Release Notes > Release Notes Archive > ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector 4.0.0 Release Notes
ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector 4.0.0 Release Notes
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. Note that ThingWorx Platform running in single-server mode only is supported in release 4.0.0.
Release 4.0.0 adds support for users of the ThingWorx Microsoft Azure Industrial IoT OPC UA integration to communicate with a ThingWorx Platform. Again, only single-server mode of the platform is supported at this time.
The ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector itself 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. For users of the ThingWorx Azure OPC UA integration the protocol adapter component translates messages from the OPC UA format into ThingWorx AlwaysOn messages and vice versa.
• 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. For the Azure OPC UA integration, it provides mashups to support the Industrial IoT entities.
• Another extension, called Connection Services Extension (CSE), 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, Azure IoT Devices and Edge Devices, and the Microsoft Azure Industrial IoT Stack, OPC UA.
• Horizontal scalability by adding instances of the ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector and setting up partitions on an Azure IoT Hub to handle increased load.
• A health check service, logging, and metrics collection enable you to monitor the health of the connection to the ThingWorx Platform in either single-server or clustering mode, as well as the traffic that the platform or cluster 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. 4.0.0
Release 4.0.0 of the ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector adds support for connecting OPC/UA servers that connect to the Microsoft Azure Industrial IoT (IIoT) Microservices to the ThingWorx Platform.
Feature
Description
AZX-582
The version of jackson-databind has bee upgraded to 2.10.1 from 2.9.7 for this release of the Connector. The Azure IoT Hub Connector does not enable "default typing".
AZX-730
The shared AES key, azure.connector.key, has been removed from the Azure IoT Hub Connector. You no longer have to encrypt the credentials for the Azure IoT Hub in ThingWorx Platform. The instructions for this step have been removed from the documentation. The workflow diagram that contained this step has also been updated.
Support for ThingWorx Microsoft Azure OPC UA Integration
Support for Microsoft Azure Industrial IoT - OPC UA
For more information on the ThingWorx Azure OPC UA integration, refer to ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector for Microsoft Azure Industrial IoT (IIoT) for OPC UA .
AZX-696
The Azure IoT Hub Connector Help Center has been updated for changes in the 4.0.0 release, including support for ThingWorx Microsoft Azure Industrial IoT OPC UA integration..
AZX-800
Configure Endpoint Credentials
Performing UA Command and Control operations require the requestor to present credentials. The new UA Endpoint Management mashup allows the users of ThingWorx Composer to provide the credentials as well as to browse and subscribe for telemetry. For information on Configuring endpoint credentials, refer to the topic, Step 7. Using ThingWorx OPC UA Mashups to Configure Your OPC UA Applications and Endpoints.
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.
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.