Thanks Glyn!
If it is any help, I have checked the list of servers using netstat -at:
Active Internet connections (servers and established)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
tcp 0 0 *:1883 : LISTEN
tcp 0 0 :afpovertcp : LISTEN
tcp 0 0 :webmin : LISTEN
tcp 0 0 :ssh : LISTEN
tcp 0 184 192.168.1.116:ssh propagationmatter:62057 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 192.168.1.116:ssh propagationmatter:62044 ESTABLISHED
tcp6 0 0 [::]:1883 [::]: LISTEN
tcp6 0 0 localhost:4700 [::]: LISTEN
tcp6 0 0 [::]:ssh [::]: LISTEN
Port 1883 does appear to be listening. My suspicion is that one of the .php, .conf or .ini files may be mis-located, missing or have incorrect content, particularly as some of the sub directories expected in the guide I was following during the pecl install were not quite the same. This could, however, just be one of those directory structure changes that do occur between releases!
My reason for starting with the full Jessie image was to connect a 7" HDMI touch screen & Rii wireless keyboard to the Pi2 to display emoncms in a window on the Pi2 itself before turning off the low write mode and moving content to an HDD.
However, I will download the pre-built card as you suggest and try to ‘fatten it’ back to the full Jessie. I will also experiment with mounting it in an OS X VMWare Linux Mint VM and compare the MQTT directory structures and file contents to my own partial build.
Just a thought for future forum debate of the emonBase option! “Given the increasing power & memory of the Pi2 & Pi3 since inception and increasing size of cheap SD cards, it would be useful to have a pre-built image based upon full Jessie”
Many Thanks!