![\"Run](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Install-Cloud-Mosquitto-MQTT-Broker-Digital-Ocean.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nYou might like: SMART HOME with Raspberry Pi, ESP32, and ESP8266<\/a><\/strong>\u2014learn Node-RED and InfluxDB on a Raspberry Pi to build a Home Automation System with the ESP32 and ESP8266.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MQTT stands for Message Queuing Telemetry Transport. It is a lightweight publish and subscribe system where you can publish and receive messages as a client. It is widely used in the home automation and IoT fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To learn more about MQTT, read our complete guide: What is MQTT and how it works<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An MQTT broker is primarily responsible for receiving all MQTT messages, filtering the messages, decide who is interested in each message and then, publishing the messages to all subscribed clients.<\/p>\n\n\n There are several brokers you can use. In our Home Automation projects and tutorials we use the popular Mosquitto MQTT Broker<\/a>. It is easy to install, configure and use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to install Mosquitto MQTT broker on the cloud\u2014a Linux Ubuntu VM (virtual machine) running on Digital Ocean hosting service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What’s the advantage of using a Cloud MQTT broker and how it works? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Using a Cloud MQTT broker allows several IoT devices (like ESP32<\/a> and ESP8266<\/a> boards) to communicate with each other using MQTT, even if they are on different networks (different locations connected to different routers). Here’s an overview.<\/p>\n\n\n The following diagram shows an example of a possible application:<\/p>\n\n\n You can also install Node-RED<\/a> on the same cloud (Digital Ocean hosting account) to control and monitor your boards from anywhere in the world using your computer or your smartphone. You can follow this tutorial: Access Node-RED Dashboard from Anywhere using Digital Ocean<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n To run your Cloud MQTT Mosquitto Broker, you need to use a hosting service that allows you to have access to the command line and install any software that you need. I recommend using Digital Ocean<\/a> that offers an Ubuntu server that you can manage through a command line.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve been using it since 2015 and I personally recommend it, but you can use any other hosting service. Any hosting service that offers a Linux Ubuntu VM with full console access should work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don’t have a hosting account, I recommend signing up for Digital Ocean<\/a>. When you sign up for Digital Ocean, you can try it for 60 days (they give you free credits to test the platform). You need to go to this link in order to claim the free credits: https:\/\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/digitalocean<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grab Linux Ubuntu VM on Digital Ocean \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you like our projects, you might consider signing up to the recommended hosting service, because you’ll be supporting our work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note: <\/strong> you can also run Mosquitto MQTT Broker in your local network using a Raspberry Pi board.<\/a> However, the purpose of this tutorial is to run an MQTT broker in the cloud to communicate with boards (or other IoT devices) across different networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To create a Digital Ocean Account, go to Digital Ocean<\/a> and sign up using one of the available options.<\/p>\n\n\n Create your account<\/a>, and you’ll receive a $200 credit that you can use for 60 days to test the platform. You might need to enter a valid credit card, but you can cancel your account anytime if you’re no longer interested in using the service after the free 60 days trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Confirm your account and login. On the Project<\/strong> tab, click on your name. You should see a similar Dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n To create a new VM, press the “Create<\/strong>” button on the top right corner and select the “Droplets<\/strong>” option. Digital Ocean calls Droplets<\/strong> to its VMs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Important: <\/strong> if you’re already running a Droplet with Node-RED installed<\/a>, you can skip these next steps (creating a Droplet). You can run both Node-RED and Mosquitto MQTT broker on the same server.<\/p>\n\n\n Then, select the following options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Choose a datacenter region\u2014choose the closest to your location.<\/p>\n\n\n Create the root password that allows you to access your Droplet (save this password, because you’ll need it to access your server).<\/p>\n\n\n Then, you can select any additional options you think might be useful for your project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, choose a hostname <\/strong>to easily identify which Virtual Machine you are working with. I’ve named my Droplet home-automation-system<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s it, you just need to press the big green button Create Droplet<\/strong> to finish the process.