Unlocking Programmatic Workflows via REST API Support in HiveMQ Cloud Starter

We are excited to bring enhancements to HiveMQ REST APIs for HiveMQ Cloud Starter — now you can manage MQTT permissions, roles, and credentials programmatically. 

The introduction of these enhancements opens up new workflows for HiveMQ Cloud Starter users and makes it easier for developers to integrate role-based access and credentials management into existing systems or interfaces. 

What are REST APIs?

REST APIs (Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interfaces) are a set of guidelines and architectural principles that allow different software applications or systems to communicate with each other over the Internet, often using standard HTTP methods.

In a RESTful API, each resource (such as a data object or a service) is identified by a unique URL. The API enables CRUDL (Create, Read, Update, Delete, List) operations on these resources by utilizing standard HTTP methods such as GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.

REST APIs are stateless, meaning that each request from a client to a server must contain all the information needed to process the request. This makes it easier to scale and allows for greater flexibility, as it minimizes the server's need to remember the state of interactions.

REST APIs with HiveMQ Cloud

We already introduced a few Broker REST APIs in the initial version of HiveMQ Cloud Starter, in which our users can access information pertaining to their connected MQTT Clients. With the recent update, we have expanded this functionality to allow our users to use REST APIs for access management as well. Specifically, these APIs offer the following new functionalities:

• Manage MQTT Credentials: Create, list, and delete credentials. Listing credentials can be done via username.

• MQTT Permissions: Create, list, and delete permissions. 

• MQTT Roles: Create, list, and delete roles as well as attach specific permission to roles.

• User Roles: List, attach, and detach users. 

You can find the API details here.

What are the Benefits to Our Users?

This feature offers the following benefits to our users.

• Simplified Integration: REST APIs make it easier for developers to integrate HiveMQ Cloud role-based access and credentials management into existing systems or interfaces. 

• Scalability: Due to stateless architecture, this enables easy scaling of your permissions and credentialing systems. This is crucial for IoT systems where the number of connected devices can be immense.

• Platform Agnostic: Being platform-agnostic allows REST APIs to be used across different programming languages and environments. This is beneficial for IoT ecosystems, which are often heterogeneous in terms of hardware and software.

How Do I Use This Feature?

To use these REST APIs, you need to create an API token. This can be created in the console itself. 

To create a new token, click on Create new token. While creating this token, you can set parameters such as name, validity, and scope. You can also choose from a variety of permissions and add a variety of actions like create, delete, update, or list for different endpoints, giving you both flexibility and security in managing your data. 

Once you have set up your token, you can use our documentation to use the APIs.  

Summary 

The latest REST APIs enhancements provide you with a programmatic way to enable your MQTT Workflows. With these enhancements, you can manage MQTT credentials, permissions, and roles as well as user roles. To use these APIs, you need to create an API token using the HiveMQ Cloud console. These enhancements are currently only available in the Cloud Starter plan. 

In a follow-up blog, we will walk you step-by-step through these APIs and show you how to use them.