Integrate with PostgreSQL

EMQX supports integrating with PostgreSQL for password authentication.

TIP

• Knowledge about basic EMQX authentication concepts

Data Schema and Query Statement

EMQX PostgreSQL authenticator supports almost any storage schema. You can determine how to store credentials and access them as your business needs, for example, using one or multiple tables, views, etc.

Users need to provide a query statement template and ensure the following fields are included:

• password_hash: required; password (in plain text or hashed) stored in the database;
• salt: optional; salt = "" or just remove this field to indicate no salt value will be added;
• is_superuser: optional; flag if the current client is a superuser; default: false.

Example table structure for storing credentials:

CREATE TABLE mqtt_user (
    id serial PRIMARY KEY,
    username text NOT NULL UNIQUE,
    password_hash  text NOT NULL,
    salt text NOT NULL,
    is_superuser boolean DEFAULT false,
    created timestamp with time zone DEFAULT NOW()
);

TIP

The above example has created an implicit UNIQUE index field (username) that is helpful for the queries. When there is a significant number of users in the system, please optimize and index the tables to be queried beforehand to shorten the query response time and reduce the load for EMQX.

In this table, MQTT users are identified by username.

For example, if you want to add a document for a superuser (is_superuser: true) with username user123, password secret, and suffixed salt salt, the query statement should be:

INSERT INTO mqtt_user(username, password_hash, salt, is_superuser) VALUES ('user123', 'bede90386d450cea8b77b822f8887065e4e5abf132c2f9dccfcc7fbd4cba5e35', 'salt', true);
INSERT 0 1

The corresponding configuration parameters are:

• password_hash_algorithm: sha256
• salt_position: suffix

SQL:

query = "SELECT password_hash, salt, is_superuser FROM mqtt_user WHERE username = ${username} LIMIT 1"

Configure with Dashboard

You can use EMQX Dashboard to configure how to use PostgreSQL for password authentication.

On EMQX Dashboard, click Access Control -> Authentication on the left navigation tree to enter the Authentication page. Click Create at the top right corner, then click to select Password-Based as Mechanism, and PostgreSQL as Backend, this will lead us to the Configuration tab, as shown below.

Follow the instruction below on how to configure:

Connect: Fill in the information needed to connect PostgreSQL.

• Server: Specify the server address that EMQX is to connect (host:port).
• Database: PostgreSQL database name.
• Username (optional): Specify user name.
• Password (optional): Specify user password.

TLS Configuration: Turn on the toggle switch if you want to enable TLS. For more information on enabling TLS, see Network and TLS.

Connection Configuration: Set the concurrent connections.

• Pool size (optional): Input an integer value to define the number of concurrent connections from an EMQX node to PostgreSQL. Default: 8.

Authentication configuration: Fill in the authentication-related settings:

• Password Hash: Select the Hash function for storing the password in the database, for example, plain, md5, sha, bcrypt, pbkdf2.
  • If plain, md5, sha, sha256 or sha512 are selected, we also need to configure:
    • Salt Position: Specify the way (suffix, prefix, or disable) to add salt (random data) to the password. You can keep the default value unless you are migrating user credentials from external storage into EMQX built-in database. Note: If plain is selected, the Salt Position should be disable.
  • If bcrypt is selected, you also need to configure:
    • Salt Rounds: Specify the calculation times of Hush function (2^Salt Rounds). Default value: 10; Value range 4~31. You are recommended to use a higher value for better protection. Note: Increasing the cost factor by 1 doubles the necessary time.
  • If pkbdf2 is selected, we also need to configure:
    • Pseudorandom Function: Specify the Hush functions to generate the key, such as sha256.
    • Iteration Count: Specify the iteration times; Default: 4096.
    • Derived Key Length: Specify the length of the generated password. You can leave this field blank, then the key length will be determined by the pseudorandom function you selected.
• SQL: Fill in the query statement according to the data schema. For more information, see SQL data schema and query statement.

After you finish the settings, click Create.

Configure with Configuration Items

You can configure the EMQX PostgreSQL authenticator with EMQX configuration items.

PostgreSQL authentication is identified with mechanism = password_based and backend = postgresql.

Sample configuration:

{
  mechanism = password_based
  backend = postgresql
  enable = true

  password_hash_algorithm {
    name = sha256
    salt_position = suffix
  }

  database = mqtt
  username = postgres
  password = public
  server = "127.0.0.1:5432"
  query = "SELECT password_hash, salt, is_superuser FROM users where username = ${username} LIMIT 1"
}