MQTT & Sparkplug B

AnywhereSCADA uses MQTT with the Sparkplug B specification as its connectivity layer. Every space comes with a fully managed MQTT broker — no infrastructure to set up or maintain.

Connection Details

Each space provides a dedicated set of credentials:

Setting	Value
Host	`mqtt1.anywherescada.joyautomation.com`
Port	`8883` (MQTT over TLS)
Username	Your space's short ID (e.g. `abc1234`)
Password	Auto-generated (visible in space settings)
Protocol	Sparkplug B over MQTT 3.1.1

Find your credentials on the space settings page under MQTT Connection.

What Is Sparkplug B?

Sparkplug B is an open specification built on top of MQTT that defines:

Topic namespace — a structured hierarchy: spBv1.0/{group}/{message_type}/{node}/{device}
Payload encoding — Protocol Buffers (protobuf) for efficient, typed data
Birth/death certificates — automatic online/offline detection for nodes and devices
State management — SCADA host state awareness for store-and-forward

Message Types

Message	Direction	Purpose
`NBIRTH`	Node → Broker	Node comes online with its metric schema
`NDEATH`	Broker → Clients	Node went offline (Last Will & Testament)
`DBIRTH`	Node → Broker	Device comes online with its metrics
`DDEATH`	Broker → Clients	Device went offline
`NDATA`	Node → Broker	Node metric value update
`DDATA`	Node → Broker	Device metric value update
`NCMD`	SCADA → Node	Command to a node
`DCMD`	SCADA → Device	Command to a device
`STATE`	SCADA Host	SCADA application state (online/offline)

Supported Data Types

AnywhereSCADA stores and displays the following Sparkplug B metric types:

Float / Double — floating-point values (temperature, pressure, flow rates)
Integer — signed/unsigned 8, 16, 32, and 64-bit integers
Boolean — true/false states (valve open/closed, motor running/stopped)
String — text values

Connecting a Device

Step 1: Configure Your MQTT Client

Use any Sparkplug B-compliant client. Popular options:

Eclipse Tahu — reference Sparkplug B implementation (Java, C, Python)
Cirrus Link MQTT Modules — Ignition MQTT Transmission/Engine
Custom clients — any MQTT library + Sparkplug B protobuf encoding

Configure the client with your space's MQTT credentials (host, port, username, password).

Step 2: Publish Birth Certificates

When your node connects, it should publish:

NBIRTH — declares the node and its metric schema
DBIRTH — declares each device and its metrics

AnywhereSCADA uses birth certificates to build the network topology and display metrics.

Step 3: Publish Data

Send NDATA or DDATA messages whenever metric values change. AnywhereSCADA receives updates in real time and displays them on the dashboard.

Topic Namespace

Sparkplug B topics follow this structure:

spBv1.0/{group_id}/{message_type}/{edge_node_id}
spBv1.0/{group_id}/{message_type}/{edge_node_id}/{device_id}

group_id — logical grouping (e.g. Plant1, BuildingA)
edge_node_id — the connecting application or gateway
device_id — an individual device behind the edge node

TLS / Security

All connections use TLS on port 8883. Unencrypted connections are not accepted. Each space's credentials are isolated — devices in one space cannot access another space's data.

Troubleshooting

Device Not Appearing

Verify your credentials (username = space short ID, not your email)
Confirm you're connecting to port 8883 with TLS enabled
Check that your client publishes proper NBIRTH / DBIRTH messages
Look at the Network Visualization page for connection status

Metrics Not Updating

Ensure you're sending DDATA or NDATA messages after the initial birth
Verify the metric names in data messages match those declared in the birth certificate
Check your client's MQTT connection status — reconnects require re-publishing births

Connection Drops

Trial accounts: connections are terminated after the 8-hour window expires. Start a new session or upgrade to Production.
Production accounts: check your network connectivity and MQTT client keep-alive settings