[java] ActiveMQ connection refused

I am trying to use activemq in my application, but keep getting an error when I try and connect to localhost:

log4j:WARN No appenders could be found for logger (org.springframework.core.env.StandardEnvironment).
log4j:WARN Please initialize the log4j system properly.
log4j:WARN See http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/faq.html#noconfig for more info.
Exception in thread "main" org.springframework.jms.UncategorizedJmsException: Uncategorized exception occured during JMS processing; nested exception is javax.jms.JMSException: Could not connect to broker URL: tcp://localhost:61616. Reason: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused
    at org.springframework.jms.support.JmsUtils.convertJmsAccessException(JmsUtils.java:316)
    at org.springframework.jms.support.JmsAccessor.convertJmsAccessException(JmsAccessor.java:168)
    at org.springframework.jms.core.JmsTemplate.execute(JmsTemplate.java:469)
    at org.springframework.jms.core.JmsTemplate.send(JmsTemplate.java:534)
    at org.springframework.jms.core.JmsTemplate.send(JmsTemplate.java:526)
    at sender.MessageSender.sendMessage(MessageSender.java:16)
    at sender.SenderMain.main(SenderMain.java:13)
Caused by: javax.jms.JMSException: Could not connect to broker URL: tcp://localhost:61616. Reason: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused
    at org.apache.activemq.util.JMSExceptionSupport.create(JMSExceptionSupport.java:35)
    at org.apache.activemq.ActiveMQConnectionFactory.createActiveMQConnection(ActiveMQConnectionFactory.java:293)
    at org.apache.activemq.ActiveMQConnectionFactory.createActiveMQConnection(ActiveMQConnectionFactory.java:238)
    at org.apache.activemq.ActiveMQConnectionFactory.createConnection(ActiveMQConnectionFactory.java:184)
    at org.springframework.jms.support.JmsAccessor.createConnection(JmsAccessor.java:184)
    at org.springframework.jms.core.JmsTemplate.execute(JmsTemplate.java:456)
    ... 4 more
Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Native Method)
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.doConnect(PlainSocketImpl.java:351)
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(PlainSocketImpl.java:213)
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connect(PlainSocketImpl.java:200)
    at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(SocksSocketImpl.java:432)
    at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:529)
    at org.apache.activemq.transport.tcp.TcpTransport.connect(TcpTransport.java:504)
    at org.apache.activemq.transport.tcp.TcpTransport.doStart(TcpTransport.java:467)
    at org.apache.activemq.util.ServiceSupport.start(ServiceSupport.java:55)
    at org.apache.activemq.transport.AbstractInactivityMonitor.start(AbstractInactivityMonitor.java:132)
    at org.apache.activemq.transport.TransportFilter.start(TransportFilter.java:58)
    at org.apache.activemq.transport.WireFormatNegotiator.start(WireFormatNegotiator.java:72)
    at org.apache.activemq.transport.TransportFilter.start(TransportFilter.java:58)
    at org.apache.activemq.transport.TransportFilter.start(TransportFilter.java:58)
    at org.apache.activemq.ActiveMQConnectionFactory.createActiveMQConnection(ActiveMQConnectionFactory.java:273)
    ... 8 more

There is a file that should be run to start it up (active mq) and this is a .bat file on windows machines. When you run it then it starts and you leave it running in the command prompt.

At home I have a mac and using the mac equivalent the terminal just prints:

Last login: Mon Oct 29 19:57:15 on ttys000
(null):~ rickilambert$ /Users/rickilambert/Downloads/apache-activemq-5.7.0/bin/macosx/activemq ; exit;
Usage: /Users/rickilambert/Downloads/apache-activemq-5.7.0/bin/macosx/activemq { console | start | stop | restart | status | dump }
logout

[Process completed]

Can anyone please help me to get this thing up and running?

I encountered a similar problem when I was using the below to obtain connection factory ConnectionFactory factory = new
ActiveMQConnectionFactory("admin","admin","tcp://:61616");

Its resolved when I changed it to the below

ConnectionFactory factory = new ActiveMQConnectionFactory("tcp://:61616");

The below then showed that my Q size was increasing.. http://:8161/admin/queues.jsp

I had also similar problem. In my case brokerUrl was not configured properly. So that's way I received following Error:

Cause: Error While attempting to add new Connection to the pool: nested exception is javax.jms.JMSException: Could not connect to broker URL : tcp://localhost:61616. Reason: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused

& I resolved it following way.

   ActiveMQConnectionFactory connectionFactory = new ActiveMQConnectionFactory();

  connectionFactory.setBrokerURL("tcp://hostname:61616");
  connectionFactory.setUserName("admin");
  connectionFactory.setPassword("admin");