# MQTT Nodes stopped working

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [25 November 2020 17:18 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517 "2020-11-25T17:18:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 17:18 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/1 "2020-11-25T17:18:53Z")

</div>

Very strange. on one instance of node red on a raspberry pi all MQTT nodes stopped working earlier. All are showing "disconnected". From a laptop running node red I can connect to all the MQTT servers.

I would appreciate any recommendations how to debug this.

Node red v1.2.5  
Node v8.16.0  
npm 6.13.4

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andrei](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/andrei/32/10446_2.png) [@Andrei](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Andrei)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 17:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/2 "2020-11-25T17:28:46Z")

</div>

mmm. many questions to ask..  
so you have more than one MQTT server ?  
Are your MQTT instances running in which machine , same on as your Node-RED instance ?  
How do you configure the MQTT server in the node , via ip adddress or host name ?

First thing i would check is if the machine hosting MQTT changed it ip address.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 17:33 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/3 "2020-11-25T17:33:19Z")

</div>

Hi @Andrei, 3 servers on different machines all configured with ip address, including the problem instance. I can connect from all the other instances to the MQTT server on the problem machine. The ip address has not changed!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andrei](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/andrei/32/10446_2.png) [@Andrei](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Andrei)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 17:42 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/4 "2020-11-25T17:42:12Z")

</div>

Good, so we can discard ip connectivity issues between machines.

Well, the second thing that comes to my mind is checking the status os the MQTT service. Assuming you have installed mosquitto under Raspbian you would issue the command: `systemctl status mosquitto`

```auto
odroid@odroid:~$ systemctl status mosquitto
● mosquitto.service - LSB: mosquitto MQTT v3.1 message broker
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/mosquitto; generated)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-10-21 10:51:20 -03; 1 months 4 days ago

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 17:45 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/5 "2020-11-25T17:45:11Z")

</div>

Everything is fine with the MQTT service.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 17:46 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/6 "2020-11-25T17:46:15Z")

</div>

An issue was reported earlier this week regarding the MQTT nodes and Node 8.

We updated to the latest mqtt module in 1.2.5 - looks like it breaks on Node 8. Need to investigate properly - may need to do 1.2.6 with a reverted version of the mqtt module, unless we can find a way to workaround the issue to keep node 8 going...

The alternative is to upgrade off Node 8 (which reached its end of life 10 months ago).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 17:49 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/7 "2020-11-25T17:49:04Z")

</div>

Thanks @knolleary, the machine was running 1.2.1 and had the same problem, I updated to 1.2.5 in the hope of getting rid of the problem.

How can I update node?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 19:35 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/8 "2020-11-25T19:35:07Z")

</div>

I have this when starting node red:

```auto
ReferenceError: URL is not defined
    at Object.connect (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/mqtt/lib/connect/index.js:64:18)
    at MQTTBrokerNode.connect (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/nodes/core/network/10-mqtt.js:245:40)
    at MQTTBrokerNode.register (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/nodes/core/network/10-mqtt.js:221:22)
    at new MQTTOutNode (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/nodes/core/network/10-mqtt.js:504:29)
    at Object.createNode (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/runtime/lib/flows/util.js:493:31)
    at Flow.start (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/runtime/lib/flows/Flow.js:194:48)
    at start (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/runtime/lib/flows/index.js:345:33)
    at <anonymous>
    at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:189:7)
ReferenceError: URL is not defined
    at Object.connect (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/mqtt/lib/connect/index.js:64:18)
    at MQTTBrokerNode.connect (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/nodes/core/network/10-mqtt.js:245:40)
    at MQTTBrokerNode.register (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/nodes/core/network/10-mqtt.js:221:22)
    at new MQTTOutNode (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/nodes/core/network/10-mqtt.js:504:29)
    at Object.createNode (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/runtime/lib/flows/util.js:493:31)
    at Flow.start (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/runtime/lib/flows/Flow.js:194:48)
    at start (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules/@node-red/runtime/lib/flows/index.js:345:33)
    at <anonymous>
    at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:189:7)

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 20:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/9 "2020-11-25T20:30:47Z")

</div>

> [@ghayne](#):
>
> `URL is not defined`

I have been keeping watch the work being done on MQTT (for MQTT V5 interests) & this is a recent issue (somewhere between V4.2.2 and v4.2.5)

I has been reverted in the latest release of MQTT.js V4.2.6

If you would be willing to try it out and feedback?...

