EdgeCloud Device Agent

This module provides an agent that runs Node-RED instances deployed from the EdgeCloud platform.

Prerequisites

NodeJS v14 or later
A EdgeCloud platform to connect to

Supported Operating Systems

The Device Agent can be installed on most Linux distributions, Windows, and MacOS.

Installing the Device Agent

The Device Agent is published to the public npm repository as @edgeflow/device-agent.

It can be installed as a global npm module. This will ensure the agent command is on the path.

Note: previous versions of the agent were published as @flowforge/edgeflow-device-agent.

Linux/MacOS

sudo npm install -g @edgeflow/device-agent

Windows

npm install -g @edgeflow/device-agent

Docker

We publish a Docker container for the Device Agent as edgeflow/device-agent on DockerHub.

When running with the container you will need to mount the device.yml obtained when Registering the device:

docker run --mount type=bind,src=/path/to/device.yml,target=/opt/edgeflow/device.yml -p 1880:1880 edgeflow/device-agent:latest

Configuration

The agent configuration is provided by a device.yml file within its working directory.

Configuration directory

By default the agent uses /opt/edgeflow-device or c:\opt\edgeflow-device as its working directory. This can be overridden with the -d/--dir option.

For backwards compatibility with previous versions, the agent will use /opt/edgeflow-device if it is exists, unless overridden on the command-line.

NOTE: The device agent will attempt to create the working directory if it is not found, however if an error occurs, the device agent will exit and report a startup error.

Linux/MacOS

sudo mkdir /opt/edgeflow-device
sudo chown -R $USER /opt/edgeflow-device

Windows (run elevated)

mkdir c:\opt\edgeflow-device

`device.yml` - for a single device

When the device is registered on the EdgeCloud platform, a group of configuration details are provided. These can be copied from the platform, or downloaded directly as a yml file.

This file should be copied into the working directory as device.yml.

A different config file can be specified with the -c/--config option.

The file must contain the following options (these are the ones provided by EdgeCloud)

Required options	Description
`deviceId`	The id for the device on the EdgeCloud platform
`token`	Access Token to connect to the FF platform
`credentialSecret`	Key to decrypt the flow credentials
`forgeURL`	The base url of the EdgeCloud platform

To enable MQTT connectivity, the following options are required. They are provided by the platform if MQTT comms are enabled.

MQTT options	Description
`brokerURL`	The url for the platform broker
`brokerUsername`	The username to connect with - `device:<teamId>:<deviceId>`
`brokerPassword`	The password to connect with

The following options can be added:

Extra options	Description
`interval`	How often, in seconds, the agent checks in with the platform. Default: 60s
`intervalJitter`	How much, in seconds, to vary the heartbeat +/- `intervalJitter`. Default: 10s
`moduleCache`	If the device can not access npmjs.org then use the node modules cache in `module_cache` directory. Default `false`

Node-RED options

The following options are passed through to Node-RED:

Node-RED options	Description
`port`	The port to listen on. Default: 1880
`https`	Enable HTTPS. See below for details
`httpStatic`	Enable serving of static content from a local path

`https` configuration

The https configuration option can be used to enable HTTPS within Node-RED. The values are passed through to the Node-RED https setting.

The ca, key and cert properties can be used to provide custom certificates and keys. The values should be set to the contents of the certificate/key.

Alternatively, the properties caPath, keyPath and certPath can be used instead to provide absolute paths to files containing the certificates/keys.

https:
   keyPath: /opt/edgeflow-device/certs/key.pem
   certPath: /opt/edgeflow-device/certs/cert.pem
   caPath: /opt/edgeflow-device/certs/ca.pem

`httpStatic` configuration

This option can be used to serve content from a local directory.

If set to a path, the files in that directory will be served relative to /.

httpStatic: /opt/edgeflow-device/static-content

It is also possible to configure it with a list of directories and the corresponding path they should be served from.

httpStatic:
  - path: /opt/edgeflow-device/static-content/images
    root: /images
  - path: /opt/edgeflow-device/static-content/js
    root: /js

`device.yml` - for provisioning

When a device should be auto registered on the EdgeCloud platform, a group of provisioning configuration details are required. These are generated for you in EdgeCloud Team Settings under the Devices tab when you create a provisioning token. These can be copied from the platform, or downloaded directly as a yml file.

This file should be copied into the working directory as device.yml.

A different config file can be specified with the -c/--config option.

The file must contain the following options (these are the ones provided by EdgeCloud)

Required options	Description
`provisioningName`	The name of the token
`provisioningTeam`	The team this device will be registered to
`provisioningToken`	Provisioning Token to connect to the FF platform
`forgeURL`	The base url of the EdgeCloud platform

The following options can be added:

Extra options	Description
`interval`	How often, in seconds, the agent checks in with the platform. Default: 60s
`intervalJitter`	How much, in seconds, to vary the heartbeat +/- `intervalJitter`. Default: 10s

Running

If the agent was installed as a global npm module, the command edgeflow-device-agent will be on the path.

