Introduction

In this article, we will guide you through the process of installing and configuring Mosquitto MQTT Message Broker on a Debian 11 server. Mosquitto is a free and open-source message broker implementation of the MQTT protocol. It is a lightweight and efficient solution that is widely used for IoT (Internet of Things) and other messaging applications.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following requirements:

1. A Debian 11 server – For this tutorial, we will use a server with the hostname ‘mosquitto-server’.
2. A non-root user with root/administrator privileges.

Step 1: Installing Mosquitto Server and Client

To install Mosquitto on Debian 11, follow these steps:

1. Update and refresh your Debian package index by running the following command:

sudo apt update

2. Search for the Mosquitto package using the following command:

sudo apt search mosquitto

3. Install the Mosquitto server and client packages by running the following command:

sudo apt install mosquitto mosquitto-clients

4. Verify that the Mosquitto service is enabled and running by using the following command:

sudo systemctl is-enabled mosquitto
sudo systemctl status mosquitto

Step 2: Setting up Authentication on Mosquitto

By default, Mosquitto does not have authentication enabled. To secure your Mosquitto deployment, it is recommended to enable authentication. Follow these steps to set up authentication on Mosquitto:

1. Create a new Mosquitto user and password by running the following command:

sudo mosquitto_passwd -c /etc/mosquitto/.passwd shapehost

Replace ‘shapehost’ with your desired username.

2. Create a new Mosquitto configuration file by running the following command:

sudo nano /etc/mosquitto/conf.d/auth.conf

3. Add the following configuration to the file:

listener 1883
allow_anonymous false
password_file /etc/mosquitto/.passwd

4. Save the file and exit the editor.
5. Restart the Mosquitto service to apply the new changes:

sudo systemctl restart mosquitto

Step 3: Securing Mosquitto with SSL/TLS Certificates

To enhance the security of your Mosquitto installation, you can enable SSL/TLS certificates. Follow these steps to secure your Mosquitto deployment:

1. Generate the dhparam certificate by running the following command:

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

2. Change the ownership of the Mosquitto certs directory to the user ‘mosquitto’:

sudo chown -R mosquitto: /etc/mosquitto/certs

3. Create a new additional configuration file for SSL/TLS by running the following command:

sudo nano /etc/mosquitto/conf.d/ssl.conf

4. Add the following configuration to the file:

listener 8883
certfile /etc/letsencrypt/live/msqt.shapehost.io/fullchain.pem
cafile /etc/letsencrypt/live/msqt.shapehost.io/chain.pem
keyfile /etc/letsencrypt/live/msqt.shapehost.io/privkey.pem
dhparamfile /etc/mosquitto/certs/dhparam.pem

5. Save the file and exit the editor.
6. Restart the Mosquitto service to apply the new changes:

sudo systemctl restart mosquitto

Step 4: Enabling WebSockets on Mosquitto

WebSockets allow for a persistent full-duplex communication channel between the server and the client. To enable WebSockets on Mosquitto, follow these steps:

1. Create a new configuration file for WebSockets by running the following command:

sudo nano /etc/mosquitto/conf.d/websockets.conf

2. Add the following configuration to the file:

listener 8083
protocol websockets
certfile /etc/letsencrypt/live/msqt.shapehost.io/fullchain.pem
cafile /etc/letsencrypt/live/msqt.shapehost.io/chain.pem
keyfile /etc/letsencrypt/live/msqt.shapehost.io/privkey.pem

3. Save the file and exit the editor.
4. Restart the Mosquitto service to apply the new changes:

sudo systemctl restart mosquitto

Conclusion

In this article, we have provided a step-by-step guide on how to install and configure Mosquitto MQTT Message Broker on a Debian 11 server. We covered topics such as installing Mosquitto, setting up authentication, securing Mosquitto with SSL/TLS certificates, and enabling WebSockets. By following these instructions, you can create a secure and reliable MQTT message broker for your IoT and messaging applications.

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Christian Wells