In the ZEDEDA Cloud system, an edge node is any compute hardware running EVE-OS that has been onboarded to a ZEDEDA project in an enterprise. The device can have either an ARM or Intel CPU. Typical devices used as edge nodes include standard IoT Gateway, industrial PCs, Single Board Computing boards, rack-mount servers, or desktop servers.
Each edge node may only belong to a single project. The project's properties can apply to all the Edge Nodes in that project. We recommend (though not mandatory) similar Edge Nodes in every project because bulk operations can be performed easily.
Edge Nodes require standard object-level attributes like name (which must be unique) and title (which may be changed anytime). The illustration below shows a typical Edge Node hosting the EVE-OS software to orchestrate cloud-native and/or legacy IoT applications.
Concepts related to Edge Nodes
Project
Project is the logical grouping of Edge Nodes. Edge Node can be a part of only one project. An enterprise may have multiple projects. The project can be a Regular project or a specific type like 'Azure.' In Azure, some default apps are deployed automatically as soon as a new edge node is added to a project.
The project requires standard object-level attributes like the name, which must be unique, and the title, which can be changed later. Depending on the type of project, other project-related attributes are configurable.
Models
ZEDEDA provides pre-created models to define the physical hardware attributes of the Edge Nodes. Models have the following attributes.
-
Resource capacity for memory, storage, and CPU,
-
Type of CPU–if it's an ARM device or x86 device.
-
The model also describes what physical interfaces or ports are available on the device.
-
The hardware bus interfaces and numbers are also captured.
Status and State
In ZEDEDA, each Edge Node has an Admin Status and a Run State.
The operator controls the Admin Status. As part of the Edge Node create a workflow, the newly created Edge Node will be in the 'Inactive' status. Once the operator activates the Edge Node, the 'Admin Status is moved from 'Inactive' to 'Active' status. At this point, the Edge Node calls back to ZEDEDA CLOUD and presents its credentials. ZEDEDA platform, after verification of credentials, moves the device from 'Active' status into a 'Registered' state.
The Run State mainly shows the current state of the Edge Node, whether online or in error. It also depicts the other Run States like provisioned, unprovisioned, suspect, etc. ZEDEDA platform, after verifying the actual state of the Edge Node, moves it to a particular state.
Onboarding
Edge Nodes can be onboarded using multiple ways. Depending on the onboarding options, the Admin Status might be affected.
Option A: Upload Edge Node Certificate
One can onboard the Edge Node using the Trusted Platform Module/Hardware Security Module (TPM/HSM) backed device certificate. If you use this method, you need to extract the device certificate from the Edge Node after it is first installed. The device automatically goes into a 'Registered' Admin Status if you use this method.
Option B: Onboarding Key
To use the onboarding key, one of the below methods can be used to get the required serial number:
-
Hardware Serial Key
We use the hardware-based serial number provided with the Edge Node in this method. Assuming that the serial number is programmed into the DMI table of the Edge Node and the EVE-OS software interprets it.
-
Software Serial Key
In this method, the software serial key is dynamically generated on the platform by EVE-OS instead of using the software serial number available when the EVE-OS is installed on the hardware.
Edge nodes list view
You can see summary metrics and a list of your onboarded edge nodes in the list page.
After you log in to the ZEDEDA GUI:
- Click on the 'Edge Nodes' from the left side nav.
- Click the expand icon to view the summary panel.
The summary Panel shows the 'Run State Distribution,' 'Edge App Instances Load,' and 'EVE-OS Distribution of Edge Nodes' widgets. You can hover around these donut charts to get the number in each distribution.
Below the summary panel list, a view of all the Edge nodes is displayed in a tabular format.
Edge node details view
Click on an edge node in your Edge Nodes list view to see its details page.
Next steps
Check out our guide to Oboarding Edge Nodes.