MQTT integration with Losant IoT

RE: MQTT integration with Losant IoT

Didrik Rokhaug — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 08:45:28 GMT

One thing you can try to see if you get any messages from the device to the cloud (even though they do not show in the GUI), is to use the REST API to fetch any messages.

Using Httpie, the command to get the ten latest messages sent this year would be:

http GET api.nrfcloud.com/.../messages Authorization:"Bearer <your API token>" inclusiveStart=="2020-01-01T01:01:01.001Z" exclusiveEnd=="2020-04-14T01:01:01.001Z"    

RE: MQTT integration with Losant IoT

adaxem — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 10:11:43 GMT

Hi Didrik,

Indeed, I am getting only the loading diamond and can sometimes actually get the whole Cards page to load by refreshing, but not consistently. However, I have never actually managed to get a live reading (for temperature or pressure) displayed on the Cards page, even though the Thingy:52 is actually transmitting.

Double-checked the topics I am subscribing to on the Losant integration, unfortunately they seem to be correct.

Is there any other way I could check that the MQTT stream can be subscribed to? Any other software or utility?

RE: MQTT integration with Losant IoT

Didrik Rokhaug — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 11:46:56 GMT

[quote user="adaxem"]It is also worth noting that even though the Thingy:52 is transmitting data for all environmental sensors (checked on the Thingy iOS app and nRF Cloud Gateway logs), the Cards page on nRF Connect for Cloud is still unaccessible (although both the device and gateway are displayed as being connected).[/quote]

If you only get the loading diamond, have you tried to refresh the page?

Are you subscribing to the right topic?

RE: MQTT integration with Losant IoT

adaxem — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 16:14:54 GMT

Thank you for this additional information Didrik.

I was indeed downloading the certificates from the web UI, so followed your suggestion and got the certificates using the POST request to the /account/certificates endpoint, then formatted them correctly using the Certificate manager of nRF Connect for Desktop and entered all these new details to Losant.

However, Losant is still unable to subscribe to the MQTT stream for my Thingy:52, although I am not receiving any error messages. Please note that I am not trying to add the Thingy:52 as a Device to Losant, but rather have Losant subscribe to the MQTT stream through the Integrations functionality of Losant (https://docs.losant.com/applications/integrations/) which allows to connect Losant to external MQTT brokers (I assume nRF Cloud plays this role in the setup we are discussing).

It is also worth noting that even though the Thingy:52 is transmitting data for all environmental sensors (checked on the Thingy iOS app and nRF Cloud Gateway logs), the Cards page on nRF Connect for Cloud is still unaccessible (although both the device and gateway are displayed as being connected).

I'd be grateful if you have any other suggestions regarding how to proceed further, any other way (apart from Losant) to check that the MQTT stream is actually accessible and a possible explanation for the environmental Cards not being loaded on nRF Connect for Cloud.

Thank you once more for all your assistance, stay safe and have a nice weekend 🙂

RE: MQTT integration with Losant IoT

Didrik Rokhaug — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 09:47:58 GMT

[quote user="adaxem"]This leads me to believe I might be doing something wrong before downloading the device certificates from nRF Connect for Cloud, i.e. perhaps I am supplying a wrong Device ID or PIN/HWID. What should these values be?[/quote]

Are you getting the certificates from the web UI? I think you will then only get certificates for "generic" devices. which are not able to listen to the traffic of other "generic" devices.

Instead, if I have understood this correctly, you need to add Losant as an "account device". You can get the certificates and device ID for an "account device" by sending a POST request to the /account/certificates endpoint.

[quote user="adaxem"]Also, it is worth noting that although the Thingy:52 is properly connected to the nRF Cloud Gateway on my iOS device, that both the gateway and device are displayed on nRF Connect for Cloud as being online and that the nRF Cloud Gateway logs show that the Thingy:52 is transmitting rssi values every minute, nRF Connect for Cloud cannot display the cards for the device (i.e. the loader is displayed endlessly and the cards screen never loads).[/quote]

Are the relevant services configured to send data on the Thingy? If the services has been disabled from the Thingy-app, I don't think they will show up in nRF Cloud.

RE: MQTT integration with Losant IoT

adaxem — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 15:12:05 GMT

Many thanks for your help once again Didrik.

Continuing the discussion thread here, as I was able to get past the Losant error message by following your suggestion and using nRF Connect for Desktop to properly format the certificates and private key.

However, although all details are now supplied correctly, Losant is unable to connect to the MQTT stream.

This leads me to believe I might be doing something wrong before downloading the device certificates from nRF Connect for Cloud, i.e. perhaps I am supplying a wrong Device ID or PIN/HWID. What should these values be?

Also, it is worth noting that although the Thingy:52 is properly connected to the nRF Cloud Gateway on my iOS device, that both the gateway and device are displayed on nRF Connect for Cloud as being online and that the nRF Cloud Gateway logs show that the Thingy:52 is transmitting rssi values every minute, nRF Connect for Cloud cannot display the cards for the device (i.e. the loader is displayed endlessly and the cards screen never loads).

RE: MQTT integration with Losant IoT

adaxem — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 14:18:02 GMT

I just copied and pasted the certificate and key text, including the \n escape characters, which might as well be the cause of the error message.

Will follow your suggestion and post back my findings.

Thank you once again Didrik, stay safe!

RE: MQTT integration with Losant IoT

Didrik Rokhaug — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 11:15:13 GMT

Ok, I think I understand what you mean now.

As for the error you get, how did you provide the certificates to the integration script?

You have to replace the \n escape characters with actual newlines for the keys to be "proper" .pem keys. One quick way to do this is to save the downloaded json as a file, then use the "Link Monitor" application in nRF Connect for Desktop, switch to the "Certificate manager" tab, and load the certificates from the json file.

RE: MQTT integration with Losant IoT

adaxem — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 13:40:56 GMT

Thank you for your prompt reply Didrik. I have now edited my original post to remove all certificate and private key information.

I will try to rephrase my question in order to give you a better understanding of the problem.

In order to setup an integration on the Losant IoT platform, a specific set of information has to be provided, as detailed in the relevant documentation: https://docs.losant.com/applications/integrations/

I have already followed these instructions to successfully subscribe to another MQTT stream setup by my colleagues using a different set of sensors.

By following these instructions and the relevant MQTT documentation of the nrfcloud.com platform, I believe I am supplying the appropriate information to Losant in order to create the MQTT subscription (i.e. make Losant subscribe to the MQTT stream setup by nrfcloud.com).

Is that accurate and feasible? Isn't nrfcloud.com creating an MQTT stream when a Thingy:52 is connected to it via a gateway (my iOS device in this instance)? Am I missing some step and receiving the error message from Losant as a result?

RE: MQTT integration with Losant IoT

Didrik Rokhaug — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 11:53:05 GMT

Hi.

First of all, you should never post your certificates, and especially not your private key. Especially not in a public ticket.

You can upload json files by zipping them first, then upload the zipped file/folder.

When it comes to your actual problem, I am not quite sure I understand what your problem is.

What does the nRF Cloud certificates have to do Losant?

What file are you (or the library/script) provide to openssl? Is the file in the expected format?

Best regards,

Didrik

RE: MQTT integration with Losant IoT

adaxem — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 20:38:38 GMT

PS. Sorry, it seems that I am unable to attach JSON files, so please suggest an alternative way of sending this data through.