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Understanding Networks

Networks

Published on 31 August 2021

Overview

IoT Networks are the front doors to your IoT Hub. Each Network provides a way for Devices to connect to a Hub through different protocols.

There are 2 types of networks:

Device-aware Networks: the connections using these networks are tied to a registered IoT Device. All Device features, such as authentication, filtering and metrics, apply to connected clients.
Device-unaware Networks: the connections using these networks are directly routed to the message brokering service. These are be used when there is a management and Device authentication middleware between the Devices and your Hub.

All Networks are available in the Networks tab of your Hub in the console. From there you can add and remove Networks.

Each Hub has two default Networks available (MQTT and WebSocket). These cannot be modified. Other Networks can be added and removed on-demand.

Note:

Some Networks allow the configuration of topic prefixes. All messages published through them will have this prefix added to the message topic. You can leave it empty if you want to allow the Network to access the entire topic space.

Default MQTT Network

This is a Device-aware network that provides MQTT protocol.

You can connect Devices on this Network using the following methods:

MQTT over mutually-authenticated TLS - on TCP port 8883. Authenticate with certificates.
MQTT over server-authenticated TLS - on TCP port 8883. Authenticate with Device ID as MQTT username.
Plaintext - MQTT, on TCP port 1883. Authenticate with Device ID as MQTT username.

Note:

Allow insecure connections for the Devices on which you want to use server-authenticated TLS or plaintext.

When using TLS to authenticate your Devices, you need the Hub server-side certificate authority. The CA and the endpoint information are available in the Network tab of the console.

Note:

For more information about how to use the default MQTT Network, read more on How to connect to the default MQTT Network..

Default WebSocket Network

This is a Device-aware network that provides MQTT-over-WebSockets protocol.

Important:

Devices that use this Network should be configured to allow insecure connections as mutually authenticated TLS is not available.

You can connect Devices on this Network using the following methods:

MQTT over secure WebSockets - on TCP port 443. Authenticates with Device ID as MQTT username.
MQTT over WebSockets - on TCP port 80. Authenticates with Device ID as MQTT username.

Note:

The server certificate for this Network is signed by Let’s Encrypt. It is not necessary to download and install it as it will be automatically authenticated by your browser.

Tip:

For more information about default WebSocket Network, check out how to connect to the default WebSocket Network..

REST Networks

This is a Device-unaware network that allows you to publish messages on a Hub through a REST API.

Creating a REST Network will provide you with a secret token to use when calling this API.

Note:

For more information about how to use REST Networks, check out how to set up and use REST Networks.

Sigfox Networks

This is a Device-unaware network that allows you to publish messages on a Hub from the Sigfox infrastructure.

Creating a Sigfox network will provide you with a secret token to use to set up the required callbacks in your Sigfox backend.

Note:

For more information about how to use Sigfox networks, check out how to set up and use Sigfox networks.

Limits and Quotas

	Quotas	Limits
Maximum number of Networks per Hub - Shared plan		100
Maximum number of Networks per Hub - Dedicated plan		100
Maximum number of Networks per Hub - HA plan		100