Summary

MQTT is an open OASIS and ISO standard lightweight, publish-subscribe network protocol that transports messages between devices. A typical MQTT communication topology consists of:

• an MQTT publisher → a device that sends information to the server;
• an MQTT broker → a server where the data is stored;
• an MQTT subscriber → a device that reads/monitors the data published on the server.

Currently, RouterOS can act as an MQTT publisher and you subscriber (starting with 7.11beta2). You can also run an MQTT broker/server via the container feature.

You can find application examples for MQTT publish scenarios below:

a) MQTT/HTTPS example with AWS cloud platform

b) MQTT example with Azure cloud platform

c) MQTT and ThingsBoard configuration

Please note that AWS and Azure examples (scripts) showcase publishing Bluetooth tag data. Currently, only the KNOT has a Bluetooth chip built-in.

Configuration

Sub-menu: /iot mqtt

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IoT package is available with RouterOS version 6.48.3. You can get it from our download page - under "Extra packages".

You can find more application examples for MQTT publish scenarios below:

a) MQTT/HTTPS example with AWS cloud platform

b) MQTT example with Azure cloud platform

c) MQTT and ThingsBoard configuration

The settings shown in the examples above apply to any RouterOS device. The only thing to keep in mind is that AWS's and Azure's examples showcase scripts that structure MQTT messages out of the Bluetooth payloads and, currently, only the KNOT supports Bluetooth. For RouterOS devices other than KNOT, you will need to change the script per your requirements (for example, you can use a basic script from this guide).

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Brokers

To add a new broker, run the following command:

[admin@device] /iot mqtt brokers add

Configurable properties are shown below:

An example of adding a broker:

/iot mqtt brokers add name="my PC" address="192.168.88.33" port=1883 ssl=no client-id="test-client" auto-connect=no keep-alive=60

The result:

/iot mqtt brokers print
 0 name="my PC" address="192.168.88.33" port=1883 ssl=no client-id="test-client" auto-connect=no keep-alive=60 connected=no 

Connect

To connect to the pre-configured broker, issue the command:

/iot mqtt connect broker="my PC"

If the connection is successful, the "connected" parameter should change to "yes":

/iot mqtt brokersprint
 0 name="my PC" address="192.168.88.33" port=1883 ssl=no client-id="test-client" auto-connect=no keep-alive=60 connected=yes

Disconnect

To disconnect from the broker, issue the command:

/iot mqtt disconnect broker="my PC"

To confirm that the broker was disconnected, issue the command below and it should indicate "connected=no":

/iot mqtt brokers print            
 0 name="my PC" address="192.168.88.33" port=1883 ssl=no client-id="test-client" auto-connect=no keep-alive=60 connected=no 

Publish

An example of MQTT publish would look like thispublishing the message:

[admin@device] /iot mqtt>mqtt publish message="test-message" broker=AWS"my PC" topic="my/test/topic message="{\"temperature\":15}"    

In this case, AWS is a broker's name that was configured in the broker section, my/test/topic is a topic (as it is configured on the server-side/on the broker itself) and "{\"temperature\":15}" is the message you wish to publish (in this specific example, in the JSON format). Retain and QoS parameters are optional - both are defined by the broker.

In this scenario, our broker is AWS.

In order to see the displayed message, you need to subscribe to the topic beforehand (in our case, my/test/topic).

Once you are subscribed to the topic, you can publish the message. AWS (or any other broker) should display the message:

"

Subscribe

An example of a subscription:

/iot mqtt subscribe broker="my PC" topic="my/test/topic"

Subscriptions

To check already subscribed topics, issue the command:

/iot mqtt subscriptions print
0 broker=my PC topic="my/test/topic" qos=0

After you publish a test message as shown in the Publish section above:

/iot mqtt publish message="test-message" broker="my PC" topic="my/test/topic"

You should be able to check the received message under:

/iot mqtt subscriptions recv print
 0 broker=my PC topic="my/test/topic" data="test-message" time=2023-05-22 16:57:00 

To clear stored messages, issue the command:

/iot mqtt subscriptions recv clear

Unsubscribe

An example of unsubscribing from the broker and the topic is shown below:

/iot mqtt unsubscribe broker="my PC" topic="my/test/topic"

A basic script that collects useful RouterOS statistics

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You can also use scripts (to automate the process). For example, you can run a script like this (copy it into a notepad and then into the script "source" field):

# Required packages: iot

################################ Configuration ################################
# Name of an existing MQTT broker that should be used for publishing
:local broker "AWSmy PC"

# MQTT topic where the message should be published
:local topic "my/test/topic"

#################################### System ###################################
:put ("[*] Gathering system info...")
:local cpuLoad [/system resource get cpu-load]
:local freeMemory [/system resource get free-memory]
:local usedMemory ([/system resource get total-memory] - $freeMemory)
:local rosVersion [/system package get value-name=version \
    [/system package find where name ~ "^routeros"]]
:local model [/system routerboard get value-name=model]
:local serialNumber [/system routerboard get value-name=serial-number]
:local upTime [/system resource get uptime]

#################################### MQTT #####################################
:local message \
    "{\"model\":\"$model\",\
                \"sn\":\"$serialNumber\",\
                \"ros\":\"$rosVersion\",\
                \"cpu\":$cpuLoad,\
                \"umem\":$usedMemory,\
                \"fmem\":$freeMemory,\
                \"uptime\":\"$upTime\"}"

:log info "$message";
:put ("[*] Total message size: $[:len $message] bytes")
:put ("[*] Sending message to MQTT broker...")
/iot mqtt publish broker=$broker topic=$topic message=$message
:put ("[*] Done")

The script collects the data from the RouterOS device (model name, serial number, RouterOS version, current CPU, used memory, free memory, and uptime) and publishes the message (the data) to the broker in the JSON format:

Code Block
language ros
/system script run mqttpublish [*] Gathering system info... [*] Total message size: 125 bytes [*] Sending message to MQTT broker... [*] Done

You can subscribe to the topic to check the result:Image Removed

Code Block
language ros
/iot mqtt subscriptions recv print 0 broker=my PC topic="my/test/topic" data="{"model":"RB924i-2nD-BT5&BG77","sn":"E9C80EAEXXXX","ros":"7.9","cpu":13,"umem":47476736, "fmem":19632128,"uptime":"02:21:18"}" time=2023-05-22 17:03:52

Do not forget to change the "Configuration" part of the script (topic and the broker) based on your settings.