Quick Start for VxWorks 7 Overview

In this Quick Start, you will install and run the device manager on a VxWorks device, start a sample application that transmits data, and view the data transmission from the Device Cloud Management Portal.

Before using this document, ensure that you understand the basic Device Cloud concepts. For information about the components of Device Cloud, see Device Cloud Getting Started.

To use this Quick Start, you must have the VxWorks 7 development environment installed on a supported host computer (Linux or Windows), and a device that is supported for VxWorks 7.

The required Device Cloud components (applications and thing definitions) for the device manager and sample applications may already exist in your organization. This means that you do not have to create thing definitions and an application in Device Cloud, which you would normally do in your development process. If the components are not present, you will create them as part of the procedures in this document.

To access the browser-based user interface to Device Cloud, you must have completed the account registration process to create a password and activate your account as described in your welcome email. You also receive the URL to access Device Cloud, which is specific to your geographic region.

Quick Start Schematic

This diagram provides a simplified view of the key elements that you will encounter in this Quick Start, and their relationship to one-another. It is not a complete system diagram. The descriptive text below provides a more detailed explanation.

Device Cloud VxWorks 7 Device and Cloud Schematic
Device Manager

The device manager is a specialized application that implements the device-side of features such as remote login, file transfer, and software update. The operation of these features is controlled by the user from the Device Cloud Management Portal.

iot.cfg

The iot.cfg configuration file defines the operation of the device manager's features, such as whether or not remote login is enabled.

Telemetry Application

The telemetry sample application sends data to the Device Cloud. The C code for the application's initialization process includes defining a user-specified ID for the application (in this case it is "telemetry-app").

telemetry-app.cfg

The telemetry-app.cfg file is the connection configuration file for the telemetry application.

It contains the token for the telemetry app.The token must match the value of the token associated with the name of the application in the Device Cloud. For example, hdc_simple_telemetry_clib_app might be associated with a token of yZ5OnExEjC8na7BW, which would then be used in iot-connect.cfg.

Device Cloud Agent

The device cloud agent performs services for applications, including managing communications with the Device Cloud.

At startup, the device cloud agent library generates a unique device ID (in the device_id file) on the device, which is used to identify the device manager and the applications on the device, in communicating with the Device Cloud server. For example, 8b49cf7e-0511-11e8-ad00-cbbbec96566a.

The agent library combines the device ID with the application ID to create a unique thing key, which uniquely identifies an application on that specific device. For example, 8b49cf7e-0511-11e8-ad00-cbbbec96566a-telemetry-app.

You use the device ID in the Device Cloud Management Portal to access information about your device and sample application, including the data that is transmitted.

iot-connect.cfg

The iot-connect.cfg connection configuration file defines the attributes of the connection between the device and the Device Cloud, including location of the CA certificates file, the domain name of the Device Cloud endpoint, and the port.

It also includes the token that uniquely identifies the device manager. The token must match the value of the token associated with the corresponding the device manager application definition in the Device Cloud. For example, hdc_device_manager_clib_app might be associated with the token dFXfyZN6kXeNoKtAs, which would then be used in iot-connect.cfg.

Device Cloud Platform

The Device Cloud Platform manages connections with all applications on devices.

Device Cloud Device Manager and Application Definitions

Each device application, including the device manager, must be defined as an application and represented as a thing in the Device Cloud using the Management Portal. Definition of an application includes generation of a token, which is used to uniquely identify the application in the Management Portal and in the application's connection configuration file.

A thing definition represents the characteristics of an application in the Device Cloud. The application is associated with the thing definition. When an application on a device is authenticated with the Device Cloud using the application token, it appears as an instance of the thing definition in the Device Cloud.

For this Quick start, the application and thing definitions may already have been created for you. If not, you will need to create the application and thing definitions in Device Cloud yourself.

Device Cloud Management Portal

The Management Portal is the Web browser user interface part of Device Cloud that enables you to perform device management, administration, and developer tasks.

For detailed information, see the Device Cloud Device Programmer's Guide and the Device Cloud Management Portal User's Guide.

Quick Start Workflow

  1. Configure VxWorks with Device Cloud support.

  2. Build the telemetry application.

  3. Look up the application tokens and create the configuration files.

  4. Add the files to the device.

  5. Get the device ID and start the telemetry application

  6. Use the Device Cloud Management Portal to display the data being transmitted from the telemetry application.