Windows 10: Announcing Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent V2 general availability

Brink · May 7, 2019

We are excited to announce the general availability of Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent V2. The Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent is an open-source, ready-to-build and package solution for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise and Windows 10 IoT Core operating systems that provides you with built-in capabilities to remotely provision, configure, monitor and manage your IoT devices.

When it comes to the widespread deployment of IoT devices, one of the key challenges is around remote manageability. IoT devices are deployed out in the field or on factory floors where direct device access is not always possible or practical. As an operator, you also want to ensure that you can deploy software and security updates across all the IoT devices in the field to protect and secure the data as well as the device.

What’s new

The Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent has been in public preview since Jan 2019. If you were using our public preview version, we hope you found it useful and we are eager to know your feedback. With GA, you now have access to the following new features:

1) UWP Management Plugin and UWP bridge: You can now remotely manage your UWP app running on your devices using the UWP management plugin. The Device Agent now includes a UWP bridge which allows UWP applications to leverage a subset of the Device Agent capabilities such as TPM access and reboot.

2) Diagnostics and error reporting: Troubleshooting issues on your IoT devices is a lot easier with quick access to collect logs and error information from the device and upload them to Azure Storage.

3) Device Agent extensibility: Ready-to-use Visual Studio templates and Nugets make it easy for a device developer to create their own plugins and extend the Device Agent’s capabilities.

See the complete list of capabilities below for more information.

Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent capabilities

The Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent provides you with the following capabilities to support these scenarios:

Device provisioning: The Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent integrates with the Azure Device Provisioning Service (DPS) client SDK to automatically provision and create the Azure IoT Hub identities of the device using the Azure Device Provisioning Service. The Device Agent registers the device with the Azure IoT Hub, ensuring the identity assignment of the device and applications running on it. The Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent leverages Azure IoT Module twin such that each process that connects to the IoT Hub is associated to the same IoT Hub device. If your solution demands that you have a custom provisioning client, you can do so by downloading the Azure Device Provisioning Service device SDK and implementing your own provisioning service.

Manage cloud connectivity: Once the Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent establishes the connection with the IoT Hub, it continues to manage the Azure cloud connection and the renewal of the SAS token before it expires.

Remote device management: The Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent provides the following remote device management capabilities via built-in plugins:

Device info: Enables you to retrieve information like Device ID, manufacturer information, firmware version, etc.

Reboot: Enables you to remotely reboot the device or schedule a reboot.

Remote wipe: Enables you to wipe out all data on the device and restore the device to a clean state.

Factory reset: Enables you to apply a factory image on the device bringing it back to its original state.

Time management: Enables you to configure an NTP service and set the time zone on the device.

Windows Update management: Enables you to enforce OS update policies on the device.

Certificate management: Enables you to remotely install or uninstall certificates.

Windows telemetry management: Enables you to configure the level of telemetry that is being reported from the device.

Device Agent’s extensibility: As a device builder, you can write your own plugins which can interface with the Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent. The Device Agent makes it easy for you to build your own custom code by providing you with the following hooks:

Includes a plugin model to bridge platform components with the agent and consequently with IoT Hub. The plugin model enables discovery, initialization, error reporting and state aggregation. The model includes a Visual Studio template and Nugets, which help you to quickly create your own plugin while abstracting the communication between the Device Agent and your plugin.

When a handler has dependencies on other handlers, Azure IoT Device Agent can make sure that the dependencies are processed in the right order.

Handlers have a versioning model to prevent mismatches in twin schemas or mismatches between plugin versions and the Device Agent.

Remote UWP application management: As a solution operator you can now remotely deploy, update, remove, start, or stop UWP applications on your devices using the UWP management plugin. On Windows IoT Core, you can also designate an application to be the start-up application.

Device Agent plugin capabilities in UWP apps: UWP applications can also leverage the UWP bridge, which enables the UWP application to leverage a limited subset of the functionalities of the Device Agent such as retrieving DPS enrollment information from the TPM or accessing admin-privileged functionality such as reboot.

Diagnostics and error reporting: Errors and diagnostics logs are now easily accessible for troubleshooting purposes using the Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent.

Solution operators can now collect ETW logs on their IoT devices and upload them back to the cloud for inspection.

The error reports have been enhanced to now include details of the sub-system or the process where the error originally occurred helping users to better interpret error messages.

Getting started

Check out the Quick Start for more information or download the code or exe from this GitHub repo.

We want to hear from you!

As always, your feedback is very important to us! Please share your comments, questions, or concerns on our or comment below. We’re listening!
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Source: Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent V2 general availability - Windows Developer Blog

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Brink · May 7, 2019

Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent V2 Public Preview now available

We are excited to announce the availability of the public preview of Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent V2 for Windows 10 IoT. Customers across industries, whether in an industrial setting or retail environment, are looking for ways to remotely provision and manage their IoT devices. Direct device access may not always be feasible when IoT devices are out in the field or on the factory floor. Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent enables operators to configure, monitor and manage their devices remotely from their Azure dashboard. Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent provides an open-source, ready to build package that does the following:

creates and manages the Azure IoT Hub identities on the device

manages the cloud connection and its renewal

provides a plug-in model for platform components, which allows easy onboarding to various Azure services, including discovery, initialization, error reporting and state aggregation

comes with a set of ready-to-ship plug-ins for commonly used platform components

leverages Azure IoT Module twin such that a separate UWP app is no longer required in order to connect to Azure IoT Hub

Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent V2 is available for both Windows 10 IoT Enterprise- and Windows 10 IoT Core-based devices and includes the following open-source libraries and executables out of the box:

Limpet.exe that allows local processes to use TPM for storing and retrieving Azure connection strings

Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service (DPS) client that enables zero-touch, just-in-time provisioning to the right Azure IoT Hub

Azure IoT Hub Device Management (DM) client that provides remote device management capabilities such as device info, certificate management, factory reset, reboot management, remote wipe, time management, Windows telemetry management and Windows update management

Getting started

Here is a link to the quickstart to get started with the preview.

