Clarification on Supported OPC UA → MQTT Architecture (Managed Broker in CDF)

Hi Cognite Team,

We are currently defining an integration pattern for a partner who will provide data from an OPC UA source into Cognite Data Fusion.

Our preference is to use a managed MQTT broker in CDF and avoid deploying any self-hosted MQTT broker or additional bridge components on-prem.

Based on the documentation, we understand that the OPC UA Extractor supports an mqtt: output mode, but it also references a requirement for the MQTT-CDF Bridge and a configured broker host/port.

To ensure we define the correct and supported architecture, could you please clarify:

1. Is it supported to configure the OPC UA Extractor to publish directly to the Cognite-hosted MQTT broker in CDF?

2. If using the Cognite-managed MQTT broker, is the MQTT-CDF Bridge still required?

3. Is a self-hosted MQTT broker mandatory when using the mqtt: configuration in the OPC UA Extractor?

4. What is the recommended architecture today for a partner delivering OPC UA data into CDF using MQTT?

Our intended target architecture is:

OPC UA → Cognite OPC UA Extractor → Cognite Hosted MQTT Broker → CDF

without deploying:

• A self-hosted MQTT broker

• The MQTT-CDF Bridge on-prem

We would appreciate confirmation of the supported and recommended approach for new integrations.