Synchronet v3.21e-Win32 (install) has been released (Mar-2026).

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 +====== Monitoring and Control via MQTT ======
 +
 +Synchronet v3.20 can publish and subscribe to message "topics" on a configured MQTT [[http://mosquitto.org/|broker]].
 +
 +As enabled and configured in [[util:SCFG]]->Networks->MQTT:
 +
 +<code>
 +╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
 +║   Message Queue Telemetry Transport  ║
 +╠══════════════════════════════════════╣
 +║ │Enabled             Yes             ║
 +║ │Broker Address      192.168.1.2     ║
 +║ │Broker Port         1883            ║
 +║ │Username                            ║
 +║ │Password                            ║
 +║ │Keep-alive          60 seconds      ║
 +║ │Protocol Version    5               ║
 +║ │Publish Verbosity   High            ║
 +║ │Publish QOS         0: At most once ║
 +║ │Subscribe QOS       2: Exactly once ║
 +║ │Log Level           Informational   ║
 +║ │TLS (encryption)    Off             ║
 +╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
 +</code>
 +
 +===== Retention =====
 +Most Synchronet MQTT messages are published with the //retain// flag enabled. Retained messages published before a client/subscriber connects will still be received (upon new client connection) until until the broker is restarted or the retained messages are explicitly removed from the broker.
 +
 +===== Topics =====
 +Synchronet MQTT message topics start with ''**sbbs/BBSID**'' where ''BBSID'' is the System's BBS ID (for QWK Packets) as configured in [[util:SCFG]]->Message Options. It's possible for a single MQTT broker to serve multiple Synchronet BBSes in this way. The full BBS name is published to this topic level (not a leaf topic). For example:
 +  sbbs/MYBBS = My Brand-new BBS
 +  
 +All leaf topics are published as children of the ''sbbs/BBSID'' topic under 3 main branches:
 +  * ''sbbs/BBSID/**node**'' - BBS nodes
 +  * ''sbbs/BBSID/**host**'' - Server hosts
 +  * ''sbbs/BBSID/**action**'' - Client actions (events)
 +
 +{{:ref:mqtt_explorer_top-level_example.png?700}}
 +
 +All MQTT messages published by Synchronet contain just plain text (US-ASCII characters), the one exception being ''sbbs/+/node/+/output'' topics that include terminal control characters/sequences. Numeric values, unless otherwise are specified, are represented in US-ASCII //decimal// characters.
 +
 +===== Nodes =====
 +
 +The BBS's [[server:terminal]] server nodes (servicing terminal connections via Telnet, SSH, RLogin, Raw TCP) can be monitored and controlled via MQTT.
 +
 +Under the ''sbbs/BBSID/**node**'' hierarchy, you'll find a sub-topic for each BBS node, with the total node count published to the ''node'' topic, for example:
 +  sbbs/MYBBS/node = 4 total
 +
 +In "High" Publish Verbosity mode, human-readable node status messages are published directly to ''node/+'' topics. For example:
 +
 +  sbbs/MYBBS/node/1 = Bubbaboy at external program menu via telnet
 +  sbbs/MYBBS/node/2 = At login prompt via telnet
 +  sbbs/MYBBS/node/3 = At login prompt via telnet
 +  sbbs/MYBBS/node/4 = Waiting for connection
 +
 +
 +Sub-topics of each ''node/+'' topic include:
 +
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**status** - tab-delimited node status values (see ''[[dir:load]]/nodedefs.js'' for details)
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**terminal** - tab-delimited current (or last) connected-terminal definition
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**output** - live output to connected-terminal (for spying)
 +
 +Example:
 +
 +  sbbs/VERT/node/1/status = 0       0       1       65535   0       0       0       7
 +  sbbs/VERT/node/1/terminal = 80    24      syncterm        ANSI    CP437   6       0       2005
 +  
 +==== Control ====
 +
 +Nodes can be controlled by publishing messages to the following topics:
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**input** - keyboard input to inject into connected-node
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**msg** - send a short text message to the node (message should be terminated with a newline character)
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**set/status** - set the node's status value (to an integer value: "0" is waiting for connection, "5" is off-line)
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**set/errors** - set the node's error counter value (to an integer value, e.g. "0" to clear the error counter)
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**set/misc** - set the node's miscellaneous attribute flags (to an integer value, "0x" prefix for hexadecimal values)
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**set/lock** - only a sysop can login (publish "0" to clear this flag)
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**set/intr** - interrupt (disconnect) a user's session (publish "0" to clear this flag)
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**set/down** - make the node not available for connections (status = 5) (publish "0" to clear this flag)
 +  * sbbs/+/node/+/**set/rerun** - have the node reload its configuration upon next connection (publish "0" to clear this flag)
 +
 +===== Hosts =====
 +
 +A single Synchronet BBS can be split across multiple instances running on separate inter-networked host computers. Each host will be represented with its own sub-topic of the ''sbbs/BBSID/host'' topic. For example:
 +
 +  sbbs/MYBBS/host/MYCOMPUTER
 +  sbbs/MYBBS/host/rPi
 +  sbbs/MYBBS/host/ubuntu
 +
 +The public host name (configured in ''[[dir:ctrl]]/[[config:sbbs.ini]]'') of the host is published to this topic level (not a leaf). For example:
 +  sbbs/MYBBS/host/MYCOMPUTER = mybbs.synchro.net
 +
 +The control and monitoring of a specific Synchronet instance is done through this "host sub-topic" tree. 
