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MQTT Broker

The MQTT integration needs you to run an MQTT broker for Open Peer Power to connect to.

Run your own

This is the most private option, is running your own MQTT broker.

The recommended setup method is to use the Mosquitto MQTT broker add-on.

Configuration

# Example configuration.yaml entry
mqtt:
  broker: 192.168.1.100
If you are running a Mosquitto instance on a different server with proper SSL encryption using a service like Let's Encrypt you may have to set the certificate to the operating systems own `.crt` certificates file. In the instance of Ubuntu this would be `certificate: /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt`

Public broker

The Mosquitto project runs a public broker. This is the easiest to set up, but there is no privacy as all messages are public. Use this only for testing purposes and not for real tracking of your devices or controlling your home.

CloudMQTT

CloudMQTT is a hosted private MQTT instance that is free for up to 10 connected devices. This is enough to get started with for example OwnTracks and give you a taste of what is possible.

Open Peer Power is not affiliated with CloudMQTT nor will receive any kickbacks.
  1. Create an account (no payment details needed)
  2. Create a new CloudMQTT instance (Cute Cat is the free plan)
  3. From the control panel, click on the Details button.
  4. Create unique users for Open Peer Power and each phone to connect
    (CloudMQTT does not allow two connections from the same user)
    1. Under manage users, fill in username, password and click add
    2. Under ACLs, select user, topic #, check ‘read access’ and ‘write access’
  5. Copy the instance info to your configuration.yaml:
mqtt:
  broker: CLOUDMQTT_SERVER
  port: CLOUDMQTT_PORT
  username: CLOUDMQTT_USER
  password: CLOUDMQTT_PASSWORD
Open Peer Power will automatically load the correct certificate if you connect to an encrypted channel of CloudMQTT (port range 20000-30000).
If you experience an error message like `Failed to connect due to exception: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed`, then add `certificate: auto` to your broker configuration and restart Open Peer Power.

Embedded broker (Deprecated)

Open Peer Power contains an embedded MQTT broker called HBMQTT. If you don’t have an MQTT broker, you can configure this one to be used. If configured, Open Peer Power will automatically connect to it.

Setting Value
Host localhost
Port 1883
Protocol 3.1.1
User openpeerpower
Password password set under MQTT settings
Websocket port 8080 
# Example configuration.yaml entry
mqtt:
  password: hello
As of release 0.92, the embedded broker has been marked as deprecated. This means bugs may not be fixed, and the functionality may be removed in a future release.
There is [an issue](https://github.com/beerfactory/hbmqtt/issues/62) with the HBMQTT broker and the WebSocket connection that is causing a memory leak. If you experience this issue, consider using another broker like Mosquitto.

Owntracks

To use Owntracks with the internal broker a small configuration change must be made in order for the app to use MQTT protocol 3.1.1 (Protocol Level 4).

In the Owntracks preferences (Android: v1.2.3+, iOS: v9.5.1+) open Configuration Management; Find the value named mqttProtocolLevel and set the value to 4. The application will now use MQTT 3.1.1 to connect, which is compatible with the embedded broker.

Settings

If you want to customize the settings of the embedded broker, use embedded: and the values shown in the HBMQTT Broker configuration. This will replace the default configuration.

# Example configuration.yaml entry
mqtt:
  embedded:
    # Your HBMQTT config here. Example at:
    # http://hbmqtt.readthedocs.org/en/latest/references/broker.html#broker-configuration