Skip to content

Get Started with EMQX

EMQX is the world’s most scalable and reliable MQTT messaging platform that can help you to connect, move and process your business data reliably in real-time. With this all-in-one MQTT platform, you can easily build your Internet of Things (IoT) applications with significant business impacts.

This chapter gives you a tour of how to download and install EMQX and how to test the connecting and messaging services with our built-in WebSocket tool.

TIP

Besides the deployment methods introduced in this quickstart guide, you are also welcome to try our EMQX Cloud, a fully managed MQTT service for IoT. You only need to register for an account before you can start your MQTT services and connect your IoT devices to any cloud with zero need for infrastructure maintenance.

Select Your EMQX Edition

EMQX is available in Open Source and Enterprise editions, you may click the link below to download the edition as your business needs.

Install EMQX

EMQX can be run with Docker, installed with EMQX Kubernetes Operator, or installed on a computer or virtual machine (VM) via a download package. If you choose to install EMQX with a download package, the following operating systems are currently supported:

  • RedHat
  • CentOS
  • RockyLinux
  • AmazonLinux
  • Ubuntu
  • Debian
  • macOS
  • Linux

For other platforms not listed above, you can try to build and install with source code or simply contact EMQ for support. {% endemqxce %}

In addition, you can also deploy EMQX with one-click through EMQX Terraform on the cloud, for example, Alibaba Cloud and AWS.

Install EMQX using Docker/Installation Package

This quick start guide shows you the easiest ways to install and run EMQX, either through Docker or using the installation package.

Use MQTTX to Verify Connection

Now that you have successfully started EMQX, you can continue to test the connection and message services with MQTTX.

MQTTX is an elegant cross-platform MQTT 5.0 desktop client, running on macOS, Linux, and Windows. By utilizing a chat style of user interface, MQTT X allows users to quickly create connections and save multiple clients, which facilitates users to quickly test the MQTT/MQTTS connection, as well as the subscription and publication of MQTT messages.

This section introduces how to verify the connection with MQTTX Web, the browser-based MQTT 5.0 WebSocket client tool, with zero need to download or install any application.

Prerequisites

The broker address and the port information should be prepared before testing the connection:

  • Broker address: The IP address of your server, in general.
  • Port: Click Management -> Listeners on the left navigation menu to get the port number.
  1. Click MQTTX Web to visit the browser-based MQTTX.

  2. Configure and establish the MQTT connection. Click the + New Connection button to enter the configure page:

    • Name: Input a connection name, for example, MQTTX_Test;

    • Host

      • Select the protocol type via the drop-down list, for example, select ws:// if the WebSockets protocol is adopted; MQTTX Web only supports Websockets protocol, to test the SSL/TLS connection, download MQTTX desktop client;
      • Fill in the EMQX address, for example, emqx@127.0.0.1;
    • Port: for example, 8083 is for the WebSockets protocol;

      Keep the default setting for the other fields or set it as your business needs. For a detailed explanation of different fields, see MQTT User Manual - Connect.

    Then click the Connect button at the top right corner of the page.

  3. Subscribe to topics. After the connection is successfully established, you can continue to subscribe to different topics. Click + New Subscription. MQTTX Web has already filled in some fields, according to the setting, you will subscribe to topic testtopic/# with QoS level of 0. You can repeat this step to subscribe to different topics, and MQTTX Web will differentiate topics with colors.

  4. Test the publish/receive of messages: Click the send icon in the bottom right corner of the chat area, then the messages successfully sent will appear in the chat window above.

MQTT X Web test

If you want to continue the testing, such as one-way/two-way SSL authentication, and simulate test data with customized scripts, you can continue to explore with MQTTX.

Then, on the Cluster Overview page in EMQX Dashboard, you can check metrics such as Connections, Topics, Subscriptions, Incoming Messages, Outgoing messages, and Dropped Messages.

{% emqxee}

emqx-dashboard_ee

{% endemqxee %}

EMQX dashboard

Advanced Operation

So far, you have completed the installation, startup, and access test of EMQX, you can continue to try out more advanced capabilities of EMQX, such as authentication and authorization and integration with Rule Engine.

Contact Us

If you have any questions on the use of EMQX or EMQ products, you are warmly welcome to contact us for professional support.