For quick prototyping and testing we have added one-click install of Azure DPS and DM clients in Windows Device Portal for Windows 10 October 2018 update.

Want to learn more?

You can learn more about Azure IoT Device Agent as part of our end-to-end Azure IoT solution at the IoT in Action Virtual Bootcamp. Register at https://lnkd.in/gh3EKGp.

We want to hear from you!

As always, your feedback is very important to us! Please share your comments, questions, or concerns on our github page. We’re listening!
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Source: Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent V2 Public Preview now available | Windows Experience Blog

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Cluster Head · May 7, 2019

Azure IoT Suite now available

Azure IoT Suite now available

Our mission is to empower every person and business on the planet to do more, and one of the most transformative trends affecting every business is the Internet of Things. We call that the Internet of Your things, and today at AzureCon, we made two announcements that will help our customers quickly and easily capture their untapped data, create new intelligence, and ultimately transform their business, including:
•Availability of the Microsoft Azure IoT Suite: Now available to purchase, the Azure IoT Suite offers preconfigured solutions built on Microsoft’s cloud platform.
•A new Microsoft Azure Certified for IoT Program: In order to get IoT solutions up and running quickly, Azure Certified for IoT program helps customers quickly identify hardware and software offerings verified to work with Azure IoT services.

Transforming business with IoT

We’ve seen powerful results from effective Internet of Things strategies and technologies. Companies like Rockwell Automation and ThyssenKrupp Elevator have leveraged Azure to support real-time insight, predictive analytics and preventive maintenance—ultimately creating entirely new business models based on IoT.

There are a vast number of companies who can realize the benefits of IoT, but may have encountered roadblocks to deployment in the past, including struggling with the resources needed to deal with millions of devices with real time data streams, the time to move from ‘proof of concept’ to ‘production ready,’ and managing the complexity of implementation.

Introducing the Microsoft Azure IoT Suite

We developed the Microsoft Azure IoT Suite to help our customers more easily deploy IoT solutions with broad support a variety of devices and systems, interactive dashboards and visualizations, and preconfigured solutions. Now enterprises have an easy and seamless way to connect people, devices and assets that help them realize the opportunities of IoT without massive investments in infrastructure that would slow time to value.

Meeting customers where they are

Azure IoT Suite integrates with the device assets and IoT systems that customers already have. This lets businesses quickly pull together a more complete view of what’s happening. With the Azure IoT Suite, you can immediately see when a business asset or device needs attention. This allows a business to move from reactive to proactive maintenance—and then to full automation.

How the Azure IoT Suite works

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Intuitive visualization tools and dashboards

Once a company’s assets are connected, Azure IoT Suite provides near-real-time information in an intuitive format that helps business leaders take action from insights. Microsoft’s advanced analytics with high-scale capabilities enables companies to easily process data—even when it comes from a variety of sources, including devices, line-of-business assets, sensors and other systems. Built-in rich dashboards and analytics tools provide access to the data and insights they need. User permissions can be set to control reporting and share information with the right people in the business to help it run more efficiently.

Preconfigured solutions

To get started quickly, businesses can use our preconfigured solutions, which are engineered to help a company move quickly from proof of concept and testing to broader deployment. Remote monitoring is available today and predictive maintenance and asset management solutions will be available soon.

Announcing Microsoft Azure Certified for IoT

To meet customers where they are and enable faster time to production, we’re also excited to announce Microsoft Azure Certified for IoT, which tests and certifies IoT-enabled platform, device and operating system combinations, such as:

Azure Certified for IoT extends our promise to bring IoT to business scale, starting with interoperable solutions from leading technology companies around the world. This approach will accelerate the deployment of IoT even further.

The path ahead

For businesses contemplating an IoT initiative, now is the time to take the first step. Working with Microsoft and our new ecosystem of partners certified for IoT will enable your company to improve business processes and create new models to stay ahead of the competition.

Customers can learn more about our approach at http://www.InternetofYourThings.com and partners can learn more at Azure IoT Developer Center.

Welcome to the Internet of Your Things.

Takeshi
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Source: https://blogs.microsoft.com/iot/2015...now-available/

Brink · May 7, 2019

Kafka Connect for Azure IoT Hub

In Azure IoT, we believe in empowering developers to build IoT solutions with the technologies of their choice. Today I’m excited to announce the release of Kafka Connect for Azure IoT Hub. This new Kafka Source Connector can be used to read telemetry data from devices connected to the Azure IoT Hub; this open source code can be found on GitHub.

Azure IoT Hub provides secure two way communication with devices, device identity and device management at extreme scale and performance. Kafka Connect for Azure IoT Hub enables developers to connect IoT Hub to open source systems using Kafka for a powerful, secure and performant IoT solution. Kafka Connect for IoT Hub can also be used with the new managed Kafka solution available in Azure HDInsight.

Stay tuned for more announcements and follow us on GitHub to see what is coming next for Kafka Connect for Azure IoT Hub.
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Source: Kafka Connect for Azure IoT Hub | Blog | Microsoft Azure

Windows 10: Announcing Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent V2 general availability

Announcing Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent V2 general availability

Announcing Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent V2 general availability

Announcing Microsoft Azure IoT Device Agent V2 general availability

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