Setting up the environment

This document describes how to use Bluemix to set up the Cloudant database, SendGrid email service, configure and test the Watson IoT service and devices, and then deploy a Cloud Foundry application that proxies MQTT events to the OpenWhisk actions.

After completing the steps here, proceed to set up the OpenWhisk actions, triggers, and rules.

Provision services and set environment variables

Start by copying template.local.env to a new local.env file. You can fill in additional details as you go through the steps below. The .gitignore file will prevent that private file from being pushed to source control if you push modifications to your own fork.

Set up Cloudant

Log into the Bluemix console and create a Cloudant instance named cloudant-openfridge.

Update CLOUDANT_INSTANCE in local.env to reflect the name of the Cloudant service instance and ensure it matches what's set in feeds/cf/mqtt/manifest.yml. Then set the CLOUDANT_USERNAME and CLOUDANT_PASSWORD values in local.env based on the credentials for the service.

Launch the Cloudant console and create three databases. Set their names in the CLOUDANT_SERVICE_DATABASE, CLOUDANT_ORDER_DATABASE, and CLOUDANT_APPLIANCE_DATABASE variables. For example, service, order, and appliance.

Create one more topic_listeners database in Cloudant, which will manage the state of the MQTT subscriptions. Then add this Design Document to the database:

{
  "_id": "_design/subscriptions",
  "views": {
    "host_topic_counts": {
      "reduce": "_sum",
      "map": "function (doc) {\n  emit(doc.url + '#' + doc.topic, 1);\n}"
    },
    "host_topic_triggers": {
      "map": "function (doc) {\n  emit(doc.url + '#' + doc.topic, {trigger: doc._id, openWhiskUsername: doc.openWhiskUsername, openWhiskPassword: doc.openWhiskPassword, username: doc.watsonUsername, password: doc.watsonPassword, clientId: doc.watsonClientId});\n}"
    },
    "all": {
      "map": "function (doc) {\n  emit(doc._id, {url: doc.url, topic: doc.topic, username: doc.watsonUsername, password: doc.watsonPassword, clientId: doc.watsonClientId});\n}"
    },
    "host_triggers": {
      "map": "function (doc) {\n  emit(doc.url, {trigger: doc._id, openWhiskUsername: doc.openWhiskUsername, openWhiskPassword: doc.openWhiskPassword, username: doc.watsonUsername, password: doc.watsonPassword, clientId: doc.watsonClientId});\n}"
    }
  }
}

Set up SendGrid

Log into the Bluemix console and create a SendGrid instance. If you don't want to pay for the minimum plan, you can go to SendGrid directly to request a free trial. Follow the developer documentation to configure an API key. Update local.env accordingly. There is important additional information on configuring SendGrid with Bluemix here in case you run into any issues.

Set up IoT Foundation

Provision an instance of the Watson IoT Platform

• Log into the Bluemix console, provision an instance of the Watson IoT Platform, then launch the service dashboard.

Create device type

• On the left side menu, choose Devices then click the Add Device button on the right. You'll need to create a Device Type first, so create one with a Name of refrigerator-simulator, give it a Description of A way to simulate a refrigerator, and select Serial Number, Manufacturer and Model attributes for the new device type (e.g., using 0 as template values).

Create a device of that type

• Continue in the same dialog window to add a device instance. Give it a Device ID of 1, Serial number of aaaabbbbcccc, a Manufacturer of Electrolux, and a Model of 1200n and autogenerate (or enter) a Token. You will need to specify this token when connecting the device to the IoT Platform (in our case, in the Paho connection options, as outlined below).
• Optionally, create two more devices with unique IDs and Serials, such as 2, llllmmmmnnnn and 3, xxxxyyyyzzzz.

Create application access token

• Your devices now have all the access information they need, but you'll need to set up a separate API key for the consuming application, which will be a Node.js application deployed via Cloud Foundry on Bluemix.
• On the dashboard, choose Apps and pick the API keys tab. Click the Generate API Key button. Save the generated key and token and update them in local.env. You also need them for the Paho client setup (as outlined below). Click Generate.

Set up IoT event producer to simulate the device

You can use Eclipse Paho or the Eclipse Mosquitto command line tools to publish and subscribe test messages. If you're on macOS Sierra, use the command line tools as there is an known issue with Paho crashing on startup.

• Eclipse Paho
• Eclipse Mosquitto CLI

Add records for each device in Cloudant

The CLOUDANT_APPLIANCE_DATABASE database is a listing of documents that map a customer to a particular appliance, so create one or more documents that map the appliance_serial to a particular owner. You can find sample appliance documents for 3 devices here

{
  "_id": "aaaabbbbcccc",
  "serial": "aaaabbbbcccc",
  "warranty_expiration": 1467259200,
  "owner_name": "Daniel Krook",
  "owner_email": "krook@example.com",
  "owner_phone": "18885551212"
}

Important: the email address specified here will be eventually used to receive email notifications by the OpenWhisk actions - make sure it is valid.

Create MQTT feed provider

Now that we've tested connectivity for the Watson IoT platform with our devices, let's use a Cloud Foundry application to be the subscriber we use to listen for events on that MQTT topic.

Since there isn't a single multi-tenant MQTT event producer available as a package on OpenWhisk today, we need to set up a proxy application that will subscribe to an MQTT topic, and in turn invoke our OpenWhisk action on new messages.

Start up an instance of the MQTT feed consumer as a Cloud Foundry app

• Download the cf CLI and connect to Bluemix.
• Clone this repository, change to the feeds/cf/mqtt directory, update the manifest.yml file (provide a unique host and the name of the Cloudant service) and then use cf push to deploy it to Bluemix. Also, set this hostname in local.env as the $CF_PROXY_HOST value. For example, "openfridge", but remember that it must be globally unique.
• You can verify the app is deployed and ready by browsing to http://$CF_PROXY_HOST.mybluemix.net/.

Next steps

After completing the steps here, proceed to set up the OpenWhisk actions, triggers, and rules.