# MQTT yellow Connecting

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-yellow-connecting/17711>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [9 November 2019 15:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-yellow-connecting/17711 "2019-11-09T15:28:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JaredG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@JaredG](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/JaredG)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2019 15:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-yellow-connecting/17711/1 "2019-11-09T15:28:44Z")

</div>

Hi, I'm a little new to Node-Red so be kind.🙂

I have a device in Watson IOT that I'm trying to connect my MQTT in/out to. I keep getting "connecting' beside either MQTT in/out node.  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/2X/3/372b030135ec481ce4023dbc68530db16c5356b7.png)

I have setup another MQTT node to [test.mosquitto.org](http://test.mosquitto.org) so I can see my payload working with that setup.

I suspect I have a security setting wrong some where. I have copied my settings from my application that is sending data on the topic to Watson. I have confirmed that my app is connecting to Watson since I can see the data and successful connections in Watson.

My question: is there a way to log what is happening with the MQTT node that keeps saying "Connecting" - IE: someway to see what it is getting stuck on?

Thanks for help with the newb question.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2019 16:32 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-yellow-connecting/17711/2 "2019-11-09T16:32:59Z")

</div>

`sudo tail /var/log/mosquitto/mosquitto.log -f` will show you the logs, at least on a Pi installation.

---

<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:** [9 November 2019 16:38 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-yellow-connecting/17711/3 "2019-11-09T16:38:20Z")

</div>

Watson IOT uses token based security and some weird topic structure so it's somewhat hard to make standard MQTT nodes work with it. There are some specific iot nodes that try to help - eg [https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-scx-ibmiotapp](https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-scx-ibmiotapp) and [https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-ibm-watson-iot](https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-ibm-watson-iot)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JaredG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@JaredG](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/JaredG)\
**Post date:** [9 November 2019 17:40 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/mqtt-yellow-connecting/17711/4 "2019-11-09T17:40:45Z")

</div>

Hi, yes those contribs helped!