Cluster setup using Docker Compose

• Prerequisites
• Step 1. Pull TBMQ Image
• Step 2. Clone TBMQ repository
• Step 3. Installation
• Step 4. Running
• Step 5. Logs, stop and start commands
• Upgrading
  • Backup and restore (Optional)
  • Upgrade to 2.2.0
  • Upgrade to 2.1.0
    • Add Integration Executor microservice
    • Update third-party services
  • Run upgrade
• Generate certificate for HTTPS
• Enable MQTTS (MQTT over SSL/TLS)
  • Two-way MQTTS
  • One-way MQTTS
• Next steps

This guide will help you to set up TBMQ in cluster mode using Docker Compose.

Prerequisites

• Install Docker

Don’t forget to add your linux user to the docker group. See Manage Docker as a non-root user.

Step 1. Pull TBMQ Image

Make sure your have logged in to docker hub using command line.

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docker pull thingsboard/tbmq-node:2.2.0

Step 2. Clone TBMQ repository

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git clone -b release-2.2.0 https://github.com/thingsboard/tbmq.git
cd tbmq/docker

Step 3. Installation

Execute the following command to create necessary volumes for all the services and to update the haproxy config in the created volume.

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./scripts/docker-create-volumes.sh

Execute the following command to run installation:

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./scripts/docker-install-tbmq.sh

Step 4. Running

Execute the following command to start services:

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./scripts/docker-start-services.sh

After a while when all services will be successfully started you can make requests to http://{your-host-ip} in you browser (e.g. http://localhost) and connect clients using MQTT protocol on 1883 port.

You should see TBMQ login page. Use the following default credentials for System Administrator:

Username:

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sysadmin@thingsboard.org

Password:

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sysadmin

On the first user log-in you will be asked to change the default password to the preferred one and then re-login using the new credentials.

Step 5. Logs, stop and start commands

In case of any issues you can examine service logs for errors. For example to see TBMQ logs execute the following command:

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docker compose logs -f tbmq1

Or use the following command to see the state of all the containers.

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docker compose ps

Use next command to inspect the logs of all running services.

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docker compose logs -f

See docker compose logs command reference for more details.

Execute the following command to stop services:

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./scripts/docker-stop-services.sh

Execute the following command to stop and completely remove deployed docker containers:

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./scripts/docker-remove-services.sh

In case you want to remove docker volumes for all the containers, execute the following command. Note: it will remove all your data, so be careful before executing it.

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./scripts/docker-remove-volumes.sh

It could be useful to update logs (enable DEBUG/TRACE logs) in runtime or change TBMQ or Haproxy configs. In order to do this you need to make changes, for example, to the haproxy.cfg or logback.xml file. Afterward, execute the next command to apply the changes for the container:

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./scripts/docker-refresh-config.sh

To reload HAProxy’s configuration without restarting the Docker container you can send the HUP signal to this process (PID 1):

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docker exec -it haproxy-certbot sh -c "kill -HUP 1"

Upgrading

Review the release notes and upgrade instruction for detailed information on the latest changes.

If there are no Upgrade to x.x.x notes for your version, you can proceed directly with the general upgrade instructions.

If the documentation does not cover the specific upgrade instructions for your case, please contact us so we can provide further guidance.

Backup and restore (Optional)

While backing up your PostgreSQL database is highly recommended, it is optional before proceeding with the upgrade. For further guidance, follow the next instructions.

Upgrade to 2.2.0

In this release, the MQTT authentication mechanism was migrated from YAML/env configuration into the database. During upgrade, TBMQ needs to know which authentication providers are enabled in your deployment. This information is provided through environment variables passed to the upgrade container.

The upgrade script requires a file named tb-mqtt-broker.env that explicitly defines these variables. Environment variables from your docker-compose.yml file are not applied during the upgrade — only the values in tb-mqtt-broker.env will be used.

