A tour of the EMQX Dashboard
A tour of the EMQX Dashboard: the sidebar modules, the Overview and monitoring pages, the license banner, language and version information, and how to open the Web UI from Home Assistant.
Why this matters
EMQX gathers everything involved in running a broker into one admin interface: the Dashboard. If you try to guess the state of things from config files and logs alone, you lose a good half of your debugging loop — who is connected, whether a subscription actually took, whether messages are going out. The Dashboard answers all of that with a handful of cards.
The goal of this chapter is to build a map of that interface in your head first: what each sidebar module covers, where the key metrics sit on the Overview page, and where to check the version and the license. In every chapter after this one (authentication, ACL, Listeners, Connector, monitoring, backup) you will already know which menu to head for, instead of starting to look the first time you need it.
Core concepts
The EMQX Dashboard is the admin console built into EMQX, and by default it listens on HTTP port 18083. In Home Assistant you can open it straight through Ingress (the EMQX icon in the left sidebar), or you can go to http://<host>:18083.
One idea is worth fixing early: the Dashboard is only a visual layer over EMQX, and EMQX sends and receives messages as usual whether or not you open it. Its job is to let you monitor the cluster, connections, subscriptions, rules and security settings in one place; it is not a required part of the broker.
Signing in lands you on the home page, Cluster Overview, which is the foundation the rest of the Dashboard rests on. It tells you how many connections and subscriptions there are right now, the rate messages are flowing in and out, and how many nodes the cluster has — the first thing to glance at before any troubleshooting.
Terms at a glance
| Term | Plain English | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard | web admin interface | The EMQX web admin interface |
| Cluster Overview | the cluster at a glance | The page you land on after signing in, with cluster-level figures |
| Nodes | the individual servers | Every EMQX instance in the cluster |
| Metrics | counters and statistics | Statistics such as message volume, events and throughput |
| Monitoring | watching the system | The module for browsing connections, subscriptions and system metrics |
| License | your license | The page that confirms license status (EMQX Enterprise only) |
Hands-on
Open it from Home Assistant
In Home Assistant's left sidebar, find the EMQX icon (the Ingress entry point) and click it to open the Dashboard.
Or go straight to 18083
Open
http://<host>:18083in your browser. Both routes reach the same Dashboard.Sign in, and change the password first
For the first login use
admin/public, then follow the prompt to change it to a password of your own (see Chapter 2).Walk the sidebar end to end
Go down the left column from Monitoring, Access Control and Integration all the way through System, and write down one line on what each module is for. Then go back to Monitoring → Cluster Overview and take in the whole picture again.
What the Overview page shows you
The Dashboard home page is Cluster Overview, and the two cards across the top half, left and right, are the core metrics:
- Message Rate: how many messages the system takes in and sends out per second, shown live on the card in the top left.
- Connections/Subscriptions/Topics: the current connection count, the total number of subscriptions and the number of unique topics; they update the moment a connection changes.
Below that is a time-series chart, where you can pick the past 1 hour, 6 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 3 days or 7 days to watch how connection counts and message volume trend. When the chart carries too much, use Reset Monitoring Data to clear what came before and start accumulating again.
Switch to the Nodes tab and you can see every node in the cluster: name, status, uptime, connection count, version, Erlang process count, and memory and CPU usage. A node drawn in gray has stopped. Click a node name to open the node detail view, with system paths, log paths and finer statistics.
To find the EMQX version you are running (this guide targets 5.8.9), the most direct place is the version column on the Nodes tab.
Sidebar modules, language and license
The Dashboard's left-hand menu breaks down roughly into these groups:
| Sidebar group | What you'll use it for |
|---|---|
| Monitoring | Reading Cluster Overview, connections, subscriptions and retained messages |
| Access Control | Authentication and Authorization |
| Integration | Rule Engine and Data Integration (Connectors, Actions, Sources, Sinks) |
| Management | Cluster Settings, Advanced MQTT, Extensions |
| Diagnose | WebSocket testing, slow subscriptions, topic metrics |
| System | Users, API keys, audit log; License and SSO (single sign-on) are Enterprise only |
To see License and SSO (single sign-on) you need EMQX Enterprise — the System group in Open Source 5.8.9 does not have those two pages. For the version, the version column on the Nodes tab is all you need. The Dashboard's language is usually switched from the user menu in the top right or from preferences; set it to whichever language you are comfortable in.
A useful rule of thumb: authentication and permissions live under Access Control; moving data out and writing rules happen under Integration; day-to-day checks start under Monitoring. Hold on to those three landing points and the menu paths in later chapters are hard to get lost in.
Troubleshooting
- You sign in but the Dashboard will not open: check whether you are going through Ingress or through 18083; if the host is on another subnet, use
http://<host>:18083instead. - You cannot find the version: go to Monitoring → Nodes; the version column beside the node name is the version now running (expect 5.8.9).
- A sidebar entry is missing: advanced features such as Delayed Publish and Alarms are not shown by default in the Open Source edition. That is normal, not a fault.
- The numbers on the home page look stuck: the Overview chart has a time range you can pick; to start accumulating again, use Reset Monitoring Data.
FAQ
Does the Dashboard have to be running?
No. EMQX sends and receives MQTT messages as usual even with the Dashboard closed; the Dashboard is only an admin interface. It is the convenience layer for working, watching and debugging visually.
Where do I switch the language?
Usually in the user menu in the top right, or in preferences. Changing the language does not affect how the broker behaves; it is purely a matter of convenience.
What is a node on the Overview page?
Every EMQX instance is one node. A home add-on install usually runs a single node; several nodes only come with a cluster. The Nodes tab shows the status, version and system resources of each node.
Why are some features missing from the sidebar?
Most advanced data integration and security features belong to EMQX Enterprise (the paid edition). Open Source 5.8.9 does not show those entries, and that is not a configuration error.