MR MQTT Data Streaming
MQTT Steaming Protocol
MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport) is a lightweight data streaming standard often used in IoT applications. It is based on publish-subscribe networks that can transport messages from devices to a broker ("server"). Clients connect to a central broker and publish data on a specific topic. Clients can also subscribe to topics (including using wildcards to easily subscribe to sets of topics), and will receive any updates published to that topic. An MR access point (specific models) can support this protocol and work as a forwarder using its Bluetooth radio.
MQTT (BLE based) and ESL cannot be enabled in the same network since these features utilize the same IoT radio available on the AP.
- MQTT is supported on Wi-Fi 5 wave 2 APs as well as Wi-Fi 6 APs and later. Access Points that do not support the feature will not forward any MQTT message. If your network has APs which support MQTT, you will be able to navigate to Wireless > IoT radio settings in the dashboard, and find the new tab "MQTT" right next to Bluetooth.
- MQTT is only supported on MR 28.X firmware and later.
- Cisco Meraki MR devices only support MQTT version 3.1.1
Using MQTT, MRs can send messages received (scanned) on Bluetooth/Wi-Fi environments to a broker where users can manage them.
Cisco Meraki will not handle the broker side. MRs will only forward messages to the broker's IP. In MQTT terms, the MR will publish all the beacons it scans to the broker.
MQTT protocol uses different fields that can be useful for the user. Cisco Meraki MRs forward the following attributes:
- RSSI
- UUID (iBeacon)
- Minor (iBeacon)
- Major (iBeacon)
- Client MAC addr
- AP MAC addr
- AP Serial Number
- Timestamp
- Radio
- Network ID
- Raw Payload
Configuration
To configure the MQTT service on MR, go to Wireless > IoT radio settings
If this option is not available, then your network may have APs which do not support MQTT. Try moving your MQTT-compatible APs to their own network to ensure availability of this option.
Select Enable on Stream Telemetry via Access Points in order to display all Settings to be configured.
Broker Configuration
The first step is to configure the broker where MQTT messages will be sent. Add the broker by selecting the option Add or edit MQTT Brokers and then selecting New MQTT broker.
You will see the following window pop up:
- Broker Name: An identifier for the user. It can be any word.
- Host: IP of the broker you are going to configure.
- Port: Port used by MQTT server, by default servers use TCP port 1883.
- Username: Optional depending on the configuration of the server.
- Password: Optional depending on the configuration of the server.
- Security: Can be None or TLS security. If TLS security is selected, a new option will show for you to upload the certificate to be used.
Once all the fields are configured, click Save.
MQTT General Fields
Now you can select the fields to be populated for the MQTT messages.
Topic
By default, MR MQTT will publish to the following topic. However, this can be customized by adding a topic string.
The default MQTT topic is:
Meraki/v1/mr/<NetworkID>/<AP MAC>/<ble/wifi>/<Client MAC>/
For example the structure you should find with the default topic structure is the next:
Publish Frequency is a field where you can specify in which interval the Access Point should send MQTT messages of the data that was heard. The minimum interval is 1 second. Within every publish cycle, RSSI publisher will parse a list of BLE/Wi-Fi clients and iterate through them to publish the ones which have been updated within this cycle. This means RSSI publisher will publish periodically, and only publish each client once (the most recently updated one) within each cycle.
With Wi-Fi telemetry, the number of MQTT messages sent per cycle, or publish frequency duration, may differ depending on the client type configured.
- Associated: Each AP in the network will send a single message per associated client.
- Visible: Each AP in the network will send a message per channel and per radio for each client that has been seen since the last cycle, which could mean a message for each client serving radio and potentially multiple messages for the dedicated scanning radio per client.
After configuring the general requirements, now a specific technology can be selected.
Publisher Options.
With MR MQTT solution, Meraki gives the options to choose which radio will be used to scan the network and forward the messages, The radios available are:
- Bluetooth
- Wifi
Each Radio will have its own options and at least one must be enabled in order to have a message feed to forward/publish to the broker.
Depending on the number of clients and radios to be selected, MQTT messages can increase rapidly, be sure to add the proper Firewall rules and prepare your network for that traffic.
MQTT is lightweight but a large quantity of messages can be generated.
RSSI Publisher - Bluetooth
- Additional Message Fields are options that can be added to the MQTT message on top of the general items that are already provided. Note that Bluetooth will only work with the iBeacon protocol for MQTT.
- MAC Address Whitelist allows users to only publish MQTT messages for clients with matching MAC addresses from the whitelist.
- UUID Address Whitelist is the same as the MAC Address Whitelist but for the UUID field. The MR will not forward any UUID that is not on the whitelist. If left blank, the MR will forward everything.
- Hysteresis enables an RSSI publisher to only publish messages with certain changes in RSSI value, reducing the traffic through the AP and broker.
- BLE Type Filter allows the user to choose the BLE beacon to be publish/forward.
- None - Will forward all messages with no filter.
- iBeacon - Will only forward iBeacons
- Eddystone - Will only forward Eddystone beacons.
- Unknown - Will forward all traffic that is not categorized as iBeacon or Eddystone.
Make sure Bluetooth is enabled on Wireless > IoT radio settings. Scanning must be turned on.
RSSI Publisher - Wi-Fi
- WiFi client type: Will only forward the traffic on wifi from Clients that are either Visible (every client that beacons) or Associated (only clients that are associated to the SSID broadcast by the AP).
- MAC Address Whitelist allows users to only publish MQTT messages for clients with matching MAC addresses from the whitelist. Wi-Fi (visible and associated) and BLE clients have their separate whitelists.
- Hysteresis enables the RSSI publisher to only publish messages with certain changes in RSSI value, reducing the traffic through the AP and broker.
Once all configurations are made, select Save.