Azure IoT Hub Cloud Connection

From Teltonika Networks Wiki

Azure IoT Hub is an open and flexible cloud platform that supports open-source SDKs and multiple protocols.

Introduction

This article contains instructions on how to configure a RUT router in order to connect to the Azure IoT Hub.

The information in this page is updated in accordance with the RUTX_R_00.02.01.1 firmware version.


Prerequisites

You will need:

  • A router from the RUTX09 or RUTX11
  • An Azure IoT Hub account

Azure account creation

Visit https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/ and create an account that will suit your needs, for testing purposes we will be using free Azure account.

Managing Azure services

  • First you will want to create a Resource group for easier management of resources that you will add later. In Microsoft Azure home page.
      • Select Resource groups
      If it is not in very first page, click More services and locate it there.
  • In new window, select Add
  • And then finish creating yours Resource group
    • Select your subscription, we are using Free Trial for this test.
    1. Name your group
    2. Finally, choose server location for meta data. We will choose (South America) Brazil South and will use it during test where available.
  • At this moment we will skip adding Tags since we will be able to do that later if needed, so simply press Review + create at the bottom of screen and then click Create to finish setup.

  • You will be redirected to Homepage, then click on Resource groups. You should see yours newly created group, select it, and press Add.
  • Select Internet of Things or simply search IoT Hub and press Create.
  • We leave default subscription and resource group and choose:
    1. Region – (South America) Brazil South as before
    2. Create a name for IoT Hub
    3. Then go to Size and scale tab
  • For testing purposes, we are using F1: Free tier
    • At the bottom of the screen Review + create

    And finally, Click on >> Create

    Note: Wait until resource deploys and press Go to Resources


  • Inside IoT Hub list:
    Scroll down to Explorers and select IoT devices

  • Press New
  • In new device creation
    1. Enter Device ID
    2. Leave everything else on default and press Save
  • After you finish creation, you will be redirected back to IoT devices select yours newly created Device ID
  • In your device window you will find information needed to connect RUT devices to Azure IoT Hub.
    • For now, we will only need connection string. Copy Primary Connection string by pressing copy icon next to it.

Configuring Azure IoT Hub on RutOS

To configure an Azure IoT Hub instance on a RUT device, it is essential to first install the Azure IoT Hub package via the package manager.

  • To install required package, please on the router WebUI, navigate System > Package Manager and install Azure IoT Hub package

Now navigate to Services > Cloud solutions > Azure IoT Hub and add a new instance. In the pop-up window, you will notice two different connection types available:

  • Shared Access signature (SAS) key
  • Device Provisioning Service (DPS)

In this article, we will demonstrate the configuration steps for both connection types.

SAS key connection type configuration

Configuring Azure IoT Hub using the SAS key connection type is quite simple and straightforward. Please follow these three steps:

1. Make sure to enable the instance by pressing Enable button
2. Paste previously copied Connection String
3. Press Save & Apply button

After the instance is correctly configured, you will be able to see the connection status on the Azure IoT Hub page of the WebUI. A green dot indicates that the connection is successful. Additionally, you can check the connection status through the router command line by executing the following command: 

ubus call azure.1 get_connection_status

Upon executing this command, you will see its output. If the connection is successful, you will see the following output:

If you are able to see that the connection status is succesfully and authorized it means that connection is established using SAS key connection type. Now, lets move foward with configuration of Device Provisioning Service (DPS) connection type.

Device Provisioning Service (DPS) configuration

One of the primary features of DPS is its capability to dynamically manage multiple device identities. This service manages the device identity creation process using mechanisms called attestations. There are two such mechanisms:

  • 1. X.509
  • 2. Symmetric keys

DPS X.509 mechanism

The first mechanism utilizes X.509 certificates. Each DPS service includes one or more services known as enrollment groups, which handle this task. Each enrollment group is configured to function with a specific IoT Hub, considering there may be multiple IoT Hubs. At the DPS, the root CA certificate needs to be registered. Additionally, each enrollment group should have one or more intermediate CAs that are signed by the root CA. Each RUT device must have a unique certificate signed by an intermediate CA. This certificate contains additional information, such as the subject ID field, which will serve as the device identity name on the IoT Hub. Now, let's delve into an actual example of configuring such a service.

