Setup Your Connectors (optional)

If the microservices running on your nodes need to communicate with other microservices in your network, ioFog includes an optional daemon called a Connector. The Connector assists in providing automatic discovery and NAT traversal, brokering direct peer-to-peer (P2P) communication when possible.

Minimum Requirements

Processor: x86-64 or ARM Dual Core or better
RAM: 1 GB minimum
Hard Disk: 5 GB minimum
Linux kernel v3.10+ (Ubuntu, CentOS, Raspbian, etc)
Java Runtime v8.0.0 or higher

Setup

Install Java v8.0.0+

You can find official Java SE Runtime downloads on Oracle's website or alternatively install the OpenJDK Runtime.

You can also use apt-get:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer

Install Connector Daemon

Ubuntu/Debian

curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/iofog/iofog-connector/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt-get install iofog-connector

CentOS/Red Hat/Fedora

curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/iofog/iofog-connector/script.rpm.sh | sudo bash
sudo yum install iofog-connector

Add Configuration

The Connector looks for a JSON configuration file that needs to be created at /etc/iofog-connector/iofog-connector.conf.

This JSON configuration file has four required fields: "ports", "exclude", "broker", and "address".

Field	Description
`"ports"`	An array of allowed port ranges on the Connector's machine that it can use in ioFog Agent intercommunication.
`"exclude"`	An array of port ranges on the Connector's machine that you want excluded from the ranges provided in the `"ports"` field.
`"broker"`	TODO
`"address"`	TODO

Here's an example:

# This is only an example. Make sure to change
# these values for your unique configuration.

sudo echo '{
  "ports": [
    "6000-6001",
    "7000-7002",
    "30000-39999",
    "40000-49999"
  ],
  "exclude": [
    "7001"
  ],
  "broker": 12345,
  "address": "127.0.0.1"
 }' > /etc/iofog-connector/iofog-connector.conf

Dev Mode

The Connector has a Dev Mode that allows you to get up and running more quickly without needing to deal with SSL certificates.

To enable Dev Mode on the Connector you'll need to first edit your configuration file /etc/iofog-connector/iofog-connector.conf, adding the property "dev": true.

Example /etc/iofog-connector/iofog-connector.conf

{
  // etc...
  "address": "127.0.0.1",
+ "dev": true
 }

If your Connector is already registered with your Controller, you'll need to update it to use Dev Mode as well:

iofog-controller connector update --public-ip <connector_ip> --dev-mode-on

Otherwise, when you do register it with the Controller, make sure you include the --dev-mode-on flag.

With these enabled, the Connector will send and receive communications using http://, not https://, bypassing any need for SSL certificates.

SSL Certificates

When not running in developer mode, the Connector requires a valid SSL certificate and key.

Ideally certificates would be signed by a Certificate Authority, but because that would require a public domain name, self-signed certificates are accepted as well.

By convention the Connector expects your SSL certificate and key to be named server-cert.per and server-key.per respectively and placed in the /etc/iofog-connector directory.

If you are using a self-signed certificate for your Connector, you'll need to make sure that you have enabled that feature from the Controller, wherever it is running:

# NOTE: this is the *Controller* not your Connector!

iofog-controller config connector add \
  --name "my-connector" \
  --domain "example.com" \
  --self-signed-on \
  --cert "$(< path/to/ssl.cert)"

# If you are using Dev Mode, you need to also include --dev-mode-on

The --cert "$(< path/to/ssl.cert)" argument is used to provide a copy of our self-signed certificate.

Start the Connector

Now that our Connector is setup, let's go ahead and start it up using the Linux service command.

sudo service iofog-connector start

If you need to stop or restart it, you can use stop

sudo service iofog-connector stop

Add To Your Controller

The last step is to register your Connector with your Controlller. This will require providing a domain and and static IP address to reach your Connector as arguments to the Controller's connector add command:

iofog-controller connector add \
  --name <connector_name> \
  --domain <connector_domain_name> \
  --public-ip <connector_ip> \

Conclusion

We now have a running Connector! If you haven't already, you'll want to next setup your ioFog node Agents, and your Controller.

You can also learn more about Connectors or change additional configuration options.