How to Install Eclipse Mosquitto MQTT on Ubuntu

Install Mosquitto packages

Install Mosquitto packages. To begin, add the official Mosquitto PPA (Personal Package Archive) to your Ubuntu system. This ensures you get the latest software updates. Afterward, update your system and install both the Mosquitto broker and its client tools.

Execute the following commands to add the PPA and update your system:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mosquitto-dev/mosquitto-ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mosquitto mosquitto-clients

Once installed, verify that the service is running:

sudo systemctl enable mosquitto
sudo systemctl start mosquitto
sudo systemctl status mosquitto

Setup authentication

Setting up authentication for your Mosquitto MQTT server is crucial. By default, Mosquitto allows open connections, so securing your MQTT server is important. This authentication setup involves creating a password for users who want to connect. You will create an admin user and then tell the Mosquitto MQTT server to use this password for security.

First, create an admin user:

Configure Mosquitto to save client data if the server restarts. Open the configuration file, usually found at `/etc/mosquitto/mosquitto.conf`. Add the line `persistence true` to ensure client session information is saved to disk.

sudo nano /etc/mosquitto/mosquitto.conf

Add these lines to the end of the file:

persistence true
persistence_location /var/lib/mosquitto/

Now, create an authentication file at /etc/mosquitto/conf.d/auth.conf and add these lines:

To encrypt your network traffic, you’ll need to set up TLS/SSL certificates. Create a directory for your certificates and generate a DH parameter file:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/mosquitto/certs
sudo openssl dhparam -out /etc/mosquitto/certs/dhparam.pem 2048

You can obtain SSL certificates from a provider, such as Let’s Encrypt, or learn how to create self-signed certificates in Ubuntu Linux. Once you have your certificates, add them to your ssl.conf file to ensure all data is encrypted during transit.

Restart the service to apply changes:

sudo systemctl restart mosquitto

Test that your authentication works by sending a message:

sudo mosquitto_pub -h localhost -t "test" -m "Hello" -u "superadmin" -P "your_password"

Conclusion

You now have a secure MQTT broker running on Ubuntu. By using the official PPA, you stay updated. By using persistence and authentication, you keep your data safe and reliable. Your devices can now communicate securely across your network.