    1. The initial step is to generate certificates. You can refer to the Microsoft guide to generate the required certificates successfully. The Microsoft guide can be found here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/iot-dps/tutorial-custom-hsm-enrollment-group-x509?pivots=programming-language-ansi-c#create-a-root-ca-certificate

    The required certificates and keys:

  • Root CA certificate
  • Intermediate CA certificate
  • Devices certificates
    • Please ensure to carefully follow the Microsoft guide to create certificates, making sure not to miss any steps as they are all crucial. Following the Microsoft guide, after creating the Root CA certificate, you will notice that it is named "Azure IoT Hub CA Cert Test Only". After creating the root CA certificate, an intermediate CA certificate must be generated. Upon inspecting this certificate, you should notice that it is issued by the "Azure IoT Hub CA Cert Test Only", as seen previously. After successfully creating the intermediate CA certificate, proceed with creating the device certificate and signing it using the intermediate authority. It's crucial to note that the subject field will be the name of the newly registered identity on the IoT Hub page. If you are following the provided Microsoft guide, you can observe "device-01" name, remember it as it will be used in later configurations steps. Finally, we append the root CA, intermediate CA, and device certificates into one certificate chain. If you are following the guide, the "device-01-full-chain.cert.pem" file will be created. Later, we will upload this file to the RUT device WebUI page.

    2. After successfully generating the certificates, return to the Azure portal page and navigate to your Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service (DPS) page. From there, proceed to the certificate page and upload the root CA file.

    3. Next, navigate to the "Manage Enrollments" page to register the intermediate CA and target our IoT Hub service instance.

    4. The final step is to return to the RUT device WebUI and navigate to Services -> Cloud Solutions -> Azure IoT Hub page to create a new configuration instance. In the configuration pop-up window, please follow these steps: 4.1 Set connection type as a Device Provisioning Service (DPS); 4.2 Enter ID Scope of your DPS service page on Azure; 4.3 Specify the Registration ID. Remember the "device-01" one? If you followed the Microsoft guide step by step, you need to enter "device-01" in the "Registration ID" field. 4.4 Lastly, upload the certificate chain file and the private key file.

    With all the required values in place, the configuration pop-up window should resemble the screenshot below:

    After a couple of seconds, you will be able to observe the status of your configured instance in the Azure IoT Hub page on the router WebUI.

    The device successfully connects to the Azure IoT Hub.

    DPS Symmetric key mechanism

    The Symmetric key mechanism configuration is more straightforward. To configure it, first, go back to the Azure portal, navigate to your DPS service page, and create a new enrollment group with the Symmetric key attestation mechanism.

    Inspecting the newly created enrollment group will reveal some keys. The primary key will be used to derive each individual device identity. This can be done using a simple script, which is available in the following Microsoft guide.: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/iot-dps/how-to-legacy-device-symm-key?tabs=linux&amp%3Bpivots=programming-language-ansi-c&pivots=programming-language-ansi-c#derive-a-device-key

    In the script, you will notice a couple of important variables: KEY and REG_ID. In the KEY field, you must specify the primary key, which can be obtained from the newly created enrollment group.

    In the REG_ID field, you can specify any name you want. Upon executing the script, a shared access key will be created. Please copy this key, as we will need it in the following steps.

    After executing the script, go back to the RUT device Services -> Cloud Solutions -> Azure IoT Hub configurations page and add a new instance. In the configuration window, select DPS connection type and Symmetric Key connection type.

    • In the "ID scope" field, specify your Azure DPS service ID.
    • In the "Registration ID" field, enter the "REG_ID" value you specified in the script. For example, "wiki-newly-generated-device".
    • In the "Symmetric key" field, enter the "SharedAccessKey" obtained from the script execution.

    If you are following this guide, your configuration window should look similar to the screenshot below. Don't forget to press the Save & Apply button! A few seconds after saving the configuration, you should be able to observe that the device successfully connects to Azure. Moreover, we can return to the IoT Hub services in the Azure portal and check the device list. There, we will see that the DPS service has created a new device identity, named the same as what we specified in the "REG_ID" field in the script earlier. If you see that the connection is successful on the router WebUI page and the newly created device appears in the Azure IoT Hub device list, it means that you have configured everything correctly.

Direct methods configuration

Direct method is a term that describes process where some action is called from the Azure IoT Hub to a specific device identity. The receiving device executes certain actions and returns an answer back to the Azure portal. Let's see how it works on our devices.