If the default working directory and config file are being used, then the agent can be started with:

$ edgeflow-device-agent

For information about the available command-line arguments, run with -h:

Options

  -c, --config file     Device configuration file. Default: device.yml
  -d, --dir dir         Where the agent should store its state. Default: /opt/edgeflow-device
  -i, --interval secs
  -p, --port number
  -m, --moduleCache     Use local npm module cache rather than install

Web UI Options

  -w, --ui            Start the Web UI Server (optional, does not run by default)
  --ui-host string    Web UI server host. Default: (0.0.0.0) (listen on all interfaces)
  --ui-port number    Web UI server port. Default: 1879
  --ui-user string    Web UI username. Required if --ui is specified
  --ui-pass string    Web UI password. Required if --ui is specified
  --ui-runtime mins   Time the Web UI server is permitted to run. Default: 10

Global Options

  -h, --help       print out helpful usage information
  --version        print out version information
  -v, --verbose    turn on debugging output

Running with no access to npmjs.org

By default the Device Agent will try and download the correct version of Node-RED and any nodes required to run the Snapshot that is assigned to run on the device.

If the device is being run on an offline network or security policies prevent the Device Agent from connecting to npmjs.org then it can be configured to use a pre-cached set of modules.

You can enable this mode by adding -m to the command line adding moduleCache: true to the device.yml file. This will cause the Device Agent to load the modules from the module_cache directory in the Device Agents Configuration directory as described above. By default this will be /opt/edgeflow-device/module_cache.

Creating a module cache

To create a suitable module cache, the device must be assigned to an instance. You will need to install the modules on a local device with access to npmjs.org, ensuring you use the same OS and Architecture as your target device, and then copy the modules on to your device.

From the Instance Snapshot page, select the snapshot you want to deploy and select the option to download its package.json file.
Place this file in an empty directory on your local device.
Run npm install to install the modules. This will create a node_modules directory.
On your target device, create a directory called module_cache inside the Device Agent Configuration directory.
Copy the node_modules directory from your local device to the target device so that it is under the module_cache directory.

Running as a service

An example service file is provided here.

Running the agent with the Web UI enabled

The Device Agents Web UI is provided to enable the user to download a device configuration or a provisioning configuration file. This is an optional feature and is not enabled by default.

To enable the UI, use the -w/--ui option. This will start a web server on the specified host and port. The default host is 0.0.0.0 and the default port is 1879.

When enabling the UI, a username and password must be provided with the --ui-user and --ui-pass options.

The UI will only be available for the duration specified by the --ui-runtime. By default this is 10 minutes. After this time, the web server will be disabled. The application must be restarted to re-enable the UI. You can set this to 0 to disable the timeout. This is not recommended.

Development

Scripts

The following scripts are available:

npm start - Start the agent
npm run dev - Build the agent and watch for changes
npm run lint - Run eslint
npm run lint:fix - Run eslint and fix any issues
npm run test - Run all unit tests
npm run test:lib - Run the unit tests for the lib
npm run test:frontend - Run the unit tests for the frontend

本地自定义目录和启用debug日记

yarn start --dir="./edgeflow-device" --verbose

@edgeflow/device-agent

EdgeCloud Device Agent

Prerequisites

Supported Operating Systems

Installing the Device Agent

Linux/MacOS

Windows

Docker

Configuration

Configuration directory

Linux/MacOS

Windows (run elevated)

`device.yml` - for a single device

Node-RED options

`https` configuration

`httpStatic` configuration

`device.yml` - for provisioning

Running

Running with no access to npmjs.org

Creating a module cache

Running as a service

Running the agent with the Web UI enabled

Development

Scripts

本地自定义目录和启用debug日记

Readme

Keywords

Package Sidebar

Install

Weekly Downloads

Version

License

Unpacked Size

Total Files

Last publish

Collaborators

@edgeflow/device-agent

EdgeCloud Device Agent

Prerequisites

Supported Operating Systems

Installing the Device Agent

Linux/MacOS

Windows

Docker

Configuration

Configuration directory

Linux/MacOS

Windows (run elevated)

device.yml - for a single device

Node-RED options

https configuration

httpStatic configuration

device.yml - for provisioning

Running

Running with no access to npmjs.org

Creating a module cache

Running as a service

Running the agent with the Web UI enabled

Development

Scripts

本地自定义目录和启用debug日记

Readme

Keywords

Package Sidebar

Install

DownloadsWeekly Downloads

Version

License

Unpacked Size

Total Files

Last publish

Collaborators

`device.yml` - for a single device

`https` configuration

`httpStatic` configuration

`device.yml` - for provisioning

Weekly Downloads