Active sessions

The active sessions view shows all MQTT clients currently connected to your organization. Use it to verify connectivity, identify duplicate or stuck sessions, and forcibly disconnect clients when needed.

Accessing active sessions

Log into the CloudSignal dashboard
Click Sessions in the sidebar
Select Active (default view)

Understanding the session list

Each active session displays:

Field	Description
Client ID	The MQTT client identifier
Username	The authenticated user (without `@org-id`)
Connected At	When the session was established
IP Address	Client's source IP
Protocol	MQTT version (3.1.1, 5.0) or WebSocket
Subscriptions	Number of active topic subscriptions

Session details

Click on a session row to view detailed information.

Connection info

Full client ID and username
Connection timestamp and duration
Client IP and port
TLS/SSL status

Subscriptions

List of topics the client is subscribed to:

agents/+/state            (QoS 1)
agents/agent-001/#        (QoS 0)
config/updates            (QoS 1)

Session state

Field	Description
Clean session	Whether the session state is preserved
Keep alive	Ping interval in seconds
Queued messages	Messages waiting for delivery

Filtering and search

Search by client ID or username

Use the search box to find specific clients:

Search: agent-001
-> Shows all sessions with "agent-001" in client ID or username

Filter by workspace

If you have multiple workspaces, filter to see sessions for a specific workspace.

Managing sessions

Disconnect a client

To forcefully disconnect a client:

Find the session in the list
Click on the session row
Click Disconnect
Confirm the action

Disconnecting a client closes the MQTT connection immediately. If the client is configured to reconnect, it will establish a new session.

Bulk actions

Select multiple sessions to disconnect several clients at once (useful for testing or maintenance).

Common scenarios

Verify client connectivity

Check that expected clients are connected:

Search for the client's ID or username
Verify "Connected At" is recent
Check subscription count matches expectations

Identify duplicate connections

If a client has multiple sessions:

Client ID: agent-001
Sessions: 2

Possible causes:
- Client reconnected without clean disconnect
- Multiple instances using same client ID
- Persistent session + new connection

With MQTT, each client ID should have only one active connection. If using the same client ID, the broker disconnects the older session.

Check for stuck sessions

Sessions that appear connected but the client is offline:

Note the "Connected At" time
Check if the keep-alive interval has passed without disconnect
If stuck, manually disconnect the session

Monitor connection count

Track your active connections against plan limits:

Active sessions: 47
Plan limit: 100
Usage: 47%

Auto-refresh

The session list refreshes automatically every 30 seconds. You can also:

Click the refresh button for immediate update
Toggle auto-refresh off for static view

Exporting data

Export the session list for analysis:

Click Export
Choose format (CSV, JSON)
Download the file

Use case	Why export helps
Capacity planning	Spot trends across days
Audit trails	Record who was connected when
External monitoring	Feed into your own analytics stack

Best practices

Naming conventions

Use descriptive client IDs for easy identification:

Client ID	Quality
`agent-summarizer-prod-001`	Clear
`mobile-app-user-12345`	Clear
`backend-processor-prod`	Clear
`client1`	Unclear
`abc123`	Unclear
(randomly generated)	Unclear

Monitor key metrics

Watch for:

Sudden drops in connection count
Unexpected spikes (possible reconnection storm)
Sessions from unknown IP addresses

Set up alerts

Configure notifications when:

Connection count drops below threshold
New connections from unexpected locations
Specific critical clients disconnect

Next steps

Session history - Review past connections
Troubleshooting - Debug connection issues
Username format - Authentication details

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