You can configure the mosquitto broker using a configuration file.
The default configuration file is called mosquitto.conf and it is used by the mosquitto broker when started as a Linux daemon or Windows service.
You will find the mosquitto.conf file in the /etc/mosquito directory on Linux, and in the c:\mosquitto\ directory on Windows.
Note: the Windows install lets you choose the directory.
Important: In order for changes in the mosquitto.conf file to become effective you must restart the mosquitto broker.
Broker Mosquitto.conf Settings
The default mosquitto.conf file has all of the settings commented out and the broker doesn’t require a configuration file to run.
If you look at the settings you will find that they are divided into sections and some of the settings affect the entire broker instance, whereas others affect a particular listener.
Important- An extra listener is effectively an additional port, and not an additional broker!
The diagram below is my understanding of how the settings apply.
Configurations Examples
Mosquitto Broker Listening on Several Ports
The mosquitto broker can be configured to listen on several ports at the same time.
However this configuration doesn’t mean that you have virtual brokers. as most of the configuration is shared.
You cannot, for example, configure a broker to listen on port 1884, and to allow anonymous access, and also to listen on port 1885 and not allow anonymous access.
Because they are part of the same broker instance they share the allow_anonymous setting.
However you can configure a broker to listen on a port and require SSL and also to listen on another port and not use SSL.
Example 1- Listen on ports 1883 and 1884
Section Default listener
port 1883
Section Extra listeners
listener 1884
Example 2- Listen on ports 1883 and 8883 (SSL)
Section Default listener
port 1883
Section Extra listeners
listener 8883
Certificate based SSL/TLS support
(Windows)
cafile c:\mosquitto\certs\ca.crt
keyfile c:\mosquitto\certs\server.key
certfile c:\mosquitto\certs\server.crt
(Linux)
cafile /etc/mosquitto/certs/ca.crt
keyfile /etc/mosquitto/certs/server.key
certfile /etc/mosquitto/certs/server.crt
Example 3- Listen on ports 1883 and WebSockets (SSL)
Section Default listener
port 1883
Section Extra listeners
listener 9001
protocol websockets
See Also MQTT and Mosquitto WebSockets Working Notes
Starting Mosquitto – Notes
When starting mosquitto for the command line unless you specify a configuration file none is used. Therefore
mosquitto
mosquitto -v
and other similar commands start mosquitto without using a configuration file.
If you install mosquitto as a service on Windows then it starts using the mosquitto.conf.
The Linux install also configures the Mosquitto broker to start automatically using the mosquitto.conf file..
Important: When testing mosquitto you need to stop the mosquitto instance that has been started when the machine booted, and then start your own instance from the command line.
Editing The File- Tips
You can use a normal text editor to edit the file. Although it is tempting to edit the particular section of the file it can be very difficult finding what settings you have changed.
Therefore put all of your settings at the top of the file, and use the commented out section as documentation.
If you do edit the individual sections then I have created a simple Python script that will display only the un-commented settings from the file.
Restarting Mosquitto or Reloading Config Files
If you update mosquitto configuration files you can restart mosquitto to pick up the changes.
However on Linux you can reload the configuration files without restarting the broker by sending the HUP signal as follows:
kil -HUP PID # where PID is the process ID as shown below:
If you look at the console it should show that the config files have been reloaded
Running Multiple Mosquitto Brokers
You can configure a broker to listen on several ports, but to create multiple brokers with their own configurations then you will need to start multiple instances of mosquitto.
Examples:
Start mosquitto and listen on port 1883
mosquitto -p 1883
Start mosquitto as a daemon and listen on port 1884
mosquitto -p 1884 -d
Start mosquitto as a daemon and use the mosquitti-2.conf file. – Windows
mosquitto -c c:\mosquitto\mosquitto-2.conf -d
or Linux
mosquitto -c /etc/mosquitto/mosquitto-2.conf -d
Here is a video that shows you how
Useful Linux Commands
To stop Mosquitto when running as a daemon:
ps -aux | grep mosquitto
pgrep mosquitto
kill -9 PID (that you get from above command)
Resources:
Related Tutorials
- Mosquitto MQTT Bridge-Usage and Configuration
- Understanding and Configuring Logging – Mosquitto Broker Configuration
- Mosquitto SSL Configuration -MQTT TLS Security
- Configuring and Testing MQTT Topic Restrictions
- Mosquitto Username and Password Authentication -Configuration and Testing
- How to Install The Mosquitto MQTT Broker- Windows and Linux
I am on windows 10. I was able to run mosquitto broker successfully to listen on 1883 following your tutorial. I tested the connection using mosquitto_pub and mosquitto_sub as well. When I tried to test for TLS. I changed the mosquitto cfg file for listening on 8883 and the server certs. Then tried restarting the mosquitto in the services (Local) but it posts the error as “The Mosquitto Broker service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs.”. On windows command line too, i tried
sc start “mosquitto” followed by sc query “mosquitto”. The sc queries show the STATE as 2 START_PENDING and followed by STATE as 1 STOPPED. Any reason why mosquitto broker couldn’t be started?
I would suspect an error in the config file or it can’t find it.Have you tried staring from the command line as mosquitto -c configfile as it may give you more info.
Hi
I put mosquitto.conf file in /etc/mosquitto/ and run mosquitto
mosquitto -c /etc/mosquitto/mosquitto.confif
In this file my default port is 8890
But when i try run it,it occurred error not found config file while it is exist in this directory
Also when i use only mosquttio,it start listen with 1883 port
It is default port
Where is it default config file?
Thanks
The default mosquitto.conf file is in the /etc/mosquitto folder.
However mosquitto doesn’t need a conf file to start.
When you start mosquitto using mosquitto -v it isn’t using a conf file.
Check your conf file for typos as that also results in not found errors.
You can start mosquitto using a different port using
mosquitto -p 8890
if you are still having problems send me your conf file
Yes my config file had error in fields and it solved successfully
I use moquitto -c /etc/mosquitto/mosquitto.conf
Thank you again
Hi
I want to use kill -hub pid for reload config file after add new user to list
Is it right way?
Hi,
How to make mosquitto broker running on PC to listen to 1883 and also 9001, because i have a mosqutto cpp client which publishes on one topic which needs to listen by mqtt web app.
when i set mosquitto.conf to 9001, the mosqitto cpp client is not connecting to local broker, but webapp is getting connected to broker running on my PC.
These are the only lines you need
port 1883 #normal listener
#extra listener
listener 9001
protocol websockets
##useful
log_type all
If you are still having problem use the ask steve page and send me your conf file and I’ll edit it for you
rgds
steve
How to edit this config file through code and restart this broker?
Please help with suggestions.
Thanks in Advance
By edit by code do you mean using a web type interface to create the file?
What is the difference between kill -SIGHUP and kill -HUP?
Mosquitto official documents use kill -SIGHUP.
They are the same. HUP is the shortname for SIGHUP. Take a look here
https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/unix-kill-command-examples/
rgds
steve
I use this command “kill -HUB 26832”
But have error here
bash: kill: HUB: invalid signal specification
What is problem?
PID is correct
Hi
Typo
It’s HUP
not
HUB
Thank you
Thanks A Lot <3