Connect Overview
Connect is the data streaming layer of the HiveMQ Platform. In Connect, you bring your HiveMQ brokers and HiveMQ Edge instances together with the platform, start your data flow, and manage your whole network from one place. Connect is the foundation for the rest of your work. Until you connect your data, you cannot contextualize, analyze, or act on it.
What "Connect" Means
Connect covers two related tasks:
-
Connect your infrastructure to the platform. Bring HiveMQ brokers and edges, new or existing, under the platform so you can see, manage, and grow them centrally.
-
Connect your devices to your brokers. Configure your brokers from the Connect tab so devices can connect and stream data into them.
The first task connects your infrastructure to the platform. The second task gets your data flowing. You need both before you have data to contextualize, analyze, and act on.
What You Use Connect For
-
Get new infrastructure: Deploy a HiveMQ Cloud cluster, deploy a self-managed HiveMQ Software broker, or create a HiveMQ Edge instance.
-
Connect infrastructure you already run: Register an existing HiveMQ broker or edge with the platform.
-
License a Software broker: Purchase a license to unlock the full power of self-managed HiveMQ Software.
-
Manage and grow your network: Review network health, license capacity, throughput limits, and license status in concise diagnostic summaries. Follow the guided flows to add more.
How Instances Reach the Platform
Understand this model before you start. This model explains what appears and what does not appear in the Connect tab
An instance appears in the platform only after a component on it reports to the platform and a connection string associates the instance with your account. A broker does not appear just because you deploy it. Until you connect the broker, the Connect tab does not show it.
The typical path is two steps, not one:
-
Deploy a broker or edge, or take one you already run.
-
Connect it to the platform with a connection string so it reports to the platform.
Only after the second step does the instance appear and progress toward a Connected state.