What is asset and device management in Azure IoT Operations?

In Azure IoT Operations, a key task is to manage the namespace assets and devices that are part of your solution. This article:

• Defines what namespace assets (preview) and devices (preview) mean in Azure IoT Operations.
• Provides an overview of services used to manage namespace assets and devices.
• Explains common use cases for these services.

This diagram shows the key components of asset management in Azure IoT Operations:

Understand physical assets and devices

In the context of Azure IoT Operations, the terms asset and device can refer to both physical entities that connect to Azure IoT Operations and configuration resources within Azure IoT Operations and Azure Device Registry.

In the previous diagram:

• Cameras are examples of physical devices that connect directly to Azure IoT Operations using the media connector or the ONVIF connector.
• Assets like Asset-01, which might be an oven, are physical assets that connect indirectly through an OPC UA server.
• OPC UA servers are physical devices that connect to Azure IoT Operations using the OPC UA connector.

A physical device can connect using various protocols. It might connect through a connector like the media connector. If it uses the MQTT protocol, it connects directly to the MQTT broker, bypassing the connectors.

This diagram shows how physical devices connect to Azure IoT Operations:

Understand namespace assets and devices in Azure IoT Operations

Azure IoT Operations uses the terms namespace asset and device to refer to configuration resources. These configuration resources don't map directly to the physical assets and devices in your environment. Instead, they define how a connector in Azure IoT Operations connects to and interacts with the physical assets and devices in your environment. In Azure IoT Operations:

• A device (preview) is a configuration resource that encapsulates the connection information required to connect to one or more physical devices or assets.
• A namespace asset (preview) is a configuration resource that encapsulates information about the data that a physical asset or device exchanges with IoT Operations.

These configuration resources are stored as Kubernetes custom resources and as entries in the Azure Device Registry.

An operator configures and manages devices and namespace assets in the operations experience web UI or by using the Azure IoT operations CLI.

Learn more in define assets and devices.

Southbound and northbound connectivity

In Azure IoT Operations, southbound connectivity refers to the connection between the edge cluster and physical devices and assets. Northbound connectivity refers to the connection between the edge cluster and cloud services.

The connectors in this article enable southbound connectivity by letting the edge cluster communicate with physical devices and assets. Learn about northbound connectivity in Process and route data with data flows.

Services for managing devices and namespace assets

Azure IoT Operations includes several services that help you manage devices and assets:

• Azure Device Registry: Manages metadata for namespace assets and other resources.
• Akri services: Lets you manage edge resources in a Kubernetes cluster.
• Operations experience: A web interface for managing devices and namespace assets.
• Azure portal: A web interface for managing Azure resources.

Azure Device Registry

Azure Device Registry is a backend service that enables the cloud and edge management of namespace assets from the Azure portal.

Azure Device Registry maps namespace assets from your edge environment to Azure resources in the cloud. It offers a unified registry so apps and services interacting with your assets connect to a single source. Azure Device Registry syncs assets in the cloud with custom resources in Kubernetes on the edge.

When you create a device or namespace asset in the operations experience or by using the Azure IoT Operations CLI, that device or namespace asset is defined in Azure Device Registry.

Namespace assets

Azure Device Registry maps namespace assets to Azure resources. Enterprises can use Azure Resource Manager, Azure's deployment and management service, with namespace assets. Azure Resource Manager supports resource groups, tags, role-based access control (RBAC), policies, logging, and auditing.

Devices

Azure Device Registry maps devices to Azure resources. Enterprises can use Azure Resource Manager, Azure's deployment and management service, with devices. Azure Resource Manager supports resource groups, tags, role-based access control (RBAC), policies, logging, and auditing.

Schemas

The schema registry is a service that lets you define and manage the schema for your assets. Data flows use schemas to deserialize and serialize messages.

Namespaces

Azure Device Registry uses namespaces (preview) to organize namespace assets and devices. Each Azure IoT Operations instance uses one namespace (preview) for its assets and devices. Multiple instances can share a namespace.

Synchronization

Manage devices and namespace assets through the operations experience or Azure APIs and tools like Azure Resource Graph. Changes made in the cloud sync to the edge and appear as custom resources in the Kubernetes cluster.

Akri services

Akri services (preview) in Azure IoT Operations:

• Provide an extensible framework for building and deploying connectors that enable connectivity protocols like ONVIF and HTTP/REST.
• Enable automatic discovery, onboarding, and monitoring of physical devices and assets at the edge.

Connectivity

Akri services let you deploy and set up connectivity protocols at the edge. Akri services use the asset and device resources in Azure Device Registry to model different device and protocol connections in your environment. They let you easily onboard and provision assets with open standards. They provide an extensible framework for all device protocols and a single-pane-of-glass view for all assets. Connectors include:

• The connector for OPC UA is a data ingress and protocol translation service that lets Azure IoT Operations ingest data from OPC UA servers. A key requirement in industrial environments is a common standard or protocol for machine-to-machine and machine-to-cloud data exchange. OPC UA is a specification for a platform-independent, service-oriented architecture that enables data exchange in industrial environments. The connector receives messages and events from your assets and publishes the data to topics in the MQTT broker.
• The media connector (preview) is a service that makes media from sources like edge-attached cameras available to other Azure IoT Operations components.
• The connector for ONVIF (preview) is a service that discovers and registers ONVIF assets like cameras. The connector lets you manage and control ONVIF assets like cameras connected to your cluster.
• The connector for HTTP/REST (preview) is a service that lets you connect to HTTP/REST endpoints and publish data to the MQTT broker.
• The connector for SSE (preview) is a service that lets you connect to SSE endpoints and publish event data to the MQTT broker.
• Custom connectors are services that you create to connect to other data sources and publish data to the MQTT broker. Use the Azure IoT Operations SDKs to create custom connectors that meet your specific requirements.

Discovery

Akri services (preview) let you automatically discover physical devices and assets and help OT users set up devices and namespace assets in the operations experience web UI. The connectors described earlier all use the framework provided by Akri services to implement their core capabilities.

Akri services simplify creating assets by automatically onboarding assets with preconfigured datasets and endpoints generated by the connectors to represent capabilities and devices on the network.

Monitoring

Akri services (preview) provide monitoring capabilities for physical devices and assets. This includes tracking the status and health of devices. The monitoring framework works seamlessly with the connectors and the Azure Device Registry, letting you gain insights into your edge environment.

Operations experience

The operations experience is a web UI that lets OT users create and configure devices and namespace assets in an Azure IoT Operations instance. This web UI simplifies managing devices and namespace assets and is the recommended service for this task.

Azure portal

The Azure portal is a web-based application that lets IT users manage Azure resources from a unified console. Use the Azure portal to create and manage Azure IoT Operations instances, monitor IoT solutions, and troubleshoot issues.