Flapping Detect Configuration

Flapping in EMQX refers to a situation where an MQTT client rapidly connects and disconnects from the broker in a short period. The flapping mechanism is to detect flapping clients and to disconnect the client from a connection.

For example, if you want to mark clients that make 15 connection attempts within a 1-minute window as flapping clients, and then ban the detected clients from connecting to EMQX for 5 minutes, you can work with the code below:

flapping_detect {
  enable = true
  max_count  =  15
  window_time  =  1m
  ban_time  =  5m
}

Where,

• max_count is to set the maximum number of connection attempts allowed from a client within a specified time window (defined by window_time)
• window_time is to set the time window in which the maximum number of connection attempts from a client are counted.
• ban_time is to set the duration for which a client is banned from connecting to the EMQX after it has been detected as flapping.

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You can also customize the settings via Dashboard by clicking Access Control -> Flapping Detect on the left navigation menu of the Dashboard. Once you configured these items with Dashboard, your settings will override the same configuration items in emqx.conf.

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EMQX offers more configuration items to serve customized needs better. For details, see the EMQX Open Source Configuration Manual and EMQX Enterprise Configuration Manual for Enterprise.