 +
 +^ Host sub-topic ^ Description  ^
 +| recycle        | Publishing any message to the **recycle** sub-topic of any host topic will initiate a recycling of that host's servers (all of them). |
 +| pause          | Publishing any message to the **pause** sub-topic of any host topic will initiate pause that host's servers (all of them), preventing the acceptance of any new incoming client connections. |
 +| resume         | Publishing any message to the **resume** sub-topic of any host topic will un-pause that host's servers (all of them), that we previously paused via the **pause** topic. |
 +
 +===== Servers =====
 +
 +Each Synchronet instance (host) contains the following servers, each represented by its own sub-topic of ''sbbs/BBSID/host/hostname/server'':
 +
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/**term** - Terminal Server
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/**mail** - Mail Server
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/**ftp** - FTP Server
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/**web** - Web Server
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/**srvc** - Services
 +
 +The //status// of each server is published to its server topic, for example:
 +  sbbs/MYBBS/host/MYCOMPUTER/server/term = ready   1/5 clients     223 served
 +
 +The //state// (first field of status) for each server is one of:
 +  * stopped
 +  * initializing
 +  * ready
 +  * paused
 +  * reloading
 +  * stopping
 +  * disconnected
 +
 +The server status contains more details/statistics and is published more often when "High" MQTT->Publish Verbosity is enabled in [[util:SCFG]].
 +
 +^ Server sub-topic ^ Description  ^
 +| recycle          | Publishing any message to the **recycle** sub-topic of any server topic will initiate a recycling of that server. |
 +| pause            | Publishing any message to the **pause** sub-topic of any server topic will prevent that server from accepting any new incoming client connections. |
 +| resume           | Publishing any message to the **resume** sub-topic of any server topic will un-pause that server, returning to the "ready" state, accepting incoming client connections. |
 +
 +Each server topic has the following sub-topics for status reporting:
 +
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/+/**version** - name, version/revision, and build date/time/tool of server
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/+/**state/#** - server state change events
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/+/**client** - current count of connected clients and maximum number of concurrent clients supported by this server
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/+/**client/list** - tab-delimited details of all connected clients, one client per line
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/+/**client/action/#** - client actions (e.g. connect, disconnect)
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/+/**served** - total clients served since server was started
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/+/**highwater** - highest concurrent client count since server was started
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/+/**error_count** - total errors logged since server was started
 +
 +==== Logs ====
 +
 +Each ''server/+'' and ''event'' sub-topics has a **log** child topic where //all// messages of all log levels (severity) will be published as well as a grandchild topic for each log level (0-7, decreasing in severity) of logged messages.
 +Log messages published directly to the "log" topic also have a MQTT v5 user property that specifies the log level of each message (for indication / sorting by the receiving client).
 +
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/+/**log**
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/server/+/**log/#**
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/event/**log**
 +  * sbbs/+/host/+/event/**log/#**
 +
 +===== Actions =====
 +
 +Client actions are published to the following BBS-wide topics:
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**hack**/METHOD - suspected hack attempt
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**spam**/ACTION - suspected SPAM received
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**error**/LEVEL - unexpected condition
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**exec**/PROGCODE - external program executed
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**login**/PROTOCOL - successful user authentication
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**login_fail**/PROTOCOL - unsuccessful user authentication
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**logout**/PROTOCOL - user logged-out
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**download**/DIRCODE - file downloaded
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**upload**/DIRCODE - file uploaded
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**post**/SUBCODE - message posted
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**newuser**/PROTOCOL - new user created
 +  * sbbs/+/action/**page**/node/NODE_NUM - sysop paged for chat
 +
 +Fields are tab-delimited and begin with a date/time stamp in ISO-8601 format.
 +
 +===== Triggers =====
 +
 +The Terminal Server's //event thread// can be instructed to executed Timed Events or initiate QWKnet call-outs by posting a message to the following topics:
 +  * sbbs/+/**exec** - send the internal code of the timed event to execute (case-insensitive)
 +  * sbbs/+/**call** - send the QWK-ID of the QWKnet node to force a call-out to (case-insensitive)
 +===== See Also =====
 +  * [[:ref:|ref index]]
 +  * [[:monitor:|Monitoring]]
 +
 +{{tag>mqtt}}
  

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