Cirrus Link's OT MQTT Server, Chariot, is now available on Azure Marketplace as a runtime license enabling quick and easy deployment to assist clients in building out their MQTT Infrastructure. Chariot will also be added soon to the AWS Marketplace. Now clients have a choice in purchasing a perpetual license or spinning up the service in the cloud to best fit their application. Cirrus Link Solutions ’ patented Chariot v2 MQTT Server software is the first MQTT Server that is Sparkplug-aware, giving complete MQTT network oversight.
Chariot V2 is an OASyS MQTT 3.1.1 compliant server. MQTT is the standard messaging protocol for industrial applications needing to share IIoT data from operations (OT) to IT. Sparkplug defines a topic namespace, payload definition and state management needed for real-time mission-critical applications.
Coupling MQTT with Sparkplug gives complete Digital Transformation for interoperability and 100% data self-discovery. The Chariot MQTT Server runs as a Java application on any operating system that supports Java. This enables it to be run on premise or in the cloud for high availability applications. Features include:
- Web Based Administration
- Runs on Java, can be transported across any platform
- TLS Security
- Username/Password Authentication
- Access Control Lists (ACLs) user authentication
- Can be used as a MQTT server (MQTT broker) in any SCADA system
Chariot has several unique features that utilize the Sparkplug 3.0 technology to provide better network oversight:
- Detect and report collisions between duplicate Sparkplug Group and Edge Node ID collisions across multiple MQTT clients
- Internal tracking and reporting of Sparkplug specific data flowing through the MQTT Server
- Tracking and reporting of all online/offline Edge Nodes and 'primary host' applications (birth counts, death counts, STATE messages, and timing)
- Tracking and reporting of Edge Nodes that are going offline often
- Compression sampling to see if it is a good idea or not
- Tracking of Edge Nodes that are not subscribing on primary host ID and possibly should be
- Tracking of long keep alive timeout configurations and potential misconfigurations of MQTT LWT in the context of Sparkplug applications
- ACL configuration based on Sparkplug topic tokens
Cirrus Link modules are built on the Ignition software stack, extending the standard functionality for solutions using MQTT to connect OT data. The modules are used for distributed field devices using Ignition Edge, or on local factory networks running Ignition Gateway and provide real-time data connectivity.