MT Sensor API and MQTT documentation now available!

[ana_nennig]

You can now engage with documentation for the recently announced MT Sensor API and MQTT telemetry stream, which can be leveraged to create custom visualizations for analysis, integrate sensor data with building management systems to increase efficiency, or store in a long-term cloud database for historical record keeping.

Explore the documentation here:
https://developer.cisco.com/meraki/api-v1/#!get-organization-sensor-readings-history

To learn more about the initial launch, check out the post by @David-H linked below.

https://community.meraki.com/t5/Developers-APIs/MT-Sensor-API-and-MQTT-officially-GA/m-p/140274#M559... 

[MerryAki]

Great documentation on the API thing.
Regarding MQTT, i would recommend "MQTT Explorer" or similiar when connected to the broker. This is straight forward. Simply copy&paste the topics and process it in the next application (e.g. smart home appliance)

[Prodrick]

Hi, @ana_nennig. When might one want/need to use MQTT rather than the Dashboard API to collect sensor data?  

[sungod]

With MQTT, the MT sensors regularly push readings (typically in batches) to the broker. Clients can subscribe to get the data from the broker.

If you have an application that supports MQTT, it's pretty much a ready to go solution. If you have non-Meraki IoT devices that also support MQTT, you have the benefit of everything going into a single platform. The data goes from the sensor, via the local MR/MV device(s) that the sensor connects to, direct to the broker.

With the API, you pull the sensor data on demand, either for 'now' or the readings over a period of time. Then probably store them somewhere for other applications to read the data. You are getting the data from Dashboard, not direct from the sensors.

[Prodrick]

Thanks. That helps a lot. So, if I am already using a SaaS application to poll the dashboard API for MX, MS, MR, and Z data I can get IoT data as well (if it doesn’t make me go over my Dashboard API rate limit budget). If I were to use MQTT, does this have any cost against the Dashboard API rate limit?

[sungod]

MQTT is outside the rate limit, the traffic flows from the sensor location to the broker, there's no impact on Dashboard.

If you don't need the sensor data in real time, you can use this to minimize API calls...

https://developer.cisco.com/meraki/api-v1/#!get-organization-sensor-readings-history

There's also this in beta...

https://developer.cisco.com/meraki/api-latest/#!get-organization-sensor-readings-history-by-interval

[Prodrick]

Thanks again.