ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector Release Notes, v. 3.0.0
ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector Release Notes, v. 3.0.0
The ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector enables devices that use the Microsoft Azure IoT Edge SDKs and IoT Hub Device SDKs to interact with the ThingWorx Platform. The ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector includes the following components:
• The core connection server and the Azure IoT Hub Protocol Adapter, configured to support Azure IoT Hubs, Azure IoT Edge Devices and Edge Modules, and Azure Blob Storage Containers connected to an Azure IoT Hub.
• An Azure IoT Hub Adapter Extension that must be imported into ThingWorx Platform to support Azure IoT entities. This extension provides entities to support Azure IoT Devices and Azure IoT Edge Devices, an Azure IoT Hub, and Azure Storage Containers.
• Another extension, called Connection Services Extension (CSE), which manages communication between ThingWorx Platform and the Azure IoT Hub Connector.
Together, these components provide the following features:
• Scalable connectivity between ThingWorx Platform and Azure IoT Hubs, Azure Blob Storage Containers, and Azure IoT Devices and Edge Devices.
• Horizontally scalable by adding instances of the ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector to handle increased load.
• A health check service, logging, and metrics collection, which enable you to monitor the health of the connection to the ThingWorx Platform as well as the traffic that it is handling. The logging feature provides detailed logs to help in troubleshooting.
• Configuration file to tune settings for the Connector.
• Security for connections to ThingWorx Platform.
All of these components are part of the distribution bundle for the Connector.
What’s New in ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector, v. 3.0.0
Release 3.0.0 of the ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector provides support for Azure IoT Edge Devices, improved support for native capabilities of Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Devices.The following table lists the changes for this release and provides links to details about them:
Feature
Description
Improved ease of Azure IoT Hub configuration
Improved ease of granting visibility and permissions to the Azure IoT Hub Connector.
Support for Azure IoT Edge Devices and Edge Modules
Azure IoT Edge Device SupportAzure IoT Edge Device Support
Improved outgoing message ("egress") processing
Support for Device Methods for Azure IoT Edge Devices as well as Azure IoT Devices
Improved support for Azure Blob Storage
Encryption of Azure IoT Hub credentials
Encryption of the configuration file for the Azure IoT Hub Connector
Updated smoke test for Azure IoT Edge Devices and Modules
Improved metrics for monitoring your Connector
Improved troubleshooting information
Improved logging by adding rolling policy
For more information about the Azure IoT Hub features, refer to the Microsoft Azure IoT Hub developer guide at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/guides/developer/azure-developer-guide.
Issues Fixed in v.3.0.0
In addition to continuous security improvements, this release provides the following software issues fixed in this release:
ID (SFID)
Description
AZX-485 (14753782)
Azure IoT Hub Connector 2.0.0 works well with Java 1.8_u131 but fails with Java 1.8_201 on Azure Windows 2016.
This issue is fixed in v.3.0.0 of the Connector. The version of Java for this release is 1.8_u141 at minimum due to requirements of the ThingWorx Security Client application.
AZX-372 (14078093)
The Edge Device demo fails to start with error: No signature of method.
This issue is fixed in this release.
AZX-374 (14074993)
Azure IoT Hub Connector Firmware Update Demo NodeJS code fails.
This issue is fixed in this release.
Issues Fixed in v.2.0.0
The following issues are fixed in this release:
ID
Description
AZX-8 (formerly VOL-41)
The Azure IoT Hub Connector disappears from the list of connected Connection Servers on the platform.
When it starts up, the Azure IoT Hub Connector is visible under the list of Connection Servers on the Monitoring tab in ThingWorx. When run continuously under a high load, the Connector disappears from that list after several hours have passed. The Connector also stops processing messages, but no exceptions are written to the logs.
This issue is fixed in this release.
AZX-320
Azure IoT Hubs with uppercase letters in their names will not connect.
With release 2.0.0, the Connector connects to Azure IoT Hubs with uppercase letters in their names.
AZX-327
Azure-cxserver-name does not exist or is not yet associated with a Thing error when starting up the Azure IoT Hub Connector.
The ApplicationLog error that was generated when the Connector thing did not exist no longer occurs. However, if the bind fails (the Thing exists but does not have the tthcorrect template), the error message about the bind failure is logged.
AZX-341
Allow multiple properties in Cloud to device messaging.
Cloud-to-device messaging sends only one property at a time. Essentially, after a property value changes, a message containing the update is sent.
The ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector now allows multiple property updates to be sent in a single message. Refer to the ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector Installation and Operations Guide, v.2.0.0 for details.
AZX-353
Remove azureHub property from AzureIotHubThing Thing Template.
The azureHub property on the AzureIotThing Thing Template is no longer used and has been removed from this Thing Template.
Known Issue
The following table describes a known issue for this release:
ID
Description
AZX-3
Message ordering is not preserved for a single device.
Although messages are retrieved synchronously from the Azure Event Hub endpoint, messages are dispatched to ThingWorx Platform asynchronously, leading to potential out-of-order application.