MQTT Servers
Connect, Decouple and Create a Single Source of Truth for Industrial Data with the Chariot MQTT Server from Cirrus Link Solutions
The Sparkplug-Compliant MQTT Server
Chariot® is the MQTT broker built to connect operational data that powers mission-critical use cases. Created by the inventors of MQTT and Sparkplug, Chariot exposes the full features of these open specifications for the secure and reliable movement of industrial data.
From oil and gas, to manufacturing, to energy and beyond, many industrial companies use Chariot to securely connect all of their industrial assets throughout the enterprise and move data from OT to IT to realize operational and business improvements. The Chariot MQTT broker is easy to install and configure so new customers can begin to derive value from IIoT data in minutes.
Chariot from Cirrus Link offers the following benefits:
- Purpose-built for OT and industrial applications
- Bridge OT to IT with the seamless and reliable movement of data
- Easy to install and configure in minutes with no coding required.
- Flexible and runs as a Java application on any OS - Windows or Linux
- Move data from any number of producers to any number of subscribers.
- One-time perpetual license fee for unlimited clients
MQTT is the standard messaging protocol for industrial applications needing to share IIoT data from OT to IT. Sparkplug defines a topic namespace, payload definition and state management needed for real time mission critical applications. Coupling MQTT with Sparkplug allows industrial enterprises to achieve complete digital transformation and interoperability with 100% data self-discovery. Chariot is the only MQTT Server that understands the Sparkplug structure and can add additional features to create a rich MQTT ecosystem with system insight and overview.
Additional technical features include:
- Sparkplug 3.0 and OASyS MQTT 3.1.1 compliant
- Web-based administration
- Runs on Java, can be transported across any platform
- Highly secure with TLS and username/password authentication
- Access Control Lists (ACLs) user authentication
- Can be used as an MQTT server (MQTT broker) in any SCADA system
Chariot v2 is a functional replacement for MQTT Distributor Module for larger scale deployments where the Inductive Automation Ignition Platform is being used.
LDAP Support for Administration and MQTT Clients
The Chariot Security Service can be configured to add an LDAP Realm to use when authenticating and authorizing access via the Chariot UI. Each LDAP Realm uses a simple bind authentication to connect to the LDAP server to search for users and groups. A user that is logging in to the Chariot UI will have their username mapped to the distinguished name (DN) of an LDAP entry using a configure template (see below). Chariot will use simple bind authentication to authenticate the user and will search for group membership to determine the corresponding Chariot Role membership using the configured mapping.
Chariot comes with a two-hour resettable trial period so customers can download and experiment for free. When you are ready to purchase a license with unlimited MQTT clients and users for one flat perpetual fee, contact sales@cirrus-link.com.
To try the free trial of the Chariot MQTT Server software and tutorial go here!
Some of the Sparkplug features:
- Detect and report collisions between duplicate Sparkplug Group and Edge Node ID collisions across multiple MQTT clients
- Internal tracking and reporting of Sparkplug specific data flowing through the MQTT Server.
- Tracking and reporting of all online/offline Edge Nodes and 'primary host' applications (birth counts, death counts, STATE messages, and timing)
- Tracking and reporting of Edge Nodes that are going offline often
- Compression sampling to see if it is a good idea or not
- Tracking of Edge Nodes that are not subscribing on primary host ID and possibly should be
- Tracking of long keep alive timeout configurations and potential misconfigurations of MQTT LWT in the context of Sparkplug applications
- ACL configuration based on Sparkplug topic tokens
All use of the software is controlled by the Cirrus Link Solutions Software License Agreement - May 2020.
MQTT Distributor & Distributor Plus
The MQTT Distributor Module for Ignition is an MQTT server, compliant with the 3.1.1 MQTT protocol OASIS standard. It enables MQTT clients to securely connect, publish, and subscribe data, supplying data to both operational and business applications throughout the enterprise. The MQTT Distributor module comes in two versions, Distributor and Distributor Plus. Standard Distributor supports up to 50 simultaneously MQTT Clients and Distributor Plus supports up to 250 for larger installations.
Enabling MQTT Distributor in conjunction with the MQTT Engine Module provides the components for a self-contained MOM infrastructure from one Ignition gateway. This combination delivers the requirements for IIoT solutions and wide-area SCADA applications such as oil and gas pipeline controls solutions. It is ideal for situations where there are restricted or high-cost communications such as in VSAT or cellular connectivity. This solution is also highly effective for increasing the data throughput for high-performance plant-floor solutions.
The MQTT Distributor Module does require an Ignition base license making it ideal for distributing one or more MQTT Distributor Modules for scalability, redundancy and diverse location applications to increase reliability.
For MQTT Distributor tutorials and support, please go here.