Iot Edge variables per device (Proxy Setting)

FRANK VANDEBERGH 0

We have various Iot Edge devices located at different places.

For some devices, we need to use a proxy server for connection with Iot Hub and other resources, for other devices we don't.

Currently, the proxy settings need to be defined on the device but also in the deployment manifest. This is an issue because this means you need a different deployment manifest for each unique device/proxy setting configuration just for these two variables.

Because of this we lose the ability to centrally manage deployments in a staged phases as we need unique deployments for such devices. Is there a way to specify that the proxy variables for the edgeAgent and edgeHub modules should be read from the device settings only, and not coming from the deployment manifest?

1 answer

Sander van de Velde | MVP 34,851 Reputation points MVP

2025-02-04T10:50:34.1033333+00:00

Hello @FRANK VANDEBERGH ,

welcome to this moderated Azure community forum.

The Azure IoT Edge configuration is very specific regarding the configuration.

As far as I know, this is done via the deployment manifest only?

Have you checked layered deployments?

If you mark your devices with a custom tag like 'useProxySettings=true' you can activate or deactivate a layer in your layered deployments using this tag as a 'target condition', including modules and module settings, at scale.

Normally the edgeHub and edgeAgent are put in the 'baseline' deployment but perhaps you can work around this baseline layer.

Another alternative I have seen is deploying deployment manifest via Azure DEvops pipelines at scale.

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FRANK VANDEBERGH 0 Reputation points

2025-02-04T10:57:01.7433333+00:00

Hi Sander, I believe for layered deployments we will have the same issue and we will also hit the deployment limit per IoT Hub at some point as we would still need a separate deployment per device.
My requirement is indeed specific to the two builtin edgeAgent and edgeHub container. As part of the normal proxy configuration, they get environment variables from the configuration on the host OS. They will use the configured proxy to reach IoT Hub, but as soon as the first deployment is retrieved, the settings from the deployment manifest are overruling. If there is no proxy setting in the deployment manifest they will end up without proxy. I am looking for a way to set environment variables on the Host OS that will be pushed to every container, regardless of the deployment.
The only workaround I can think of at the moment is to customize the edgeAgent and edgeHub containers with a custom wrapper script that will first set variables in the container based on a file mapped from the host os but I would like to avoid having to customize these builtin modules.

Sander van de Velde | MVP 34,851 Reputation points MVP

2025-02-04T11:11:40.8066667+00:00

Hello @FRANK VANDEBERGH ,

There is a limit to the number of layers in the layered deployments configuration so this will become a challenge if the proxy setting differ a lot.

The edgeHub and edgeAgent are open source so you could create new, changed ones but I agree this is not something take lightly.

Have you checked the config file settings? There is this https_proxy parameter.

I do not know all the details of working with a proxy but perhaps these config.toml file settings could help. Notice that the config template file (in the same folder) shows all settings available (pick the largest file so you get all documentation details).

FRANK VANDEBERGH 0 Reputation points

2025-02-04T11:28:40.31+00:00

Have you checked the config file settings? There is this https_proxy parameter.

This is indeed configured and it works for the initial deployment of edgeAgent. But as soon as the deployment from IoT Hub is retrieved it is no longer taking into account the settings from the config.toml.

I believe it would be better if proxy setting is considered as device specific network configuration similar to e.g. IP address and there should be a way to have the device setting as default, but optionally overridden if specified in deployment.
I will try with customized containers as a workaround.

Sander van de Velde | MVP 34,851 Reputation points MVP

2025-02-04T11:34:08.4166667+00:00

Hello @FRANK VANDEBERGH ,

My expectations are that the config.toml settings are active untill overwritten in a deployment manifest.

Perhaps this is a bug?

I wanted to suggest to create an issue but it seems you have done this already.

Please cross reference with this thread.
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Iot Edge variables per device (Proxy Setting)

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