- stop node-red
- CD to your node-red folder
- `npm install mqtt@latest`
- start node-red

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 20:36 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/10 "2020-11-25T20:36:45Z")

</div>

> [@Steve-Mcl](#):
>
> If you would be willing to try it out and feedback?...
> 
> - stop node-red
> - CD to your node-red folder
> - `npm install mqtt@latest`
> - start node-red

@Steve-Mcl unfortunately no improvement 🤔

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 20:38 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/11 "2020-11-25T20:38:19Z")

</div>

hmmmm

what do you get if you run

```auto
npm outdated

```

in your node-red directory?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 20:41 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/12 "2020-11-25T20:41:17Z")

</div>

```auto
Package Current Wanted Latest Location
node-red-contrib-countdown 1.3.0 1.3.1 1.3.1 node-red-project
node-red-contrib-influxdb 0.4.1 0.4.1 0.5.1 node-red-project
node-red-contrib-moment 3.0.3 3.0.3 4.0.0 node-red-project
node-red-contrib-queue-gate 1.4.0 1.4.0 1.5.1 node-red-project
node-red-contrib-schedex 1.10.2 1.10.3 1.10.3 node-red-project
node-red-contrib-stackhero-influxdb-v2 1.0.1 1.0.3 1.0.3 node-red-project
node-red-contrib-theme-midnight-red 1.0.5 1.0.29 1.0.29 node-red-project
node-red-node-email 1.7.8 1.7.11 1.8.2 node-red-project
node-red-node-pi-gpio 1.1.1 1.1.1 1.2.1 node-red-project
node-red-node-ping      

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 20:48 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/13 "2020-11-25T20:48:12Z")

</div>

@Steve-Mcl you'll need to clarify what you mean by "node-red directory".

You are referring to the directory that `node-red` is installed in - not the `.node-red` user directory.

Given MQTT have rolled back the change as of 2 hours ago, we'll ship 1.2.6 with the updated dependency to fix this problem.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 20:53 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/14 "2020-11-25T20:53:56Z")

</div>

> [@knolleary](#):
>
> You are referring to the directory that `node-red` is installed in

Yes, sorry, of course, should have been specific.

@ghayne could you try `npm outdated` from within the directory node-red is installed in please (not your user .node-red directory)

> [@knolleary](#):
>
> Given MQTT have rolled back the change as of 2 hours ago, we'll ship 1.2.6 with the updated dependency to fix this problem.

Of course (but would be nice to know if it actually is fixed & @ghayne can get moving again in the meantime 🙂 )

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 20:58 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/15 "2020-11-25T20:58:44Z")

</div>

/usr/bin/npm outdated gave no results.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 21:02 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/16 "2020-11-25T21:02:18Z")

</div>

> [@Steve-Mcl](#):
>
> npm install mqtt@latest

Shoulkd I do /usr/bin npm install mqtt@latest?  
as I did .node-red/npm install mqtt@latest earlier?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 21:04 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/17 "2020-11-25T21:04:29Z")

</div>

> [@ghayne](#):
>
> Shoulkd I do /usr/bin npm install mqtt@latest?

No

Thats not where node-red is installed.

`/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red` should be where it is (usually)

go in there and do `npm outdated` - i suspect you are on MQTT V4.2.5

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 21:07 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/18 "2020-11-25T21:07:19Z")

</div>

```auto
Package Current Wanted Latest Location
fs-extra 8.1.0 8.1.0 9.0.1 node-red
semver 6.3.0 6.3.0 7.3.2 node-red

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dceejay](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/dceejay/32/38_2.png) [@dceejay](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dceejay)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 21:07 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/19 "2020-11-25T21:07:25Z")

</div>

yes

```auto
cd /usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/node_modules
npm ls | grep mqtt

sudo npm i mqtt@latest

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 21:09 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-nodes-stopped-working/36517/20 "2020-11-25T21:09:41Z")

</div>

what Dave said ^

Sorry for the runaround ☹

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/9/2/923ca4c58f9ee5ef1080e3ce967b0d7d6899c2eb.png)

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