Storage#

Mainflux supports various storage databases in which messages are stored:

• PostgreSQL
• TimescaleDB
• MongoDB

These storages are activated via docker-compose add-ons.

The <project_root>/docker folder contains an addons directory. This directory is used for various services that are not core to the Mainflux platform but could be used for providing additional features.

In order to run these services, core services, as well as the network from the core composition, should be already running.

Writers#

Writers provide an implementation of various message writers. Message writers are services that consume Mainflux messages, transform them to desired format and store them in certain data stores.

For proper consumption of messages based on subtopics and their transformation, see Subtopics and Configure Profile Config sections on the messaging page.

PostgreSQL and PostgreSQL Writer#

docker-compose -f docker/addons/postgres-writer/docker-compose.yml up -d

Postgres default port (5432) is exposed, so you can use various tools for database inspection and data visualization.

Timescale and Timescale Writer#

docker-compose -f docker/addons/timescale-writer/docker-compose.yml up -d

Timescale default port (5432) is exposed, so you can use various tools for database inspection and data visualization.

MongoDB and MongoDB Writer#

docker-compose -f docker/addons/mongodb-writer/docker-compose.yml up -d

MongoDB default port (27017) is exposed, so you can use various tools for database inspection and data visualization.

Readers#

Readers provide an implementation of various message readers. Message readers are services that consume normalized (in SenML format) Mainflux messages from data storage and opens HTTP API for message consumption. Installing corresponding writer before reader is implied.

Each of the Reader services exposes the same HTTP API for fetching messages on its default port.

To read sent messages you should send GET request to /messages with thing access token in Authorization header.

Response should look like this:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2018 18:56:19 GMT
Content-Length: 228

{
    "messages": [
        {
            "Publisher": 1,
            "Protocol": "mqtt",
            "Name": "name:voltage",
            "Unit": "V",
            "Value": 5.6,
            "Time": 48.56
        },
        {
            "Publisher": 1,
            "Protocol": "mqtt",
            "Name": "name:temperature",
            "Unit": "C",
            "Value": 24.3,
            "Time": 48.56
        }
    ]
}

Note that you will receive only those messages that were sent by authorization token's owner. You can specify offset and limit parameters in order to fetch specific group of messages. An example of HTTP request looks like:

curl -s -S -i  -H "Authorization: Thing <thing_key>" http://localhost:<service_port>/messages?offset=0&limit=5&format=json

If you don't provide offset and limit parameters, default values will be used instead: 0 for offset and 10 for limit. The format parameter indicates in which format the messages will be returned. The default format is senml if the format is not defined, and if the desired format is JSON, you need to specify json for the format.

MongoDB Reader#

To start MongoDB reader, execute the following command:

docker-compose -f docker/addons/mongodb-reader/docker-compose.yml up -d

PostgreSQL Reader#

To start PostgreSQL reader, execute the following command:

docker-compose -f docker/addons/postgres-reader/docker-compose.yml up -d

Timescale Reader#

To start Timescale reader, execute the following command:

docker-compose -f docker/addons/timescale-reader/docker-compose.yml up -d