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Version: v23.0

DxOdyssey IoT on Azure Quick Start Guide

Introduction​

This quick start guide describes how to set up and configure DxOdyssey and SQL Edge Internet of Things (IoT) Modules on Azure to communicate with a local DxOdyssey VM using tunnels. This document assumes that each location does not have direct network access to the other. Using this guide, the user will configure DxOdyssey on a local machine, create an Azure IoT Edge device, deploy DxOdyssey and SQL Edge modules, and configure the DxOdyssey module to communicate with the local machine using tunnels.

Prerequisites​

  • Access to the Azure Portal.

  • A local VM with DxOdyssey installed, activated, and an active One-Time PassKey. Please reference the Linux Installation Quick Start Guide for installation instructions.

Attention

In the Linux Installation Quick Start Guide, skip the section titled Setup Second Gateway and Join into Gateway Group. Separate instructions for joining the DxOdyssey IoT gateway to the local VM are given in the Deploy the SQL Edge IoT Module section below.

Create DxOdyssey and SQL Edge Modules on Azure​

Create the IoT Edge Device​

  1. Go to the Azure portal at https://portal.azure.com.

  2. Log into the Azure account.

  3. Create an Azure IoT Edge Ubuntu VM, Resource Group, IoT Hub, and IoT Edge Device using Microsoft’s IoT Edge Quick Start Documentation.

  4. Set the connection string for the IoT Edge device in Cloud Shell. The name of the resource group, the hostname of the Azure VM, and the primary connection string for the IoT Edge Device are needed for this command. The primary connection string can be found under the properties of the IoT Edge Device on Azure.

    az vm run-command invoke -g <resource_group> -n <vm_name> --command-id RunShellScript --script "/etc/iotedge/configedge.sh '{device_connection_string}'"

Deploy the DxOdyssey IoT Module​

  1. Go to the Azure Marketplace and search for DxOdyssey for IoT.

  2. Select DxOdyssey for IoT, then select Create.

  3. Specify the Subscription, IoT Hub Name, and IoT Edge Device name, then select Create.

  4. Select the module being created to see the properties and select Environment Variables. The environment variables are used to specify the DxOdyssey IoT module’s configuration options.

    1. Set the DX_LICENSE variable with the DxOdyssey license key.

    2. Set the DX_OTPK variable with the One-Time PassKey generated using the instructions from the perquisites section.

    3. Set the DX_PASSKEY variable to the gateway group passkey to use for DxOdyssey Client UI access.

    4. Set the DX_ACCEPT_EULA variable to Y to indicate acceptance of the DH2i end-user license agreement.

    5. Add a DX_HOSTNAME (e.g. dxoedge1) variable to set a hostname for the module. This allows the user to redeploy the module while having it also retain membership in the gateway group when it attempts to rejoin. It also allows the alias to be used for tunnel origins and destinations.

    6. Select Review + Create, then select Create.

Deploy the SQL Edge IoT Module​

  1. Go to the Azure Marketplace and search for Azure SQL Edge.

  2. Select Azure SQL Edge, then select Create.

  3. Specify the Subscription, IoT Hub Name, and IoT Edge Device Name, then select Create.

  4. Select Review + Create, then select Create.

  5. Connect to the Azure IoT Edge Ubuntu VM.

    ssh azureuser@<public_ip>

  6. Verify the modules are active by running sudo iotedge list and note the name of the SQL Edge Module. This name will be used later to create tunnel that connects to the SQL instance.

Add a Tunnel to the Gateway Group and Connect Using SSMS​

DxOdyssey uses TCP tunnels to connect to connect gateways at remote locations.

info

The following command example illustrates the creation of a tunnel named SQL-EDGE with an origin gateway at the on-premise location (dxo1) that accepts connection from any IP on the local network (0.0.0.0) on port 11433. The destination gateway is the DxOdyssey IoT Module in Azure (i.e. the DX_HOST value of dxoedge1) and a destination of the Azure SQL Edge container on Azure (AzureSQLEdge) using the default port of 1433.

  1. Create the tunnel using the command dxcli add-tunnel.

    Example

    dxcli add-tunnel SQL-EDGE true dxoedge1 AzureSQLEdge:1433 dxo1,0.0.0.0:11433

  2. Launch SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or use sqlcmd on a VM connected to the same network as the origin. Use the connection string <dxo1_ip_address>,11433 to connect to the SQL Edge Module on Azure.

Additional Information​