Gateway Setup Guide

Before you start

1. Create or log in to your account.Open Create account or Log in, then enter the real ChirpStack console.
2. Add the gateway in ChirpStack.Go to Gateways, add a gateway, and use the 16-character gateway EUI shown on the device label or gateway UI.
3. Select the correct region.For Romania and most EU deployments use EU868. The ChirpStack Online topic prefix is eu868.
4. Generate the gateway certificate.Open the gateway details page in ChirpStack and generate/download the MQTT/TLS certificate files for that gateway. Use that package only for the matching gateway EUI.
5. Check outbound access.The gateway network must allow outbound TCP traffic to mqtt.chirpstack.online:8884. For legacy UDP, it must allow UDP traffic to udp.growguard.eu:1700.

Option 1: Gateway Bridge over MQTT/TLS

This is the preferred option when your gateway can run ChirpStack Gateway Bridge. The packet forwarder sends packets locally to the bridge, and the bridge sends encrypted MQTT/TLS traffic to ChirpStack Online.

1. Install ChirpStack Gateway Bridge on the gateway.If the bridge runs on the same gateway, configure the Semtech packet forwarder to send to 127.0.0.1 on port 1700.
2. Copy certificate files.Create /etc/chirpstack-gateway-bridge/certs/ and copy the downloaded files as ca.pem, gateway.pem, and gateway-key.pem.
3. Update the bridge configuration.Use the configuration below, restart the bridge, then restart the packet forwarder if needed.
4. Verify in ChirpStack.Open the gateway page and check that Last seen updates after the next stats packet.

[backend]
type="semtech_udp"

[backend.semtech_udp]
udp_bind="0.0.0.0:1700"

[integration]
marshaler="protobuf"

[integration.mqtt]
event_topic_template="eu868/gateway/{{ .GatewayID }}/event/{{ .EventType }}"
state_topic_template="eu868/gateway/{{ .GatewayID }}/state/{{ .StateType }}"
command_topic_template="eu868/gateway/{{ .GatewayID }}/command/#"

[integration.mqtt.auth]
type="generic"

[integration.mqtt.auth.generic]
servers=["ssl://mqtt.chirpstack.online:8884"]
ca_cert="/etc/chirpstack-gateway-bridge/certs/ca.pem"
tls_cert="/etc/chirpstack-gateway-bridge/certs/gateway.pem"
tls_key="/etc/chirpstack-gateway-bridge/certs/gateway-key.pem"

Option 2: MQTT Forwarder over MQTT/TLS

Use this option for gateways or images that support ChirpStack MQTT Forwarder. It forwards gateway packets to the same secure broker and uses the same gateway certificate package from ChirpStack.

1. Install or enable ChirpStack MQTT Forwarder.On many gateways this is available in the gateway UI or package manager.
2. Copy certificate files.Create /etc/chirpstack-mqtt-forwarder/certs/ and copy the downloaded files as ca.pem, gateway.pem, and gateway-key.pem.
3. Apply the MQTT Forwarder configuration.Use ssl://, port 8884, and topic prefix eu868.
4. Restart and check traffic.After restart, the gateway should appear online in ChirpStack when stats or uplinks are sent.

[mqtt]
topic_prefix="eu868"
server="ssl://mqtt.chirpstack.online:8884"
ca_cert="/etc/chirpstack-mqtt-forwarder/certs/ca.pem"
tls_cert="/etc/chirpstack-mqtt-forwarder/certs/gateway.pem"
tls_key="/etc/chirpstack-mqtt-forwarder/certs/gateway-key.pem"
json=false

[backend]
enabled="semtech_udp"

[backend.semtech_udp]
udp_bind="0.0.0.0:1700"

Option 3: Legacy Semtech UDP

Use this only when the gateway does not support MQTT/TLS. UDP packet forwarder traffic on port 1700 is compatible with many gateways, but it is not encrypted end to end.

1. Add the gateway in ChirpStack first.The gateway EUI in ChirpStack must match the gateway hardware EUI.
2. Open the gateway packet forwarder settings.Depending on the gateway this may be called Semtech UDP, LoRa packet forwarder, packet forwarder, or gateway server.
3. Enter the UDP server settings.Use the server address and ports below, then save and restart the gateway service.
4. Verify last seen.In ChirpStack, the gateway should show stats within a few minutes if the gateway has internet access.

server_address=udp.growguard.eu
serv_port_up=1700
serv_port_down=1700

Advanced references

For deeper configuration details, see the official ChirpStack documentation for Gateway Bridge, MQTT Forwarder, and Mosquitto TLS.