<\/p>\n\n\n Wait a few minutes and when the progress bar ends, your Droplet is ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, if you click on the Droplets <\/strong>tab, your newly created droplet should be there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Click on the droplet name. A new page will open. At the top right corner, there\u2019s a Console link. If you click there, it will open a new console\/terminal window where you can type Linux commands to install software or run commands the same way you do on your Raspberry Pi via SSH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Type your login username (root<\/span>) and the password defined earlier, press the Enter key to access your server.<\/p>\n\n\n There’s an optional <\/em><\/strong>step, but it goes beyond the scope of this tutorial. It’s not<\/em> <\/strong>required to make this project work: prepare your server with non-root, sudo-enabled user and basic firewall with this Initial Server Setup with Ubuntu 20.04<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s install the Mosquitto Broker<\/a><\/strong> on Digital Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n 1)<\/strong> Run the following command to upgrade and update your system:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2)<\/strong> When asked, press Y<\/strong> and Enter<\/strong>. It will take some time to update and upgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3)<\/strong> To install the Mosquitto Broker enter the next command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s it! Mosquitto MQTT broker is installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4)<\/strong> To make Mosquitto auto start when the server boots, you need to run the following command (this step is optional, but it ensures that as long as the server is running, Mosquitto will be running even after a server restart):<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5)<\/strong> Now, test the installation by running the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This returns the Mosquitto version that is currently running on your server. It will be 2.0.11 or above.<\/p>\n\n\n You can ignore the error message \u201cError: Address already in use\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To enable remote access so that we can communicate with IoT devices, we need to edit\/create a configuration file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll add authentication with user and password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1)<\/strong> Run the following command, but replace YOUR_USERNAME<\/span> with the username you want to use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll be using the MQTT user sara<\/span>, so I run the command as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you run the preceding command with the desired username, you\u2019ll be asked to enter a password. No characters will be displayed while you enter the password. Enter the password and memorize the user\/pass combination, you\u2019ll need it late<\/strong>r in your projects to make a connection with the broker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This previous command creates a password file called passwd<\/span> on the \/etc\/mosquitto<\/span> directory. Now, we need to edit the mosquitto configuration file so that it only allows authentication with the username and password we\u2019ve defined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2)<\/strong> Set the correct permissions in the passwd<\/span> file:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) <\/strong>Run the following command to edit the configuration file:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4)<\/strong> Add the following line at the top of the file (make sure it is at the top of the file, otherwise it won\u2019t work): <\/p>\n\n\n\n 5)<\/strong> Also add the following three lines to allow connection for authenticated users and tell Mosquitto where the username\/password file is located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your configuration file will look as follows (the new lines are in bold):<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6)<\/strong> Press CTRL-X<\/strong>, then Y<\/strong>, and finally press Enter <\/strong>to exit and save the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7)<\/strong> Restart Mosquitto for the changes to take effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8)<\/strong> Wait a few seconds. To check if Mosquitto is running, you can type the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, you have Mosquitto MQTT broker installed on the cloud with authentication with username and password enabled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On your ESP32\/ESP8266 Arduino code, on the MQTT Host, you should use your droplet IP address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To test your MQTT broker installation, you can use another terminal window (Terminal window #2) and establish an SSH communication with your server (you can use PuTTY<\/a> or a similar SSH client). Enter the droplet IP address and try to establish an SSH connection.<\/p>\n\n\n Login as root<\/span> and enter your password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, enter the following command to subscribe to the testTopic<\/span> topic. Replace user<\/span> with your username and pass<\/span> with your password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In your Terminal window #1, use the next command to publish the message “Hello, world!<\/strong>” in the test<\/span> topic. Replace user<\/span> with your username and pass<\/span> with your password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Terminal window #2 should receive the message.<\/p>\n\n\n You can use the next table as a reference for the parameters you can pass in mosquitto_sub<\/span> and mosquitto_pub<\/span> commands:<\/p>\n\n\n\nIntroducing MQTT Protocol<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Mosquitto](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/mqtt_broker.png?resize=750%2C303&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nCloud MQTT Broker Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"ESP32](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ESP32-ESP8266-Digital-Ocean-MQTT-Mosquitto-Broker-Overview.png?resize=950%2C950&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
