Note: Edge Server is currently in beta with further enhancements planned in the product roadmap. Contact support@zohoiot.com for more details.

Installing Edge Server

Adding an Asset

In Zoho IoT, any resource you want to monitor must be added as a device, asset, or location. For example, if you have a tank in a water treatment plant that needs monitoring, you must add it as an asset in Zoho IoT and link it to the appropriate datasource in the edge server. This lets you visualize the tank's data in the application.

To add an asset,

1. Access the End Application.
   
   
   
   
2. Select Assets in the left navigation pane.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Add Asset.
   
   
   
   
4. Determine the model you wish to use:
   
   If it's your first time accessing the application or you have not added any model in the application, you will only have the Model field. Entering the Model Name will create a new asset model with that name.
   
   
   
   If you have already added any asset model, you will have a toggle option.
   
   Toggle to Create new model if you wish to associate a new device model with the product. Entering the model name will create a new model with the given name.
   
   
   
   Toggle to Use Existing Model if you have previously added a model(s) and select the required Model.
   
   
   
   
5. Provide the necessary details in the required field. For this illustration, the information provided is for adding a Tank 1001 asset with a new asset model called Tank.
   
   
   
   
6. Provide an edge key for the asset. For this illustration, the edge key tank_1001 is used. 
   
   
   
   
7. Click Add. A new asset with the give name will be added. 
   
   
   
   
   
   

The added asset is how you will manage the resource in the application. Before you can visualize the data to monitor the asset, it must be associated with an Edge Server and its datasource to utilize the information received from the on-premise machine. In the next step, you will be guided on how to add an Edge Server and connect it with your on-premise machine.

Adding an Edge Server Instance

The Edge Server has two components. The first is the Edge Server software, which is installed on your on-premise device. The second is the Edge Server instance, which is added in your Zoho IoT application. The instance holds the connection details required to establish communication between your on-premise machine and the cloud application, and allows you to configure the Edge Server remotely.

Note: Edge Server is currently in beta. Contact support@zohoiot.com to enable it in your application.

To add an Edge Server instance,

1. Access the End Application.
   
   
   
   
2. In the left navigation pane, select Devices > Devices.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Add Device.
   
   
   
   
4. Select Add an Edge Server and click Proceed.
   
   
   
   
5. Provide a name for your Edge Server instance and select the Authentication Type. For this illustration, Edge Server 01 is used as the name and Security Token without TLS is selected as the authentication type.
   
   
   
   
6. Click Add. 
   
   
   

An Edge Server Added Successfully dialog box will appear with the required credentials. Do not close the dialog box. Proceed to enter the credentials in the Zoho IoT Edge Application running on your on-premise device.

Establishing connection between On Premise machine and the Zoho IoT Application

With the Edge Server instance registered in the Zoho IoT application, you can use the generated credentials to establish a connection. If you closed the dialog box, you can access the credentials again by following the steps listed in this document.

Note: The Zoho IoT Edge Server must be installed and configured on your machine by our support team. If you have not yet installed it or are facing issues, contact support@zohoiot.com.

To establish a connection,

1. Open a browser on your machine and go to localhost:8070. You will be redirected to the Edge Server login page.
   

   Note: If you have any issues accessing this page, contact support@zohoiot.com.
2. Log in with your user ID and password.
   
   
   
   
3. Select Zoho IoT in the left pane.
   
   
   
   
4. Click Edit Configuration.
   
   
   
   
5. From the connection credentials,
   
1. Copy the value of the Username field and paste it into the MQTT User Name field.
   
2. Copy the Password/Authentication token from the connection credentials and paste it into the Password / Auth Token field.
   
3. Select the same Authentication Type as the one chosen while adding the Edge Server instance. Here, Security Token without TLS is selected.
   
4. Close the connection details dialog box
   
   
   
   
6. Click Update Configuration.
   
   
   
   
7. Click Connect.
   
   
   
   

A connection will be established with the Zoho IoT application and the Edge Server instance. In this case, Edge Server 01 will show the status as Connected. 

Adding a Datasource

1. Immediately after adding the Edge Server, close the Edge Server Added Successfully dialog box, by clicking ok, to access the Edge Server information page.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. If you navigated away from the previous flow, select Devices > Devices in the left pane and click the name of the Edge Server instance to which you want to add the datasource.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Click Add Datasource.
   
   
   
   
4. Select the connector and click Proceed. For this illustration, OPC UA is selected.
   
   
   
   
5. Provide the required information for the OPC UA server. For this illustration, the connector name is OES 001 and the server address is from the official OPC UA simulator application. You can provide the server address of your own OPC UA server and its corresponding configurations.
   
   
   
   
6. Once the connector details are filled in, click Connect & Proceed.
   
   
   
   
7. Upon a successful connection, you will get access to the tags available in your OPC UA server. 
   
   
   
   
8. Select the tags i.e, the telemetry that correspond to the resource you need and click Next.
   
   
   
   
9. Select the asset/device/location added previously to represent the resource. In this illustration, it is Tank 1001, added previously based on the Water Tank model is selected.
   
   
   
   
10. Provide the asset Edge Key used while adding the asset, which helps with parsing the correct value. Here, the Edge Key: tank_1001, provided while adding the Tank 1001 asset, is used.
    
    
    
    
11. Provide the polling interval. For this illustration, a polling interval of 20 seconds is given. 
    
    
    
    
12. Click Deploy & Proceed.
    
    
    
    

The data received from the on-premise machine must be stored in the datapoints of the asset. The telemetry tags selected in the previous steps will now need to be mapped to the datapoints of the selected asset, device, or location instance, which are configured to receive data from the OPC UA server. 

To assign an existing datapoint:

Learn more about datapoints and how to add datapoints to asset, device, and location instances. 

Note: The datapoint must already be added to the selected asset instance before this step.

1. Click the drop-down list in the Datapoint column corresponding to the required telemetry and select the appropriate datapoint.
   
   
   
   
2. Once the correct datapoint is selected, click Map in the same row.
   
   
   
   
3. Once the mapping for all telemetry is complete, click Finish.
   
   
   

To add a new datapoint:

Learn more about datapoints and how to add datapoints to asset, device, and location instances. 

1. Click the drop-down list in the Datapoint column corresponding to the required telemetry and click + Add Datapoint. Now, you can import an existing datapoint or add a new one. For this illustration, a custom datapoint will be added.
   
   
   
   
2. Select Add Custom Datapoint and click Proceed.
   
   
   
   
3. Provide the datapoint type, name, its kind, and unit based on the telemetry data of the corresponding tag/telemetry. 
   
   
   
   
4. Click the Parsing Key field.
   
   
   
   
5. Select Edge Key and click Next.
   
   
   
   
6. Provide the key of the corresponding tag/telemetry and click Add. The parsing for the datapoint will now be assigned.
   
   
   
   
7. Click Add. The datapoint will now appear in the drop-down list.
   
   
   
   
8. With the newly added datapoint selected, click Map in the same row.
   
   
   
   
9. Once the mapping for all telemetry is complete, click Finish.
   
   
   

The datasource will now be added and associated with the selected device/asset/location instance.