How to Install Mosquitto MQTT Broker on Ubuntu 24

Mosquitto is a lightweight, open-source MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) broker, ideal for IoT (Internet of Things) devices to communicate in real-time. In this guide, we’ll walk through the installation of Mosquitto on Ubuntu 24.

What is Mosquitto?

Mosquitto enables real-time communication between devices using the publish-subscribe model. It’s widely used in IoT projects like smart homes and industrial automation due to its efficiency and scalability.

Step 1: Update Your System

Before installing Mosquitto, ensure that your system is up to date. Open a terminal and run:

sudo apt updatesudo apt upgrade -y

This ensures all available updates are installed.

Step 2: Add the Mosquitto Repository

You need to add the Mosquitto PPA repository to get the latest version:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mosquitto-dev/mosquitto-ppa

This adds the Mosquitto development PPA to your system.

Step 3: Install Mosquitto

Next, install the Mosquitto broker and client tools:

sudo apt updatesudo apt install mosquitto mosquitto-clients -y

• mosquitto is the MQTT broker.
• mosquitto-clients includes the command-line tools for testing MQTT.

Step 4: Enable and Start the Mosquitto Service

Enable and start the Mosquitto service to run it automatically on system boot:

sudo systemctl enable mosquittosudo systemctl start mosquitto

To verify that Mosquitto is running, check the status:

sudo systemctl status mosquitto

The service should be marked as active and running.

Step 5: Configure Mosquitto (Optional)

The default configuration works fine for most cases, but you can edit Mosquitto’s configuration file located at /etc/mosquitto/mosquitto.conf if needed.

For example, you can change the listener port, set up authentication, or configure Access Control Lists (ACLs). After making any changes, restart Mosquitto:

sudo systemctl restart mosquitto

Step 6: Test Mosquitto MQTT Broker

Use the Mosquitto client tools to test the broker. Open two terminals:

In the first terminal, subscribe to a topic:

mosquitto_sub -t "test/topic"

In the second terminal, publish a message to the same topic:

mosquitto_pub -t "test/topic" -m "Hello MQTT"

If everything is set up correctly, the first terminal will display the message “Hello MQTT”.

Step 7: Secure Mosquitto (Recommended)

To enhance security, you can enable username/password authentication and TLS encryption.

To create a password file:

sudo mosquitto_passwd -c /etc/mosquitto/passwd yourusername

Then, configure Mosquitto to use this file by editing the configuration file:

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

Add the following lines:

allow_anonymous falsepassword_file /etc/mosquitto/passwd

Finally, restart Mosquitto to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart mosquitto

Conclusion

Installing Mosquitto MQTT Broker on Ubuntu 24 is a straightforward process. You can quickly set up a message broker for IoT communication by following these steps. Don’t forget to secure your installation using authentication and encryption for production environments.