By default, all configurations instances will have this option disabled. To enabled it, you should navigate on router WebUI to Services -> Cloud Solutions -> Azure IoT Hub and press edit button on specific instance. There, you will be able to see "Enable Direct Methods" button, which you need to press.

For testing and demonstration purposes we will use Azure IoT explorer application. The Azure IoT explorer is a graphical tool for interacting with devices connected to your IoT hub. If you are not familiar with it, you can follow this Microsoft installation and usage guide https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/iot/howto-use-iot-explorer

After enabling the Direct Method feature manually, go to Azure IoT Explorer, select proper device indentity and head to direct methods tab. All our RUT devices supports api_call direct method, which exposes the API interface to be used from the Azure side. In this example, we will call simple get request to retrieve I/O status of the device. Full documentation of Teltonika devices API can be found here https://developers.teltonika-networks.com/

In the Azure IoT explorer direct method tab you can see Payload field. It expects to have JSON formatted information.

API call expects at least two parameters. The first one is called "method". This needs to have an integer value between zero and three, which corresponds to API method type - either "get", "out", "post", "delete". The second one is endpoint which expects a string value of the API endpoint. In this case we will call the /io/status endpoint.

After pressing "Invoke Method" button, we can a response from the device.

Checking if Data reaches Azure IoT Hub

  • From router side, connect to it with CLI or SSH client and write in command azure_iothub and press Enter
    • - You should get answer that looks something like that, depending on what information you chose to send.

  • From Azure IoT Hub side you can check if it receives data. Go to IoT Hub that you created previously. Select Overview, there you can see:
    • 1. How many devices are connected to hub, and how many messages it sent during chosen period of time.
    2. Device to cloud messages, that your router is sending.

    It should look something like that if IoT Hub is receiving data.

  • To capture logs you will need Device Explorer for IoT Hub Devices.

    • Scroll down to Assets, download and install SetupDeviceExplorer.msi

  • Now you will need connection string of yours Azure IoT Hub, Not device. Navigate to IoT hub in your browser, then:
    • 1. Click Shared access policies
    2. Next choose iothubowner
    3. And copy Connection string – primary key

  • After that go back to Device Explorer:
    • 1. In Configuration tab paste in Connection string that you just copied
    2. Copy HostName part from connection string and paste it in Protocol Gateway HostName
    3. Click Update

  • Open Management tab
    • 1. Click Update
    2. You should see your device in the list below and Connection state

  • Go to Data tab
    • 1. Click monitor, and wait for Event Hub Data to update (Depends on yours chosen interval)
    2. Messages like this should start appearing.

    Setting router to Forward MQTT messages/commands to Azure IoT Hub

    First you will need MQTT broker to subscribe to, for testing purposes we will set MQTT Broker in same router, and will use PC from LAN to sent MQTT messages.
  • Go to Services > MQTT > Broker
    • 1. Click Enable
    2. Use same port in MQTT Broker and Azure IoT Hub settings.
    3. Press Save

  • Go to Services > Cloud solutions > Azure IoT Hub
    • 1. Enable monitoring
    2. Use same Connection string as before (GSM values configuration)
    3. Messages Type choose MQTT messages
    4. Enter MQTT Host address, we are using 127.0.0.1 since our broker is set up on same router.
    5. Port Same as MQTT Broker
    6. And Topic under which router will subscribe to MQTT Broker
    7. Press Save, we will not need username or password.

Checking if MQTT messages are being forwarded to Azure IoT Hub

Linux

    Connect to router with SSH, in logread you should see Router establishing connection to Azure IoT Hub:

  • Open terminal and publish to MQTT Broker message with previously chosen topic.
    For our example we are using example: mosquito_pub -h 192.168.1.1 -p 8883 -m ‘testing Azure MQTT messages’ -t test

    • If everything was configured correctly in Device Explorer Data tab you should receive message like:

    This means our router Forwards MQTT messages to Azure IoT Hub.

Windows

  • Install a MQTT client software to do the test, for this example we used MQTT.fx
    • 1. Setup your Router IP Address
    2. Use the same broker port
    3. Paste your Connection string – primary key and click Apply

    1. Connect to the server broker
    2. Use the created topic. For this example test
    3. Send a message

  • If you did everything right this message will be shown in the device explorer
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