--- title: "ATM & POS Terminal Monitoring with MQTT | ConnectMQ" description: "Monitor ATM and POS terminal health, cash and receipt paper levels and tamper events over MQTT, and send config changes back securely. Start for free." url: "https://connectmq.com/use-cases/atm-pos-terminal-monitoring/" language: "en" --- Use case # Every ATM and POS terminal, live Out of cash, out of receipt paper, offline, or a door opened when it should not be — you want to know before a customer does. A lightweight agent on each terminal publishes health and events over MQTT; ConnectMQ delivers them to your monitoring, cash management and field service systems. Transactions stay on your payment network. [Try it free](https://app.connectmq.com/signup) [See pricing](https://connectmq.com/pricing/) No card required Used in - [Retail & E-commerce](https://connectmq.com/industries/retail-ecommerce/) - [Financial Services](https://connectmq.com/industries/financial-services/) Example message PUBLISH terminals/atm/atm-ist-0231/cash ``` {"cassettes":{"c1":312,"c2":95,"c3":1480},"low":["c2"],"paper_pct":18,"ts":"2026-10-22T09:12:40Z"} ``` QoS 1 · TLS 8883 · PUBACK The problem ## Hearing about it from the customer ATM monitoring often relies on periodic status polls and vendor-specific tools, and POS terminals in stores report almost nothing until a cashier calls the helpdesk. Cash-outs, printer faults and tamper alarms surface late, and a simple configuration change means a site visit or a slow overnight batch. ## How it works 1. 1 ### The terminal agent reports An agent on the ATM PC or POS terminal publishes device health — dispenser, card reader, printer, network — plus cassette and paper levels. No card or transaction data. 2. 2 ### Events arrive as they happen Tamper, safe door and fault events are published with QoS 1 the moment they occur; each terminal’s latest status is retained. 3. 3 ### Operations reacts Threshold rules and your monitoring console flag low cash, paper-out or an offline terminal; cash management plans the next replenishment and field service gets a ticket. 4. 4 ### Configuration goes back Your terminal management system publishes a config change — screen content, parameters, log level — to that terminal’s command topic, and the agent confirms it. ConnectMQ ## What it needs from the broker ### Encrypted, authenticated connections Every terminal connects over TLS with its own username and password, so one compromised device can be shut out without touching the rest of the fleet. ### Strict topic isolation Per-topic ACLs let a terminal publish only its own status and read only its own command topic; monitoring can read everything but send nothing. ### Offline detection Last Will publishes an offline status the moment a terminal drops its connection, instead of waiting for the next poll to time out. ### Events and commands that arrive QoS 1 makes sure tamper events reach the broker, and persistent sessions hold a config command until a terminal that was offline reconnects. ## What you get - Cash-outs and paper-outs planned for, not discovered - Tamper and door events in your operations console as they happen - Fewer site visits for configuration changes - One live view across ATM, POS and kiosk fleets Example topics ``` terminals/atm/atm-ist-0231/health (retained) terminals/atm/atm-ist-0231/cash (retained) terminals/atm/atm-ist-0231/events terminals/pos/pos-0412-03/health (retained) terminals/pos/pos-0412-03/cmd ``` ## Industries that run this use case [![](https://connectmq.com/images/industries/hero/retail-ecommerce.webp) Retail & E-commerce](https://connectmq.com/industries/retail-ecommerce/) [![](https://connectmq.com/images/industries/hero/financial-services.webp) Financial Services](https://connectmq.com/industries/financial-services/) ## Related solutions [ ### Connected Products & Smart Hardware Smart devices you ship to your own customers Learn more](https://connectmq.com/connected-products/)[ ### Data Center Monitoring Power, cooling and rack environment Learn more](https://connectmq.com/data-centers/) ## Frequently asked questions Is MQTT secure enough for ATM and POS monitoring? For operational data, yes, when it is set up properly: ConnectMQ encrypts every connection with TLS, gives each terminal its own credentials and limits it with per-topic ACLs. Keep monitoring separate from the payment path — health, levels and events over MQTT, card and transaction data on your payment network. Your own security and compliance review covers the full design. Does ConnectMQ handle card or transaction data? No. ConnectMQ is meant for operational data such as device health, levels, events and configuration. Card data and transactions stay with your switch, processor and payment network. How do I get ATM device status into MQTT? An agent running on the ATM PC reads device status from the XFS or XFS4IoT layer or the vendor’s monitoring software, and publishes it over MQTT with any standard client library. On POS terminals, the same agent can run in the terminal app or on the store server. ## Build it on ConnectMQ Start on the Free plan — no card required — connect your first devices today and upgrade when you go live. 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