![\"ESP32](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ESP32-ESP8266-Digital-Ocean-MQTT-Mosquitto-Broker-Overview-Publish-Subscribe.png?resize=950%2C914&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Hosting Service – Digital Ocean<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Creating Digital Ocean Account<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Digital-ocean-MQTT-mosquitto-get-started.png?resize=750%2C477&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/3-Digital-Ocean-Login-Dashboard-Mosquitto-MQTT-Broker.png?resize=944%2C602&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nCreate a Droplet (Linux Ubuntu VM)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/digitalocean-create-droplet.png?resize=370%2C524&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/digitalocean-linux-plan.png?resize=750%2C652&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/7-Digital-Ocean-VPN-Linux-Ubuntu-Server-Location-Mosquitto-MQTT-Broker-Installation.png?resize=984%2C553&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n![\"c\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/8-Digital-Ocean-VPN-Linux-Ubuntu-Server-Set-Define-Password.png?resize=987%2C467&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/digitalocean-additional-options.png?resize=750%2C324&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/digitalocean-create-droplet-name.png?resize=750%2C446&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nAccessing Your Linux Ubuntu VM Console<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/digitalocean-created-droplets.png?resize=709%2C367&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/digitalocean-launch-console.png?resize=735%2C221&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/digitalocean-console.png?resize=750%2C538&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nInstalling Mosquitto MQTT Broker on Linux Ubuntu VM Digital Ocean<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Mosquitto](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Eclipse-Mosquitto-logo.png?resize=200%2C197&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\"){kind=logo}
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nsudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo apt install -y mosquitto mosquitto-clients<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo systemctl enable mosquitto.service<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nmosquitto -v<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/digitalocean-mosquitto-mqtt-broker-version.png?resize=750%2C472&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nEnable Remote Access\/ Authentication<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
sudo mosquitto_passwd -c \/etc\/mosquitto\/passwd YOUR_USERNAME<\/strong><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo mosquitto_passwd -c \/etc\/mosquitto\/passwd sara<\/strong><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo chown mosquitto \/etc\/mosquitto\/passwd<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo nano \/etc\/mosquitto\/mosquitto.conf<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nper_listener_settings true<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nallow_anonymous false\nlistener 1883\npassword_file \/etc\/mosquitto\/passwd<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n# Place your local configuration in \/etc\/mosquitto\/conf.d\/\n#\n# A full description of the configuration file is at \n# \/usr\/share\/doc\/mosquitto\/examples\/mosquitto.conf.example\n\nper_listener_settings true\n<\/strong>\npid_file \/run\/mosquitto\/mosquitto.pid\n\npersistence true \npersistence_location \/var\/lib\/mosquitto\/ \n\nlog_dest file \/var\/log\/mosquitto\/mosquitto.log\n\ninclude_dir \/etc\/mosquitto\/conf.d \nallow_anonymous false \nlistener 1883 \npassword_file \/etc\/mosquitto\/passwd<\/strong><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/digitalocean-mosquitto-configuration-file.png?resize=750%2C484&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nsudo systemctl restart mosquitto<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo systemctl status mosquitto<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nTesting MQTT Mosquitto Broker Installation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"SSH](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/SSH-Client-Connecting-To-Digital-Ocean-Server-Putty.png?resize=452%2C442&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nmosquitto_sub -h localhost -t testTopic -u user<\/strong> -P pass<\/strong><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nmosquitto_pub -h localhost -t testTopic -m \"Hello, world!\" -u user <\/strong>-P pass<\/strong><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomnerdtutorials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/digitalocean-testing-mosquitto-broker.png?resize=750%2C900&quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n