Tips If you use only Basic authentication, set SECURITY_MQTT_SSL_ENABLED=false. If you use only X.509 authentication, set SECURITY_MQTT_BASIC_ENABLED=false and SECURITY_MQTT_SSL_ENABLED=true.

Supported variables

• SECURITY_MQTT_BASIC_ENABLED (true|false)
• SECURITY_MQTT_SSL_ENABLED (true|false)
• SECURITY_MQTT_SSL_SKIP_VALIDITY_CHECK_FOR_CLIENT_CERT (true|false) — usually false.

Once the file is prepared and the values verified, proceed with the upgrade process.

Upgrade to 2.1.0

TBMQ v2.1.0 introduces enhancements, including a new Integration Executor microservice and bumped versions for third-party services.

Add Integration Executor microservice

This release adds support for external integrations via the new Integration Executor microservice.

For the complete updated docker-compose.yml, see the official example here.

To retrieve the latest configuration files, including those for Integration Executors, pull the updates from the release branch. Follow the steps outlined in the run upgrade instructions up to the execution of the upgrade script (do not execute .sh commands yet).

After successfully pulling the updates, create Docker volumes to store Integration Executor logs by running:

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./scripts/docker-create-volumes.sh

Upon running the command, you should see output similar to the following:

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user@user:~/tbmq/docker$ ./scripts/docker-create-volumes.sh

tbmq-ie1-logs
tbmq-ie2-logs
tbmq-ie-config

Update third-party services

With v2.1.0, TBMQ updates the versions of key third-party dependencies, including Redis, PostgreSQL, and Kafka. You can review the changes by visiting the following link.

We recommend aligning your environment with the updated third-party versions to ensure full compatibility with this release. Alternatively, you may proceed without upgrading, but compatibility is only guaranteed with the recommended versions.

We do not provide step-by-step upgrade instructions for third-party services. For such procedures, please refer to the official documentation of the respective platform or, in the case of managed services, consult your service provider’s resources. Note: simply changing the image tag is not enough and may not be the correct or safe way to upgrade third-party services.

If you choose to skip updating third-party service versions, be sure to carefully check whether the merge process in the previous step has altered any of their versions. Revert those changes if necessary.

After addressing third-party service versions as needed, you can continue with the remaining steps of the upgrade process.

Run upgrade

In case you would like to upgrade, please pull the recent changes from the latest release branch:

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git pull origin release-2.2.0

If you need to upgrade to a specific version, such as TBMQ v2.0.0, replace the release branch in the command above with the target branch name, e.g., release-2.0.0.

Note: Make sure custom changes of yours if available are not lost during the merge process. Make sure TBMQ_VERSION in .env file is set to the target version (e.g., set it to 2.2.0 if you are upgrading to the latest).

If you encounter conflicts during the merge process that are not related to your changes, we recommend accepting all the new changes from the remote branch.

You could revert the merge process by executing the following:

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git merge --abort

And repeat the merge by accepting theirs changes.

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git pull origin release-2.2.0 -X theirs

There are several useful options for the default merge strategy:

• -X ours - this option forces conflicting hunks to be auto-resolved cleanly by favoring our version.
• -X theirs - this is the opposite of ours. See more details here.

After that, execute the following commands:

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./scripts/docker-stop-services.sh
./scripts/docker-upgrade-tbmq.sh
./scripts/docker-start-services.sh

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./scripts/docker-stop-services.sh
./scripts/docker-upgrade-tbmq.sh --fromVersion=FROM_VERSION
./scripts/docker-start-services.sh

Generate certificate for HTTPS

We are using HAproxy for proxying traffic to containers and for web UI by default we are using 80 and 443 ports. For using HTTPS with a valid certificate, execute these commands:

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docker exec haproxy-certbot certbot-certonly --domain your_domain --email your_email
docker exec haproxy-certbot haproxy-refresh

Note: Valid certificate is used only when you visit web UI by domain in URL.

