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. You use Connect to lay a foundation for the rest of your work. Until you connect your devices and brokers with the platform, you cannot use the platform to contextualize, analyze, or act on your data.
What "Connect" Means
Two related tasks involve the concept "connect":
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Connect your infrastructure to the platform. Bring HiveMQ brokers and edges, new or existing, into the platform so that you can see, manage, and grow them centrally.
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Connect your devices to your brokers. Use Connect to configure your brokers so that 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 must do both tasks before you can contextualize, analyze, and act on your data.
What You Do In Connect
In the HiveMQ Platform, you use Connect to do the following tasks:
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Get new infrastructure: Deploy a HiveMQ Cloud cluster, deploy a self-managed HiveMQ Software broker, or create a HiveMQ Edge instance.
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Connect infrastructure you already run: Register an existing HiveMQ broker or edge with the platform.
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License a Software broker: Purchase a license to unlock the full power of self-managed HiveMQ Software.
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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 concept before you start. This concept explains what appears and what does not appear in Connect. |
An instance appears in the platform only after a component on it reports to the platform and you use a connection string to associate 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 way you do this involves two steps:
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Deploy a broker or edge, or take one you already run.
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Connect the broker or edge instance to the platform with a connection string so that it reports to the platform.
Only after you complete the second step does the instance appear and progress toward a Connected state.