edge-node-manager

README

edge-node-manager

resin.io dependent device edge-node-manager written in Go.

Getting started

• Sign up on resin.io
• Work through the getting started guide
• Create a new Raspberry Pi 3 application called EdgeNodeManager
• Set these variables in the Fleet Configuration application side tab
  • RESIN_SUPERVISOR_DELTA=1
  • RESIN_UI_ENABLE_DEPENDENT_APPLICATIONS=1
• Clone this repository to your local workspace
• Add the dependent application resin remote to your local workspace
• Provision a Raspberry Pi 3 gateway device
• Push code to resin as normal :)
• Follow the readme of the supported dependent device you would like to use

Supported dependent devices

• micro:bit
• nRF51822-DK

API

The edge-node-manager provides an API that allows the user to set the target status of the main process and to check whether there are updates pending. This can be useful for a couple of reasons:

• Ensure the edge-node-manager process is not running during an update of the user container
• Free up the on-board radios to allow user code to interact directly with the dependent devices e.g. to collect sensor data

Note - Update locks are enabled whilst the process is running. This means that you will need to pause the edge-node-manager to update the user container.

Warning - Do not try and interact with the on-board radios whilst the edge-node-manager is running (this leads to inconsistent, unexpected behaviour).

SET /v1/enm/status

Set the edge-node-manager process status.

Example

curl -i -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X PUT --data '{"targetStatus":"Paused"}' localhost:1337/v1/enm/status
curl -i -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X PUT --data '{"targetStatus":"Running"}' localhost:1337/v1/enm/status

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

GET /v1/enm/status

Get the edge-node-manager process status.

Example

curl -i -X GET localhost:1337/v1/enm/status

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{
    "currentStatus":"Running",
    "targetStatus":"Paused",
    "updatesPending": true
}

Further reading

About

The edge-node-manager is an example of a gateway application designed to bridge the gap between Resin OS capable single board computers (e.g. the Raspberry Pi) and non Resin OS capable devices (e.g. micro-controllers). It has been designed to make it as easy as possible to add new supported dependent device types and to run alongside your user application.

The following functionality is implemented:

• Dependent device detection
• Dependent device provisioning
• Dependent device restart
• Dependent device over-the-air (OTA) updating
• Dependent device logging and information updating
• API

Definitions

Dependent application

A dependent application is a Resin application that targets devices not capable of interacting directly with the Resin API.

The dependent application is scoped under a Resin application, which gets the definition of gateway application.

A dependent application follows the same development cycle as a conventional Resin application:

• It binds to your git workspace via the resin remote
• It consists of a Docker application
• It offers the same environment and configuration variables management

There are some key differences:

• It does not support Dockerfile templating
• The Dockerfile must target an x86 base image
• The actual firmware must be stored in the /assets folder within the built docker image

Dependent device

A dependent device is a device not capable of interacting directly with the Resin API - the reasons can be several, the most common are:

• No direct Internet capabilities
• Not able to run the Resin OS (being a microcontroller, for example)

Gateway application

The gateway application is responsible for detecting, provisioning and managing dependent devices belonging to one of its dependent applications. This is possible leveraging a new set of endpoints exposed by the Resin Supervisor.

The edge-node-manager (this repository) is an example of a gateway application.

Gateway device

The gateway device runs the gateway application and has the needed on-board radios to communicate with the managed dependent devices, for example:

• Bluetooth
• WiFi
• LoRa
• ZigBee

Throughout development a Raspberry Pi 3 has been used as the gateway device.