Enable MQTTS (MQTT over SSL/TLS)

MQTTS allows clients to connect to TBMQ over an encrypted TLS/SSL channel, ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of MQTT messages in transit. There are two common deployment options:

• Two-way MQTTS (Mutual TLS) – TBMQ terminates TLS, and clients must present valid certificates for authentication.
• One-way MQTTS (TLS termination at Load Balancer) – HAProxy or another load balancer handles TLS termination, and forwards plain MQTT traffic to TBMQ over a trusted internal network.

Both approaches protect external connections with encryption, but two-way MQTTS adds client certificate verification for higher security, while one-way MQTTS simplifies broker configuration and can reuse existing HTTPS certificates on the load balancer.

Two-way MQTTS

In this configuration, TBMQ itself handles TLS termination and (optionally) client certificate authentication. This approach is suitable when you want the broker to fully control SSL/TLS and mutual authentication without relying on a load balancer for security.

To enable MQTT over SSL (MQTTS), you need to provide valid SSL certificates and configure TBMQ to use them.

For more information on supported certificate formats and options, refer to the MQTT over SSL documentation.

Provide SSL Certificates

Obtain a valid SSL certificate and private key. For example:

• mqttserver.pem – your public certificate (may include full chain);
• mqttserver_key.pem – your private key.

Self-signed certificates are supported for testing, but we recommend using certificates from a trusted Certificate Authority for production environments.

Mount Certificates into Containers

Open your docker-compose.yml file and uncomment the volume line that mounts the certificate files:

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volumes:
  - PATH_TO_CERTS:/config/certificates

Replace PATH_TO_CERTS with the path to the folder containing your certificate files. Make sure TBMQ can access those file.

Configure Environment Variables

Edit the tb-mqtt-broker.env file and uncomment/configure the following lines to enable SSL:

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LISTENER_SSL_ENABLED=true
LISTENER_SSL_PEM_CERT=/config/certificates/mqttserver.pem
LISTENER_SSL_PEM_KEY=/config/certificates/mqttserver_key.pem
LISTENER_SSL_PEM_KEY_PASSWORD=server_key_password

Adjust the file paths and password as needed. If your private key is not password-protected, you can leave LISTENER_SSL_PEM_KEY_PASSWORD empty.

Restart Services

Apply the changes by restarting TBMQ services:

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./scripts/docker-start-services.sh

Once started, your MQTT clients will be able to securely connect to port 8883 using TLS/SSL.

One-way MQTTS

In this setup, TLS is terminated at the load balancer (HAProxy). Clients connect securely to HAProxy over MQTTS (port 8883), and HAProxy forwards plain MQTT (unencrypted) to TBMQ over the internal network (port 1883). You can reuse the same certificate you already use for HTTPS.

Point HAProxy to your certificate bundle (PEM with full chain + private key). If you reuse the HTTPS cert, reference the same bundle. Locate and update the haproxy.cfg file:

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 listen mqtts-in
  bind *:${MQTTS_PORT} ssl crt /usr/local/etc/haproxy/certs.d/fullchain-and-key.pem
  mode tcp
  option clitcpka # For TCP keep-alive
  timeout client 3h
  timeout server 3h
  option tcplog
  balance leastconn
  server tbMqtt1 tbmq1:1883 check inter 5s resolvers docker_resolver resolve-prefer ipv4
  server tbMqtt2 tbmq2:1883 check inter 5s resolvers docker_resolver resolve-prefer ipv4

Note: Replace fullchain-and-key.pem with the actual filename of your certificate bundle.

Next steps

• Getting started guide - This guide provide quick overview of TBMQ.

• Security guide - Learn how to enable authentication and authorization for MQTT clients.

• Configuration guide - Learn about TBMQ configuration files and parameters.

• MQTT client type guide - Learn about TBMQ client types.

• Integration with ThingsBoard - Learn about how to integrate TBMQ with ThingsBoard.