](examples.md#interceptor)
- [Interceptor AMQP](examples.md#interceptor-amqp)
- [Interceptor Client](examples.md#interceptor-client)
- [Interceptor MQTT](examples.md#interceptor-mqtt)